In mobile games, soft launch is often crucial - especially now that app stores are oversaturated and have to invest a lot of money to attract users. Using soft launch, you can understand how well the game will be perceived by users in the event of a global launch, and approximately estimate the cost of its marketing.

However, soft launch can be a time consuming process - it’s not always clear what to do and what to avoid. Only in 2017 we had a soft launch in Nexon about a dozen games. In the process of trial and error, we realized that it is best suited for our games. We offer you some of our best practices.

What is soft launch?

Soft launch occurs before the official launch of the game around the world. The developers release the game in separate regions, similar to their target market, in order to ensure the success of a global launch. It can be regarded as training or testing.


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Soft launch checklist

Identify the main tasks

It is important to understand that soft launch is primarily a learning process. At this time, you give priority to speed and clean data as opposed to ROI, which you can focus on later during the global launch. Your main goal is to collect fast and clean data to make the right business decisions afterwards. This data will help you determine your betting strategy and map out the LTV game curve.

Select traffic sources

It is better to use from 3 to 5 sources of traffic with which you have already worked a lot, and they have proven their effectiveness. The purpose of traffic at this stage is to minimize fluctuations and get an idea of ​​the typical user behavior. Traffic sources with fraud or low quality settings will only distort the data.

Higher CPI

Note that at this stage you may have to pay higher CPI . There are two reasons for this. First, you need to compensate potentially weaker creatives with higher rates. Secondly, time is of the essence, and since you only have a few days or weeks on a soft launch, you may need higher rates to guarantee top positions in waterfall on the ad network.

Less targeting

Minimize soft launch targeting. Of course, you can target a segment of gamers, if you have a mobile game, but do not exclude too many audiences. Again, your task is to understand the behavior of an ordinary player.

Motto in life

"Do not release bad games!". Be honest with yourself about the improvements that are actually made between soft launch and official release. Maintaining a mobile game is incredibly expensive. If you do not see prospects for a high LTV, then most likely you will not be able to compete with the top games in UA, in order to bring a large number of users cost-effectively.

The perfect creative strategy for soft launch

During the soft launch, the 3 + 3 rule is beneficial - use at least 3 unique promotional videos and 3 static concepts (they can double in both ads and in the endcard).



If you have your own creative team, give them at least 6 weeks to develop advertising creatives. If not, you can ask your ad network to help create them. Since this is only a soft launch, creatives should be simple and clear and focus primarily on the gameplay.

Three stages of soft launch

A typical soft launch consists of three stages.

Stage 1: Server Stability

At the first stage, your goal is to check the stability of the server. In other words, can your game fall? In order for the check to make sense, you must have about 1000 players. Do not use key markets for verification. For example, if your target market is the United States, you should stick to regions such as Southeast Asia, where due to low CPI you can check stability at a low price.

Stage 2: Testing Retensions

At the second stage, you check retention. Look at the first, the seventh and the 30th day retreat - how many users continue to play? Many companies spend this stage in the Nordic countries - there is similar to the US behavior in terms of retention, but the impact of the market is less. Thus, if the game still has serious problems, you do not jeopardize your target markets. 3-5 thousand users are a good base for this stage.

Stage 3: Monetization Testing

In the third and final stage, you will test the monetization strategy. How do your users interact with in-game economy and in-app purchases? Here the necessary base is 10 thousand players. This stage of soft launch makes sense to transfer to Canada or Australia, where players are most similar in behavior to the United States.

How to work with ad network during soft launch

There are a number of advantages in working with ad networks during soft launch. First, they can help build a launch strategy and achieve the right KPIs. Also, ad networks can develop creatives for free - share the early version of the game with them in advance so that the ads respond to the spirit of your game. In addition, you can use the experience and data of the ad network to predict which sources of supply are best for your game.

Summarizing

By the end of the soft launch, you should have enough data on the players' behavior so that you can make the necessary changes to the game before the official launch. In the second part, we’ll talk about the best practices of a global launch and what to watch out for when organizing it.

about the author

Warren Woodward is director of UA at NEXON M, the largest mobile gaming company in Korea and one of the ten largest in the world in San Francisco. Their hits include games like DomiNations, Titanfall: Assault and Battlejack.