Author: Vaughn Saben,
Data Scientist at Pixode
One of the most undervalued elements of mobile free-to-play (F2P) games is its economy. The difference between a good and a great economy is 1000's of dollars in daily revenue (if not more). So, let's create a great one.
You have a survivor game. Not Survivor.io…. A player needs to survive repeated waves of enemies by upgrading their weapons and skills, to progress across maps. Now we’ll add the economy.
An economy is built on 2 levels: the macro and the micro. On a macro level, we control progression or time in a simple, interesting and concealing manner to balance
a. A fun gameplay experience.
b. Restrict player resources.
The best way to explain an economy is through an example. Divide the first map into 3 stages, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Time to reach a stage and experience (XP) requirements
Players progress to the next map by surviving all 3 stages. The game rewards prizes/XP, the skills and weapon upgrades that they dearly need and want, after each attempt and stage passed. This defines the Return-to-Player (RTP). If a 0 XP player is rewarded with 8 XP at the end of stage 1, their RTP = reward / cost = 8 / 20 = 40%. The RTP is the backbone of any economy, and maintaining the right balance is what converts users to paying users and keeps them engaged. Increasing wave-like trends in RTP over time make the game progressively harder and mask the reduction in value for money returned to the player.
How will we generate revenue?
Pain points. Users always need something whether it be more progress, more playtime or even aesthetic elements to show how cool or skilled they are. If your game doesn't have any, you can create them! Users want to be stronger and progress faster.
Selling users coins to buy weapons and skills, in increasing nominal terms, both induces purchases as well as acts as a sign of progression. Live-ops and in-apps are an effective means, in addition to a fixed store, to then focus user attention on purchasing decisions.
User payment is not limited to hard currency, but can include “free mechanisms” such as watching ads or sharing their networks. Limiting playtime by requiring players to expend a regenerating, but capped energy resource is another great way to re-engage the user when their balance is full, and generate ad-based revenue.
Lulls in progression induce purchasing to maintain a fun and fast experience. Balancing pain points with a fun user experience is the key to generating revenue and maintaining a high-level of retention. Managing from where, when and how much RTP is returned to the player is what maximizes your game’s potential and ultimately, your bottom line.
