Monetization indie games - continue experiments
Almost half a year has passed since the launch of our debut mobile game on ( iOS ) and ( Android ), in which we made a bold but naive attempt to change the established approach to monetization. You can read more about the original experiment ( here ), and about the results for the first month - ( here ).
If in short - the experiment failed, I was once again disappointed in people, and in subsequent updates we came to the banal scheme “payments + advertising”. But it was possible to find such a balance between free content, premium content and unobtrusive advertising, which allowed not to disappoint the players (the average score on Android is 4.75 with ~ 280.000 installations!) And pay back the development (about 150.000 rubles).
Advertising is worth mentioning at once separately - in our case, this is exclusively “rewarded / incentive video ads”. At the end of the article I will tell you what values ​​of eCPM can be expected at ~ 10,000 impressions per day in Russia from such platforms as UnityAds, Vungle, AdColony and Applovin.
')
I think it is necessary to say a couple of introductory words for those who are not aware of the original idea and have not read the previous posts.
From the moment of release in March to the middle of July 2015. the whole game was practically free, coins and hints were generously poured in, but after passing the game we asked the player to pay. In fact, everything is a little more complicated, but I do not want to repeat.
It did not work. There were payments, but very rarely and little. At the same time, the audience liked the game, the number of installations grew and not trying to earn more would be foolish.
Since mid-July, such changes have occurred:
- in-game currency free of charge is not issued anywhere
- greatly reduced the number of prompts, outstanding after passing the level
- there are 4 premium levels (and 17 regular, free), each of them can be opened only for $ 1 or 100 coins
- expanded store assortment
- an opportunity to receive coins for watching a video - at the end of each level or at any time in the bank
- Bank prices are halved
- only 3 payments from 5 were left in the bank ($ 1,$ 2 , $ 3, $ 5 , $ 9)
What did it do? Payments have become more vigorous, but not to say that the situation has changed dramatically - there are 3 times more paying players (due to tightening the screws?), But the average check decreased one and a half times (due to lower prices?), Eventually the average income Since the player has increased by 1.5-2 times (interestingly, the same steps led to the same changes in relative metrics on both iOS and Android). Still, in absolute values, the indicators are far from the values, the short ones can be considered successful. But video advertising has shown itself very well - in terms of one player, it brings 3-4 times more money and at the same time nobody complains about it!
And now what everyone wants to see in such articles, but not always get - live numbers and graphics!
Everything described below is relevant for the game in the category "Quizzes" in the "Russia" region for 2015:
In-game payments (for 5 months):
Advertising (for the last month):
Monthly iOS Promotional Metrics:
Promotional metrics on Android for the month:
There are also metrics that can be viewed not at all advertising sites:
- Release the paid version of the game
- Port it on Windows Phone
I can tell you later whether it was advisable to launch the paid version and whether there is life on the WinPhone Store. Would it be interesting to anyone?
I will summarize some intermediate results, although they rely on experience from just one specific game, so they do not pretend to objectivity:
- players are not willing to pay for what they can get for free (thanks, captain)
- when I asked to pay “how much you don’t feel sorry”, there were often negative reviews in the key “how dare you ask for money for the game!”, After tightening the screws and introducing premium content, such complaints about payments and monetization almost completely disappeared
- rewarded video shows itself perfectly - decent eCPM and no negative from users; Moreover, the players themselves advised to add advertising with a reward, so they understand this model and accept
- do not be afraid to experiment and monetize your work, the main thing is not to go too far, adequately assess the strengths and weaknesses of the game and understand your players
Yes, from the bygone altruism and enthusiasm, there is not a trace left, I came to the standard scheme “payments + advertising”, but the devil is in the details, as is known. Firstly, I like the way monetization is now implemented - it is understandable, fair, does not cause rejection of players and earns “minimally adequate money”, let's call it that. And secondly, at least I tried to follow the “naive path” and no one would allow me to conduct such experiments on a serious third-party project. I am glad that I myself went this way and am happy to share my experience with you.
And in the end, we develop games not for the sake of money, but to make the players a little happier! .. And the best reward for us are warm reviews from grateful players:
If in short - the experiment failed, I was once again disappointed in people, and in subsequent updates we came to the banal scheme “payments + advertising”. But it was possible to find such a balance between free content, premium content and unobtrusive advertising, which allowed not to disappoint the players (the average score on Android is 4.75 with ~ 280.000 installations!) And pay back the development (about 150.000 rubles).
Advertising is worth mentioning at once separately - in our case, this is exclusively “rewarded / incentive video ads”. At the end of the article I will tell you what values ​​of eCPM can be expected at ~ 10,000 impressions per day in Russia from such platforms as UnityAds, Vungle, AdColony and Applovin.
')
I think it is necessary to say a couple of introductory words for those who are not aware of the original idea and have not read the previous posts.
- It is given : mobile game; small, high-quality, but with infinite gameplay and low replayability, which cannot be transferred to standard free to play rails and in which you don’t want to display banner ads.
- Objective : fight off development costs without selling the soul to the devil and not upsetting the players
- Solution ?
Start Monetization
From the moment of release in March to the middle of July 2015. the whole game was practically free, coins and hints were generously poured in, but after passing the game we asked the player to pay. In fact, everything is a little more complicated, but I do not want to repeat.
It did not work. There were payments, but very rarely and little. At the same time, the audience liked the game, the number of installations grew and not trying to earn more would be foolish.
Monetization at the moment
Since mid-July, such changes have occurred:
- in-game currency free of charge is not issued anywhere
- greatly reduced the number of prompts, outstanding after passing the level
- there are 4 premium levels (and 17 regular, free), each of them can be opened only for $ 1 or 100 coins
- expanded store assortment
- an opportunity to receive coins for watching a video - at the end of each level or at any time in the bank
- Bank prices are halved
- only 3 payments from 5 were left in the bank ($ 1,
What did it do? Payments have become more vigorous, but not to say that the situation has changed dramatically - there are 3 times more paying players (due to tightening the screws?), But the average check decreased one and a half times (due to lower prices?), Eventually the average income Since the player has increased by 1.5-2 times (interestingly, the same steps led to the same changes in relative metrics on both iOS and Android). Still, in absolute values, the indicators are far from the values, the short ones can be considered successful. But video advertising has shown itself very well - in terms of one player, it brings 3-4 times more money and at the same time nobody complains about it!
Graphs, metrics, income
And now what everyone wants to see in such articles, but not always get - live numbers and graphics!
Everything described below is relevant for the game in the category "Quizzes" in the "Russia" region for 2015:
In-game payments (for 5 months):
| iOS | Android | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before the update | After update | Before the update | After update | |
| ARPU (income from the player) | $ 0.006 | $ 0.009 | $ 0.002 | $ 0.004 |
| Percentage of people paying | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| Average check | $ 2.52 | $ 1.55 | $ 1.82 | $ 1.29 |
| Number of players | 75.900 | 17,100 | 178.500 | 79.500 |
| Income (excluding commissions) | $ 466 | $ 150 | $ 364 | $ 348 |
Advertising (for the last month):
| _____iOS_____ | ____Android____ | |
|---|---|---|
| Medium eCPM | $ 6.42 | $ 2.87 |
| ARPU (income from the player) | $ 0.023 | $ 0.012 |
| Views per player | 3.62 | 4.24 |
| Number of players | 13.000 | 52.900 |
| Number of ad impressions | 47.000 | 220.100 |
| Income (excluding commissions) | $ 302 | $ 632 |
Monthly iOS Promotional Metrics:
Schedule eCPM for platforms on iOS
Number of impressions by platform on iOS
eCPM by country on iOS
Promotional metrics on Android for the month:
ECPM Chart by Android Platform
Number of impressions by platform on Android
eCPM by country on Android
There are also metrics that can be viewed not at all advertising sites:
- UnityAds: Fill rate - 98%
- AppLovin: CTR - 4.6%
- AdColony: Fill rate - 100%, Use rate - 11%
Future plans?
- Release the paid version of the game
- Port it on Windows Phone
I can tell you later whether it was advisable to launch the paid version and whether there is life on the WinPhone Store. Would it be interesting to anyone?
Epilogue
I will summarize some intermediate results, although they rely on experience from just one specific game, so they do not pretend to objectivity:
- players are not willing to pay for what they can get for free (thanks, captain)
- when I asked to pay “how much you don’t feel sorry”, there were often negative reviews in the key “how dare you ask for money for the game!”, After tightening the screws and introducing premium content, such complaints about payments and monetization almost completely disappeared
- rewarded video shows itself perfectly - decent eCPM and no negative from users; Moreover, the players themselves advised to add advertising with a reward, so they understand this model and accept
- do not be afraid to experiment and monetize your work, the main thing is not to go too far, adequately assess the strengths and weaknesses of the game and understand your players
Yes, from the bygone altruism and enthusiasm, there is not a trace left, I came to the standard scheme “payments + advertising”, but the devil is in the details, as is known. Firstly, I like the way monetization is now implemented - it is understandable, fair, does not cause rejection of players and earns “minimally adequate money”, let's call it that. And secondly, at least I tried to follow the “naive path” and no one would allow me to conduct such experiments on a serious third-party project. I am glad that I myself went this way and am happy to share my experience with you.
And in the end, we develop games not for the sake of money, but to make the players a little happier! .. And the best reward for us are warm reviews from grateful players:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/293822/
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