Game Design and Business Models Neil harris cce_2012
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This document discusses game design and business models for online games. It covers various business models like pay-by-the-minute, subscriptions, one-time purchases, and free-to-play with microtransactions. Each model impacts game design and targets different audience sizes and demographics. The document also discusses issues like balancing time and money, revenue and fairness, and advancement speed vs content production. It proposes using conjoint analysis to segment players and match different attribute values like damage and speed to player types to maximize revenue from microtransactions.
Game Design and Business Models Neil harris cce_2012
- 1. Game Design & Business Models Neil Harris neil@heroengine.com
- 2. HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES 2
- 3. MY LIFE IN ONLINE GAMES 3
- 4. 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
- 5. BUSINESS MODELS I HAVE LOVED Pay-by-the-minute Monthly subscriptions Buy the box, pay no more Microtransactions 5
- 6. BUSINESS MODEL IMPACTS GAME DESIGN AUDIENCE SIZE DEMOGRAPHICS 6
- 7. ISSUES FOR GAME DESIGNERS TIME VS MONEY REVENUE VS FAIRNESS ADVANCEMENT SPEED VS CONTENT PRODUCTION 7
- 8. BUY THE BOX AND PLAY FOR FREE 8
- 9. ONE-TIME PURCHASE ADVANTAGES LOWEST SERVER COST FITS STRENGTHS OF PUBLISHERS 9
- 10. ONE-TIME PURCHASE DRAWBACKS No Recurring Revenue: Frequent Expansions & DLC Heavy Focus on PvP = VERY Hard Core P2P = Instanced = Hacking/Cheating 10
- 11. WHY I LOVED PAY-BY-THE-MINUTE More Fun = More Time More Time= More Money 11
- 12. PAY BY THE MINUTE $60 ARPU! 12
- 13. BAD GAME MECHANICS TO MAKE MONEY Increase Travel Distances Slow Healing Training Separate from Combat Punish Players 13
- 14. #1 DESIGN CHEAT IN ONLINE GAMES BY SLOWING PLAYER PROGRESS DESIGNERS WORK LESS HARD TIME BECOMES LESS FUN 14
- 15. DISADVANTAGE OF BY-THE-MINUTE HIGHEST ARPU BUT SMALLEST AUDIENCE 15
- 16. ANNUAL REVENUE POTENTIAL 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 16
- 17. 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
- 18. PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS GEMSTONE INCREASED ARPU TO $27 PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION AT $40/MONTH (35% of audience) SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS (up to $100 each) 18
- 19. 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
- 20. 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
- 21. 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
- 22. CONJOINT SURVEY EXAMPLE 22
- 23. 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
- 24. SEGMENT PLAYER AUDIENCE PER BARTLE: ACHIEVERS EXPLORERS SOCIALIZERS KILLERS 24
- 25. MATCH ATTRIBUTE VALUES TO SEGMENTS BEAUTY DAMAGE SPEED TOTAL VALUE ACHIEVERS $4 $3 $2 $9 EXPLORERS $2 $4 $5 $11 SOCIALIZERS $5 $2 $1 $8 KILLERS $1 $5 $4 $10 25
- 26. HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES neil@heroengine.com 26
- 27. Game Design & Business Models Neil Harris neil@heroengine.com