Maximizing Player Retention and
Monetization in Free-to-Play Games:
Comparative Stats for Asian & Western Games
David P Chiu
Director of Business Development &
Developer Relations (Kongregate)
Principal, Business Development
(GameStop Digital Ventures)
Emily Greer
Co-Founder & COO (Kongregate)
What is Kongregate?
• Open platform for browser-based games
– Flash, Unity, HTML5, Java, etc.
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15M monthly uniques visitors worldwide
Core gamers – 85% male, average age of 21
MMOs, RPGs, CCGs/TCGs, TD, shooters, etc.
Platform level virtual currency “Kreds” for F2P games
Mobile publisher of F2P games for core gamers
Acquired by GameStop July 2010
Some of Kongregate’s Existing Developer Partners
Stats both reflect & shape mind-set
So what statistics does F2P focus on?
Daily Active Users, DAU
$/DAU
1- & 7-Day Retention
To a lesser extent MAU & 30-Day
30-Day Retention is a good stat, but 30 days is
not “long-term” retention, it’s the start.
A little background
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All stats are lifetime, min 6 weeks on platform
ARPU: average revenue per user
ARPPU: average rev per paying user
Player: a Kongregate registered user who loaded
the game page at least once
• Plays = Sessions: our preferred method to measure
retention
ARPU and ARPPU
Big spenders matter
Linear Growth x Many Years =
Awesome Business
Asian F2P vs Western F2P
ARPU and ARPPU
ARPU & ARPPU
• ARPPUs for single-player games cluster around $5-$10
• Multiplayer games range $20-$350
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Average ARPPU for a multiplayer game from Asia: $181
Average for Western multiplayer game: $51
Only 9 Western games have an ARPPU above $100
ARPPU is the main factor in high ARPU for Asian
games, important factor for all games
ARPU and % Buyers
ARPU and % Repeats
ARPU and % 50+ gameplays
Asian vs Western Style
• Asian games: High ARPPU, tight player funnel
– Monetization caters well to big spenders
• Western games: Lower ARPPU, wide player
funnel
– Monetization focuses more on initial retention and
broad conversion to paid at lower prices
– Pay 2 Win is not as accepted by Western devs
• Mixed games: can combine the best of both
– High conversion, wide funnel, still create big spenders
F2P Best Practices
Best Practices for Optimizing Retention:
Keeping players engaged
Daily Play Bonuses
• Daily play bonuses are good to get users coming back regular
• But improve on the typical 5-7 day daily bonuses
• Reward playing game regularly
in longer term
• Doesn’t reset after 5-7 days
• Doesn’t “punish” players for
missing a day
Daily Play Bonuses
• Add an element of chance
- make it exciting!
• Repeat logins opens up
bigger potential rewards
Don’t punish people for taking a break
• Psychologically, punishments or the possibility of punishment deters
unwanted behavior
• Base/castle raided, loot stolen, crops withered, troops dead, account
de-activated, etc. deter players from being away too long
• But it can be a two-edged sword
• Players sometimes need to take a break (exams, vacation, illness)
• Punishment may drive re-activated users away again
“I just got back from vacation/work
conference/being sick but my base is
completely destroyed, my resources are gone,
troops are dead. No point in getting back in the
game since I lost everything already.”
Don’t punish people for taking a break
• It can sting but it shouldn’t handicap
you permanently
• Limit amount of resources that can
be looted or # times you can be
attacked while gone
• Enable shield or protection time if
you lose a significant amount
• Mix positive reinforcement with
punishment
• Quick one-button rebuild
• Resources still available for harvest
• Gain XP or gold while away
Keep players busy!
More things to do = more players staying
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Solo and team PvE
Solo and team PvP
Asynch raids
Guild battles
World boss raids
Farming
Town Building
Weapon/Gear
Synthesizing & Upgrading
• Astral Collecting and
Combining
• Etc.
It is important to pace the introduction of new features/gameplay modes to not
overwhelm players with a long and intimidating tutorial.
Without progress you have nothing
The foundations of a F2P game are a strong RPG
elements and a sense of progress over time.
Surprisingly it’s more important than multiplayer
Type
% 50+ Plays
% Buyers
ARPPU
ARPU
Multiplayer RPG
2.6%
0.75%
$69
$0.51
Multiplayer Non-RPG
1.0%
0.45%
$9
$0.05
Single-player RPG
1.8%
1.29%
$12
$0.10
Single-Player Non-RPG
0.2%
0.53%
$4
$0.02
Asynchronous > Synchronous
Multiplayer is a good way to keep players engaged and busy in the long run
but not all types of multiplayer are created equal
Type
% 50 Plays
% Buyers
ARPPU
ARPU
Synchronous
1.4%
0.54%
$43
$0.25
Asynchronous
3.6%
0.80%
$88
$0.66
Both
2.9%
1.07%
$51
$0.55
Single-Player
0.8%
0.85%
$7
$0.05
Best Practices for Optimizing Monetization:
A happy customer is a paying customer
Shopping should be easy and frictionless
• Location, location, location – make the store easy to find!
• Make it easy to find the right item
– Meaningful categories and item descriptions
– No massive scroll bars
• Mix soft currency and hard currency items
• BUT – don’t try to sell too hard, too fast. First few sessions should
focus on fun & giving players reasons to come back to play and get
hooked.
Buy Screen
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Bonuses % or/and items provide incentives for buying larger hard currency packages
Clearly call out bonuses of larger packages!
Make all packages visible in one page
Hide $100+ packages until after first purchase
Making the shopping experience interesting
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First time buyer/ Starter packages
Seed players with some paid/hard currency and guide “intro purchase”
Deals/events to get people into the habit of spending regularly
Offer items that enhance the gameplay experience (not just speedups)
Intro the right items at the right time
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Lvl 1 players should not be shown the lvl 100+ holy sword that’s on sale for $100)
Keep them coming back – keep store fresh by adding new items, unlocking items as
players level up and featuring seasonal and time-limited items
Gamification of buying
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VIP program – customer loyalty program like airlines and hotels
The more you buy, the more status points you earn which unlock more benefits/bonuses
Make sure players can spend
as much as they want
• The longer someone plays your game the more likely they are to buy and
the less price sensitive they become
• Give committed players the ability to spend at $1,000+ if they want
• Have lots of items that are appealing and useful to a committed player
and price them higher (if possible) than items meant for early/mid-game
play. [Higher means $30-100, not $1000]
• If you make a fun game, someone may want to spend an infinite amount.
• Don’t create a situation where spending is capped by availability or utility.
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Again, remember to make it easy for players to buy!
Best Practices for Community Building:
When you’re here, you’re family!
Make it easy for community to build
Chat, forums, player-to-player
messages are all great
Real relationships build when
people interact. The more ways
they can do it, the better.
Guilds are awesome
100% of our top games have them.
Some reasons they make a difference
• Social incentives to return  I want to see my friends
• Social pressures to return  I don’t want to disappoint
them
• Improves the psychology of purchases  I’m doing it for the
team, not me
• Upends the dynamics of pay-to-win  can set up a
symbiotic relationship between buyers and non-buyers
where both add value to the same group
Community Management and
Customer Service
If a player invests many hours into
a game they begin to feel some
ownership. It may be YOUR game,
but it’s THEIR experience
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Be visible – forums, chat, email
Listen to their concerns and acknowledge their emotions
Be transparent, honest, and accurate
Give advance notice of changes and downtimes
Don’t feed the trolls
Opportunity Complains
Customer service is a chance to surprise and delight
• Handle things quickly
• Be generous with compensation
• But don’t do something unless you’re willing to do it
for everybody
Surprise and delight
• IGG rewards its players with some resources after each of its
weekly 30-minute maintenance
Have fun with your community
THANK YOU
For a copy of the presentation or questions, email
[email protected] or come by the Kongregate booth in the
Silver Sponsors room (Table#5)
For more talks & data visit developers.kongregate.com
For web games contact us at [email protected]
If you’re interested in mobile publishing it’s [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @EmilyG & @KongregateDevs