Mobile Gaming and what needs to be changed

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

I hope the dev’s are actually reading threads these days, as after IceX’s thread it’s gone pretty silent.

I’ve been reading a lot about mobile games and revenue streams and for those of you that are not aware, only 1.5 percent of users actually purchase anything.What is interesting is how that % breaks down > Of those, 49 percent made a single purchase, while 13 percent made five or more. The average in-app purchase came to $5.94, with 67 percent of all spending dedicated to items in the $1-$5 range.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 … nue-survey

What that is blatantly telling you guys is that your general user is not getting VALUE from their investment. How many threads are there on this forum moaning about changes in roster slot prices, 10 pack token results, honestly the list is endless. I don’t know what your numbers are, but I’m assuming most people go for a median level in the shop and spend £13 or so for a Logans ( as thats the minimum to buy a couple of slots and say level up a 2* once). That’s already nearly triple the average $5.94.So guess what happens when the above scenario’s occur? They either leave or they never purchase again.

Another issue is this time period that developers seem fixated on. > Data also indicates that 60.2% of a player’s total spending occurs in the first 24 hours after downloading a game. .http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/1774 … me-revenue

This is human psychology, not long term spending behavior.You get a game for free and you rationalize spending money on it that you would have paid as a one off cost. Again, you are making a huge mistake by screwing people out of the most possible revenue you can in that first instance. You have nearly 5 million downloads, imagine that 10% of these people found an experience where they could invest time and small amounts of money on a regular basis? Say the average above but on a monthly basis. Thats $250,000 a month.

You have a strong brand name to work with and some really passionate users. The industry has this high level of churn out and you are all interpreting it as " Oh people won’t spend as they are used to getting things for free". No, what they are getting used to is getting shafted in every game out there and therefore continually looking for the next best thing till the cycle repeats.

This shouldn’t be some generic mobile game where you are trying to squeeze every last cent in the first week or so. Can you maybe try something different?

  • Communicate with your fan base, especially your long term users as these will become your biggest spenders as they have invested the most time
    Improve token %'s
    Reduce store prices, as you are not good value currently.
    Bring back guaranteed tokens
    Allow people to buy single slots (cheaply) and rather incentivise bulk buying with slot pack discounts
    Reduce paywall mechanics and rather focus on cosmetic changes to increase spending, hell the day you provide alliance headquarters is the day you double your profit. And don’t make it 2000 HP to make a contribution, let everyone have the capacity to buy HP and contribute.

Anways I hope that this does get read by someone with the capacity to change the direction you guys are going. As there a million shit mobile games out there and you have the chance to be the one that bucks the trend…

2

What investment? Only 1.5% of players actually pony up any cash whatsoever by your stats. That suggests that 98.5% of the people complaining would be complaining about actually having to spend any money at all on their entertainment.

What it tells me is that the people complaining about the ‘cost’ of things are more complaining that they cannot have all the things they want for free. For all that people equate HP with ‘real money’, most 98.5% of people aren’t actually paying any real money for their HP.

I got 6 months of entertainment out of the game. That was the VALUE I got from the money I put into it. The covers, the HP, ISO 8, Alliance. None of that had any value whatsoever. If you enjoy playing the game then pay to support the platform. But if you are trying to work out the intrinsic value of a cover slot or any given cover it is zero. Unless D3 set up some kind of real money auction house where you can sell these things, it will remain at zero. The value will only be entertainment.

Data also indicates that 60.2% of a player’s total spending occurs in the first 24 hours after downloading a game.

Not actually helping your interpretation there. 60.2% of the 1.5% who will ever spend money have already done so in the first 24 hours, so before even finding this forum. That leaves only 0.5% of the community actually putting in money to keep it going for the rest of the playerbase.

And then to look at your list…

Communicate with your fan base, especially your long term users as these will become your biggest spenders as they have invested the most time
The statistics you quoted show the opposite. Dedicated fanbases rarely throw in money by your stats. It’s nice for a call to be different, but D3 can see where the money is coming from and it doesn’t appear to be their ‘regulars’. In fact their regular players win enough HP and covers through events that they rarely are concerned with actual real money.

Improve token %s
So that people get their characters quicker and have even less incentive to spend than they already do? Or can hold out in hope rather than finally chipping something in.

Reduce store prices, as you are not good value currently.
There’s that ‘value’ word again. Either the game is really entertaining and has value, or it isn’t and doesn’t. If 1% of your player base will make only one purchase, then you had better make it count because 98.5% are freeloading off the servers paid for by that 1% and the .5% who believe in repeatedly rewarding developers for their product.

Bring back guaranteed tokens
The one thing I do agree with on this list.

Allow people to buy single slots (cheaply) and rather incentivise bulk buying with slot pack discounts
To what end? Hey look here is another opportunity to keep playing for free and never throw any money at the game? If the only people paying for the game are the whales and the 1% of early payers, reducing the paywall just reduces your income.

Reduce paywall mechanics and rather focus on cosmetic changes to increase spending, hell the day you provide alliance headquarters is the day you double your profit. And don’t make it 2000 HP to make a contribution, let everyone have the capacity to buy HP and contribute.
Based on? Are people seriously that mentally deficient that they won’t pay for the game they play and for advantages in that game, but there is a massive revenue stream in alternate costumes for Wolverine?

Overall this plan sound like the fantasy of a free player. Reduce the cost of everything, remove paywalls and get the people dumb enough to pay to buy stuff that is completely irrelevant to the game. Which is exactly the problem. So many people are proud that they have never paid a cent for the game like that is a good thing. If people chipped in even 2 bucks for every month of entertainment they got out of the game there wouldn’t be a need for paywalls or cover slot bundling or non guaranteed covers to get gamblers to go again. But the majority of the player base are cheap and so incentives need to be created to get someone to pay for the development and upkeep of the platform.

3

Be different, try not making any money at all.

4

You’re quoting trends collated in a very general sense across a large data set, making up some pop psychology that ““shows”” these trends are bad for revenue, and then assumed that all this information (again, overwhelmingly gathered from games that aren’t MPQ) must all be true for MPQ and so MPQ is doing everything wrong.

what are you even doing

5

gamar : you don’t pay for the game, so what do you care about what the guys who pay say ?

6
  1. Haha, I don’t pay? I’ve probably spent more on this game than most players
  2. For every “you don’t get a say because you don’t pay” there’s a “you’re a hypocrite for complaining because you’re paying them and rewarding them for their messed up game.” It’s obnoxious dick-swinging, everyone playing obviously has the right to criticize and try to make the game more enjoyable
7

Thanks for the decent response Eddiemon! I’m not going to mention all your points but overall I’d like to discuss your summary .

The problem is there is no scenario where people can’t get everything in this game for free if that’s they way they want to play. So making mechanics to make this as difficult to happen shouldn’t be the focus surely? And to be honest it’s not about people being dumb and buying cosmetic things. Look at Dota and Team Fortress. People like showing support for a game on things that don’t break the overall experience. Make things that you can’t just get and that you need to spend actual money on, even if it’s 50 cents. So as an idea, make getting and leveling cards ISO/HP based, but then provide five equipment slots for each card that requires actual money. As you are not playing real pvp who would actually care if equipment slot A) added 1 color, B) added 200 hp etc. You could even have a leveling system for each slot.