Making money on your game ==== 1. Single sales (Flat fee, play forever) 1. Subscription (Flat fee to keep playing) 1. Shareware/DLC (Flat fee for more game) 1. Arcade (Pay to play/keep alive) 1. Ad-supported (Free, but your eyeballs are worth $) 1. Free to play/Freemium (Fee to improve your experience) Behavioral Game Design ==== 1. Behavioral Psychology (your players are lab rats) 1. Actions (collect object, kill enemy, etc.) 1. Contingency (Rule for when the reward happens) 1. Reward (Get something, or just flash & congrats) 1. Sharing can help 1. [Response schedules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement) 1. Interval = time-dependent, Ratio = action dependent 1. FI = Fixed Interval; Cool-down timer 1. FR = Fixed ratio; Reward every 10 enemies/coins 1. VI = Variable Interval; Randomized timer 1. VR = Variable Ratio; Random number of actions give a (randomized) reward Behavioral Monetization ==== 1. Gambling (1:2 - 1:4 Variable Ratio) 1. Fun & enough content while free (or you lose them before they pay) 1. Positive & Negative Reinforcement 1. Positive Reinforcement (See my flashy thing) 1. Negative reinforcement (Don't want friends to see your failure) 1. Monetization can break your game 1. Either broken before, or broken after 1. Hard to balance for both 1. Treadmill / grind 1. Repetitive activity you can buy out of 1. e.g. Infinity Blade, grind for $ and items, or buy $ What to sell ===== 1. Experiences 1. Unlock classes, items 1. Personalization / Vanity 1. Seasonal content 1. Exclusive features 1. Exclusive content * Worth $$$, ideally not more of the same 1. Upgrades 1. Extra stats 1. Competitive advantage 1. Advance story (especially at roadblocks) 1. Consumables 1. Buy the gun or the bullets? 1. Buy in-game $ (not a big seller in most games) 1. Don't over-sell ("all the candy you want" doesn't last long) 1. Chance at an item "loot box" 1. Magic: The Gathering * Buy cards hoping for one worth more than you paid 1. Kompu Gacha 1. Banned in Japan in 2012 1. Small price, random item 1. Big prize for complete set 1. Can be $1000's to win 1. middle school kid spend over $5k in a month 1. primary school kid spent over $1.5k in 3 days 1. $1.4B in 2011, 2-2.5 ARPU (vs. 0.5-1 for Zynga) How to measure ==== 1. Who is playing 1. DAU = Daily Active Users 1. MAU = Monthly Active Users 1. Angry Brids: 200M MAU 1. Farmville 2 1/2013: 8M DAU, 40M MAU 1. How did you get them? 1. CPA = Cost per Aquisition (0.50-2.50) 1. Organic (users who come by word of mouth) 1. k-factor = new players per existing player (virility) 1. Do you keep them? 1. Retention (day 10 retention, day 30 retention) 1. DAU/MAU 1. Churn rate (% who stop each month) 1. How much do you make from them 1. ARPU = Average Revenue Per User (0.10-0.20) 1. ARPPU = Average Revenue Per Paying User 1. LTV = Lifetime Value 1. Conversion rate = % users making 1st time purchases (2-5%) Resources ==== 1. [Gamasutra](http://gamsutra.com) 1. [Behavioral game design](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131494/behavioral_game_design.php) 1. [Roger Dickey's tactics for game monetization](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BetableBlog/20111129/90708/Roger_Dickeys_Tactics_for_Game_Monetization.php) 1. [Magic: The Gathering](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BetableBlog/20111111/90593/Game_Monetization_Lessons_from_Magic_The_Gathering.php) 1. [Kompu Gacha (complete set)](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BetableBlog/20120525/171124/Why_quotKompu_Gachaquot_Was_Banned.php) 1. [Raul Aliaga's blog](http://raliaga.org/post/87613863099/almost-everything-you-need-to-know-to-enter-mobile-game) * This one is a collection of links, but posts on the rest of the blog are relevant as well. 1. [Betable blog](http://web.archive.org/web/20160408131628/https://blog.betable.com/category/game-monetization/) * Site is dead, but still on archive.org 1. [Metrics](http://www.gamesbrief.com/2014/05/a-comprehensive-list-of-metrics-for-free-to-play-games/)