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Game Design & Business Models Neil Harris neil@heroengine.com
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HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES 2
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MY LIFE IN ONLINE GAMES 3
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LESSON I WISHED MY FATHER HAD TAUGHT ME NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR BUSINESS MODEL! THEY ARE FICKLE AND WILL LEAVE YOU BROKE AND BROKEN HEARTED. 4
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BUSINESS MODELS I HAVE LOVED ❤ Pay-by-the-minute ❤ Monthly subscriptions ❤ Buy the box, pay no more ❤ Microtransactions 5
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BUSINESS MODEL IMPACTS GAME DESIGN AUDIENCE SIZE DEMOGRAPHICS 6
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ISSUES FOR GAME DESIGNERS TIME VS MONEY REVENUE VS FAIRNESS ADVANCEMENT SPEED VS CONTENT PRODUCTION 7
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BUY THE BOX AND PLAY FOR FREE 8
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ONE-TIME PURCHASE ADVANTAGES LOWEST SERVER COST FITS STRENGTHS OF PUBLISHERS 9
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ONE-TIME PURCHASE DRAWBACKS No Recurring Revenue: Frequent Expansions & DLC Heavy Focus on PvP = VERY Hard Core P2P = Instanced = Hacking/Cheating 10
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WHY I LOVED PAY-BY-THE-MINUTE More Fun = More Time More Time= More Money 11
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PAY BY THE MINUTE 12 $60 ARPU!
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BAD GAME MECHANICS TO MAKE MONEY Increase Travel Distances Slow Healing Training Separate from Combat Punish Players 13
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#1 DESIGN CHEAT IN ONLINE GAMES BY SLOWING PLAYER PROGRESS DESIGNERS WORK LESS HARD TIME BECOMES LESS FUN 14
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DISADVANTAGE OF BY-THE-MINUTE HIGHEST ARPU BUT SMALLEST AUDIENCE 15
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ANNUAL REVENUE POTENTIAL 16 BY THE MINUTE –High ARPU, Audience 1,000-50,000 SUBSCRIPTION –~$15 ARPU, Audience 50,000-millions FREE-TO-PLAY MICROTRANS –<$1 ARPU, Audience potential tens of millions
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BUSINESS MODEL IMPACT: SUBSCRIPTIONS ARPU HAS A FLOOR AND A CEILING No chance to benefit from “whales” Low value for light users HAPPIEST USERS = LOTS OF TIME 17
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PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS GEMSTONE INCREASED ARPU TO $27 –PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION AT $40/MONTH (35% of audience) –SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS (up to $100 each) 18
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SUBSCRIPTION GAME DESIGN ISSUES SLOW DOWN PLAYERS = GRIND HUGE WORLD = HUGE EXPANSIONS = HUGE COST PvP END-GAME (LESS CONTENT REQUIRED) WoW IS SPEEDING UP ADVANCEMENT TO BROADEN AUDIENCE 19
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FREE TO PLAY + MICRO TRANSACTIONS Huge Audience! –More Casual –Needs Low Hurdle Balance Paid Goods with Fairness –Annoyances + Cures –Speed or Convenience –Vanity Items –New Areas / Content 20
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MAXIMIZE REVENUE & FUN IN FREE-TO-PLAY A MODEST PROPOSAL WHAT IF…? YOU COULD DIVIDE YOUR PLAYERS INTO SEGMENTS AND OFFER EACH GROUP ONLY THOSE ITEMS THAT THEY VALUE MOST HIGHLY? CONJOINT ANALYSIS 21
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CONJOINT SURVEY EXAMPLE 22
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CONJOINT METHODOLOGY CHOOSE ATTRIBUTES –Damage, XP, Specials, Speed… DEFINE ITEMS AS COMBINATION OF ATTRIBUTES –Sword, 5 DPS, Fire Spell, etc –Attributes can include appearance 23
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SEGMENT PLAYER AUDIENCE PER BARTLE: –ACHIEVERS –EXPLORERS –SOCIALIZERS –KILLERS 24
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MATCH ATTRIBUTE VALUES TO SEGMENTS BEAUTYDAMAGESPEED TOTAL VALUE ACHIEVERS$4$3$2 $9 EXPLORERS$2$4$5 $11 SOCIALIZERS$5$2$1 $8 KILLERS$1$5$4 $10 25
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HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES 26 neil@heroengine.com
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Game Design & Business Models Neil Harris neil@heroengine.com
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