Turkish Delight !
Rahul Sandil
GamersFirst
Case Study: Knight Online
Monetizing a Free2Play game and
keeping it alive and fresh over 8
years
section
Background
ONE
•Key Market Indicators
•Founded GamersFirst
in 2001
•Found Knight Online
in 2003
Key Market Demo
Average age :25
70% < 30 yrs
63% of gamers are 1417 years old
1/3 of population > 14
are gamers
25,000,000 gamers in
total
15 000 PC cafes
3G subscribers: 40M in
2011 (7M in 2009)
1/3 of all mobile
phones are
smartphones
6 hours of game
play/week
250 online video/
month watched on avg
per subscriber
TURKISH ONLINE USERS
70% are YOUNGER
THAN 30 YEARS
35M INTERNET USERS
5TH BIGGEST INTERNET
POPULATION IN EUROPE
13TH BIGGEST INTERNET
POPULATION IN THE WORLD
9 M TURKISH ONLINE
Vs.
SHOPPERS
39% are YOUNGER
THAN 30 YEARS IN
UK
THE WORLD‘S
2ND
TURKISH
ECOMMERCE
FASTEST
GROWING
US$12.4 bn
ECOMMERCE
IN 2011
IN 2011
MARKET
68%
Growth
Turkey is Ranked
Social Media
1st
FriendFeed
4th
Facebook
9th
Twitter
Combined CCU of Top 5 MMOs
175,000
BACKGROUND
• Found Knight Online in 2003
• Already released in Korea in
2001, it set the land speed
record for failure…
• Which meant that by the laws
of Inverse Demographics
(which I just made up), it
would blow the roof off of the
North American Market!
• Game was translated to
English and published by K2
shortly afterwards
section
TWO
HORIZONTAL EXPANSION
ALT TITLE: MORE TURKEY PLEASE
section
TWO
Horizontal Expansion
– Initial wave of Turkish players
in 2006
– Within a year game overrun
with Turkish players (in a
good way)
– Gaming phenomenon!!
HORIZONTAL EXPANSION
• 1 in 10 Turkish citizens
has played Knight
Online
• OEM “hardware”
appears: The KO Pedal
• Turkish player data:
– Conv Rate: 8% - 12%
– ARPPU: $18-$26
– Average LTV: $80-$120
HORIZONTAL EXPANSION
• 1 in 10 Turkish
citizens has played
Knight Online
• OEM “hardware”
appears: The KO
Pedal
• Turkish player data:
– Conv Rate: 8% - 12%
– ARPPU: $18-$26
– Average LTV: $80$120
EVERYTHING WAS LOOKING GOOD . . .
UNTIL THE DARK TIMES…
• Hackers/cheaters begin to
appear en masse
• DDOS attacks in 2007
cripple game servers for
months
• Turkish government BANS
Knight Online (possibly
preparing for 2011’s
attempt to ban the
internet)
• Net result?
• • AHackers/cheaters
few million more
begin to
appear en
masse
unique
logins
appear
DDOSCCUs
attacks
in 2007
• • Max
double
cripple game
servers for
• Number
of
months
• transactions
Turkish government BANS
quintuple
Knight Online (possibly
preparing for 2011’s
attempt to ban the
internet)
• Net result?
section
THREE
Three Cs of Monetization
• Community
• Currency
• Content
• Combos and Sliding:
Two features that
started their lives as
bugs
1.
COMMUNITY
• Daily/Weekly/Monthly
Live events
• Localized GM/CS
• Embraced Social Media
early
• Pricking with E-Pins
• KOL everywhere!
• Everyone Makes
Money [on the2.
secondary market]
CURRENCY
• PVP: The UGC gift that
keeps on giving
• Everyone Loves a Trader
• Annual Content 3. CONTENT
Updates
SUMMARY
summary
LEARNINGS
Play
DON’T Play
Tipping the Scales
Play
DON’T Play
I want
items
Tipping the Scales
I want
items
I don’t want
to spend
money
Tipping the Scales
Play
DON’T Play
Tipping the Scales
Play
DON’T Play
Tipping the Scales
I can pay
with
Cash
I want
to PVP
I want
items
Play
How did
my friend
get that?
My clan
needs me
DON’T Play
I don’t want
to spend
money
Tipping the Scales
Play
DON’T Play
DON’T Play
Tipping the Scales
Tipping the Scales
Life Time Value
of Paying Player
$80 - $120
DON’T Play
Peak CCU
45k -55k
Conversion to
Paying
8% to 12%
THANK YOU
(ALT TITLE: SHAMELESS TWITTER WHORING)
@rahulsandil