Respawn - Gathering of Game Developers 2016

Free-to-play games dominate the PC browser and mobile markets. But with ever-increasing user acquisition costs and fierce competition from existing and new games, how can you compete in this crowded space? It is necessary to have a solid understanding of F2P to know what drives strong long term retention and monetization. This session will share real-world stats, best practices and common mistakes to avoid in order to maximize your chances of success. Learn what game mechanics/features will increase your KPIs.

This lecture will focus on F2P games and how to best succeed in the competitive and crowded mobile marketplace. I will start by showing how F2P is now the dominant business model for mobile and how F2P game revenues compare to paid games to demonstrate the importance of learning and transitioning to F2P as a developer. Then I will share specific statistics, real world data and best practices on how to maximize retention and monetization from our portfolio of games such as the megahit Clicker Heroes and Shards of Magic (Top Downloaded and Grossing games that were featured by Apple or/and Google).

Concrete examples of features/game mechanics that improve retention are social and competitive multiplayer modes like PvP, guilds, leaderboards and proper localization/ culturalization. As for monetization, factors that help increase it are high retention, first time buyer packages, deals and seasonal sales and creating urgency to buy with time or quantity limited promotional sales.