Research on mobile games and monetization
When your soft launch data is clear and you have a high degree of confidence in it, things are easy. But there are many factors that can make it difficult to have a clear reading of the performance of your game. This post discusses ways to deal with fuzzy soft launch data.
McLuhan is a famous media theorist known for coining the phrase “The Medium is the Message”. What that means when considering gaming in general – and mobile gaming in particular – is that you should design games and features with the specificity of each platform in mind. It’s crucial to design a “mobile-first” title.
Even though there is an intention behind every feature you design, once it’s live on the store users will reappropriate your game and play it the way they like. Sometimes that means users won’t play the game you want them to play it. Having a user-centric, game-as-service approach means your goal should not be to make users play your game a certain way. Rather, you should leverage data to identify your users’ preferences, and find ways to help them engage with your game on their own terms as much as possible.
Engagement is key to develop a game that will be successful in the market. But engagement alone is not enough to build a successful title. Looking at how spending and engagement go hand in hand can help highlight some key dynamics of mobile monetization, and rethink what the most effective monetization strategy might look like.
When a game features different game modes, it can be difficult to disentangle things and properly assess each game mode on its own merits. This week I discuss common challenges when trying to make sense of your different game modes in a clear and concise way. I also suggest ways to measure your game and its game modes to get a good sense of what the user experience looks like.
This post looks at the state of esports in general, and draws on the example of the Clash Royale League to reflect on place of esports in the mobile space.
Alexandre Macmillan 