Virtual reality has a huge multitude of applications, from transporting people far-off exotic locations without leaving their homes (or even when they’re already on vacation), to playing video games that take them to brave new worlds. However, the automakers at BMW are looking to use its technology for a whole new purpose: making better cars.
BMW has announced today that it is using HTC Vive virtual reality headsets and mixed-reality to help develop new vehicle models. By utilizing computer imagery instead of the usual draft models that the company has come to rely on, many improvements are expected, including greater flexibility, lower costs and faster results.
“The adoption of this computer system makes it possible to save a great deal of time and effort, especially during the early stages of development,” the press release states. “VR investigations could previously only be conducted at costly specialized facilities. By incorporating consumer electronics, the developers gain an unprecedented degree of flexibility, because any modifications can be implemented and tested very quickly.
“In addition to this, developers around the globe will be able to take part in the decision-making process from their own office without having to travel too far. Only once the draft designs have been approved with the help of the 3D headsets will they actually be built for further testing.”
BMW is no stranger to VR technology, having utilized it through the development process since the 1990s, but this is the first time it’s being fully implemented into the creation of new vehicles. The company is also using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 technology to power the tech, which creates a rendering of photo-realistic quality when it comes to creating the right kind of vehicle. Given how Epic Games is making a big name for itself in virtual reality development, and the fact that McLaren will also be using Unreal Engine 4 to design its high-performance sports cars, this shouldn’t be too big of a surprise.
There’s no word on which models this new design process will impact, but given the efficiency of the HTC Vive technology, we wouldn’t be surprised if BMW began announcing virtually designed models sometime this year.
Hungry for Mexican food? Well, don’t worry about sitting in the drive-thru, because Slack now has a “TacoBot” to help feed that craving from wherever you are.
The popular communication service has teamed up with fast food chain Taco Bell to create a new program that processes and arranges food order pick-ups, according to The Drum. With the help of the so-called TacoBot, users can utilize artificial intelligence to place single or group orders from their nearby restaurant.
Although the TacoBot is still in beta and hasn’t been introduced program-wide yet, it could lead the way for other companies to offer similar programs in the future.
The process is simple, and lets users change their order however they see fit before placing it. All they have to do is type instructions like “Can I get one soft taco with beef?” to TacoBot and then customize the order before it’s finalized with the command “check out.”
So far, the program has been met with positive response, with one company noting that “there’s a cool factor and novelty to it” and “it’s very genuine to their brand in how it operates/works.”
Lawrence Kim, Taco Bell’s director of digital innovation and on demand, noted, “The TacoBot Slack integration is the latest step on our journey to make the brand more accessible wherever and whenever our fans want it. Taco Bell is about food tailor-made for social consumption with friends, and that’s why integrating with a social communications platform like Slack makes perfect sense.”
Taco Bell previously attempted its own take on the popular emoji characters in an effort to become more social with its audience.
It’ll be interesting to see how this program takes effect in the future and what companies will come on board to give it a try. One thing is for certain, it gets you hungry for tacos and burritos.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a massive box office success, earning over $2 billion, and this week’s home release is expected to break even more records. So, the timing is perfect for Disney and Lucasfilm to promote a new film in the franchise.
This morning, the companies released a new teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and fans are already hyped. This prequel actually ties in with the earlier films, with a ragtag group of soldiers assigned to steal the plans of the Death Star, a super-sized intergalactic battle station that was heavily featured in the original movie trilogy.
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla), the movie features an all-star cast, including Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, Diego Luna, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen, and promises to be “a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” according to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know.”
The teaser premiered earlier today on Good Morning America before being let loose on the Internet, where millions of fans immediately began discussing it on social media. Most of the responses have been positive, with fans excited about a return to an “old-school” style—characterized by the appearances of Star Destroyers, AT-AT’s and classic stormtroopers—that is reminiscent of the original movies from the ’70s and ’80s.
The film is set to undergo a huge promotion over the next few months, which will include a heavy presence at this summer’s Star Wars Celebration in London, possible new content for the game Star Wars: Battlefront, and perhaps new toys and products that are similar to last year’s The Force Awakens line-up. Disney hasn’t revealed all its plans for Rogue One promotion yet, but we’re certain to see much more rolling out over the next few months.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releases in theaters on December 16th, 2016.
When you’re working day-to-day on products, it’s important to take a look around once in a while to see how the landscape is changing. That’s incredibly important in the fast-moving games industry, where the only thing that remains constant is change. Fortunately, there’s some guidance, since the folks at market intelligence firm IDC teamed up with app analytics firm App Annie to take a comprehensive look at how the games industry changed in 2015, with some surprising results.
Mobile Gaming Takes The Lead
The report takes a look at worldwide consumer spending on games by device between 2013 and 2015, and the trend lines are clear: mobile games have taken over and continue to climb faster than other types of game. “Mobile gaming overtook both home game consoles and combined PC and Mac gaming in consumer spend for the first time in 2014; the gap widened in 2015 and shows no signs of slowing,” the report stated.
Games still represent the biggest share of revenue by far among all mobile apps, accounting for more than 80 percent of the total worldwide spend combined for the iOS and Google Play app stores, despite a slight decline in downloads (from 40 percent to 38 percent in 2015). Games are a bigger percentage of Google Play consumer spending, but there are more dollars spent on iOS games than Google Play games.
At the same time, PC gaming has been growing steadily, though not at the same pace as mobile gaming. In contrast, console game spending has dropped overall, despite the introduction of new consoles in that time frame. The decline in last-generation console sales happened more swiftly than was expected, and even though the latest consoles have outsold the last generation’s first couple of years, the decline is still there.
The place where there should be no surprise is the decline in handheld console spending. Sony has all but given up on the PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo’s 3DS platform has been underperforming compared to the DS platform. Nintendo has continually had to revise its sales estimates downward for handhelds. The reason seems to be obvious; with smartphones and tablets being in the hands of a vast number of people, the need to buy a handheld device specifically for gaming seems pointless—especially when the latest smartphones have more power and better screens than the 3DS and have an enormous selection of games.
At this point, the continued pre-eminence of mobile games seems assured, and there’s no obvious way this could be reversed. While a new handheld device (such as one rumored to be part of Nintendo’s NX console) could be profitable for its maker, there’s no way a new portable hardware platform could sell enough to make a significant dent in the huge mobile gaming market.
Game Platforms Segregate By Geography
The picture gets more interesting when you look at the game spending by region and platform. Mobile and PC gaming both rose 3.4 percent in Asia-Pacific between 2014 and 2015, and that region has the largest share of worldwide gaming revenues. The region also gained in handheld game consoles by 1.6 percent, offsetting the drop seen elsewhere to some degree.
The vast bulk of consumer spend on home consoles is seen in North America and Europe, with only a minor amount seen in Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world. The lifting of China’s 14-year-old ban on video game consoles had no major effect on sales in that region. Gamers in China have already found plenty of fun on PCs and mobile platforms, and the relatively high cost of consoles and the low number of games available in localized versions did not cause much of an impact in China.
Top Mobile Games Are Stable
Contrary to the early days of the mobile games market, the top-grossing positions have been remarkably stable over the last few years—far more so than on handheld and home game consoles. The report partially attributes this to the fact that handheld console games are largely sold in retail stores, and thus there’s a tendency to rotate out slow-moving packages.
That’s really a good sign for mobile game marketers. It means that if you’ve managed to create a strong mobile title, you can potentially have a long life ahead for the game. Of course, you’ll have to make sure that the game keeps introducing new content, that the game’s economy doesn’t spiral out of control, and that you’re constantly acquiring new players to replace those you’ve lost. It’s not easy being at the top, but at least multiple titles show it’s possible to stay there with hard work and the right strategy.
Console Games Have The Highest Spend
While console games are mostly popular in North America and Europe, and they are declining slightly in overall spending, they still have one huge advantage: consumer spending per device is about five times that of mobile games. That in itself explains why we see so many publishers eager to spend large sums on new console games.
Something that the report doesn’t point out about console games is the importance of brand-building across platforms. Strong console brands have demonstrated an ability to generate huge revenues on PC and mobile platforms as well. Witness the cross-platform strength of Call of Duty or Grand Theft AutoV between PC and console, for instance. Or how FIFA has generated hundreds of millions in mobile revenues from the strength of its console and PC franchise. Or the amazing power of Minecraft to generate astonishing revenues across PC, console, and mobile.
Consoles may not have the overall growth potential of mobile or PC, but where they shine is in targeting core gamers who are the heaviest spenders. These gamers are also prone to spending across platforms and are great influencers of other spending. Marketers looking to spread their brand impact need to have a strong console strategy.
Gaming Demographics Broaden Across Platforms
The report looked at US gamer demographics across all platforms as of the third quarter of 2015, and it’s a powerful message: “Males and females were represented evenly among US iPhone and Android Phone gamers and combined PC and Mac gamers,” according to the report. While console games still skewed male, that was still only a 59 percent to 41 percent split. Handheld game consoles actually skewed female (53 percent) in the US.
Age is also becoming a broad demographic for gaming. Gamers age 45 and older make up nearly a third of mobile game players, more than half of all PC gamers, and about a quarter of console game players. So, don’t leave older gamers out of your calculations when creating marketing strategies. By the way, older gamers are more likely to have higher incomes and more spending money. Interestingly, the 13-24 year-old gaming crowd is comparatively smaller, perhaps because they’re too busy with other pursuits.
From partnering for a Rocket League championship to creating a new mobile gaming league with Vainglory, Twitch has been making big moves in eSports. Now it’s taking things even further with an all-new league.
The company announced today that it has partnered with Faceit, one of the world’s biggest gaming platforms, to launch a new initiative known as the eSports Championship Series, or ECS. The first tournament for this league features the popular multiplayer shooter Counter-Strike, but what makes this event unique is that teams will be allowed to become co-owners—a first in eSports history.
The first competition kicks off today, with a tournament that will offer a whopping $3.5 million payout in prizes.
“Players and teams are the heart of the eSports community and deserve the opportunity to reap the rewards of their hard work and dedication to grow eSports into a mainstream phenomenon,” said Michael Attisani, co-founder of Faceit. “We make the community our first priority and as such, we’re excited to support the first eSports league that positions teams as co-owners.”
Both partners will assure fairness across both player treatment and payments, in the hopes that the ECS will continue with more popular tournaments across a variety of games. In addition, those that become co-owners will help decide and enforce certain parts of the league, including framework, integrity and other factors to assure players are treated properly.
“A major part of Twitch’s success is built around our relationship with the eSports community, from the players and organizations who have made it a leading form of entertainment, to our own staff with deep roots in the scene,” said Stuart Saw, director of eSports strategy for Twitch. “We’ve listened to what the teams and players are looking for, which is to have a bigger voice in the movement, and it inspired us to partner with Faceit to launch the ECS. This will mark a significant and welcome change to the sport, and will lead to a wider impact across the industry.”
Twitch is making a smart move with its investment in eSports. A recent Newzoo report found that eSports drives nearly 22 percent of Twitch’s general viewership. Furthermore, the report indicates that 475.5 million hours of content were watched across all eSports franchises, averaging over 79 million hours a month. It also pointed out that viewing hours per franchise varies widely across eSports-related and regular streams. Games like Hearthstone have high non-eSports viewerships, with only 12.7 percent tuning in for eSport competitions. Comparatively, 51.9 percent of Dota2 fans watch its eSports content.
Video ads often appear in free-to-play games, and while some may dislike them, a lot of players benefit from viewing them, according to a new report from Unity Technologies titled, In-Game Advertising the Right Way.
The company took a closer look at video ads as a potential tool for mobile developers use for monetizing their games and gaining greater user engagement. The survey asked over 2,000 game developers and players about the relationship between video ads and how they relate to player revenue. The findings are definitely something mobile developers will want to look into.
Highlights from the report include:
52 percent of mobile game developers identify video ads as providing the highest revenue per user compared to any other type of in-game advertising.
71 percent of players prefer to watch video ads as their way to “pay” for game content (compared to in-app purchases), while 54 percent of players go with rewarded video.
Nearly 80 percent of players admitted they’re fine with viewing video ads if it leads to rewards in the game itself.
Less than one in ten developers polled by Unity indicated there was a retention drop after introducing rewarded video ads.
86 percent of developers who used integrated rewarded video ads actually saw increased in-app purchasing.
“Rewarded video ads are a key monetization and engagement method quickly growing in popularity with today’s mobile game developer community,” said Jarkko Rajamaki, director of ads for Unity Technologies. “When properly integrated into gameplay, video ads, especially rewarded video ads, have a positive impact on the player’s experience and can help developers monetize their games and increase player engagement.”
Look for this trend of video ads to continue being added to many forthcoming mobile games.
A new update is now available for both its iOS and Android apps, which adds a new dedicated video tab that highlights popular livestreams and gives users an easier time when looking up videos.
The livestreaming feature is getting a huge upgrade, which gives users the ability to go live in Facebook Groups and Events. This includes sharing an update video with members of a charity group, or news on a forthcoming film for fans. Events will also enable the scheduling of livestreams, including Q&A sessions, presentations and more.
The company has also introduced Live Reactions, which enable users to express their feelings about an event in real-time during a broadcast using Likes and reaction icons from the News Feed. Live filters are also included in the update, so broadcasters can customize their video with a variety of settings.
“Live video on Facebook is truly interactive as broadcasters engage with their commenters and respond to their suggestions and questions,” wrote Fidji Simo, Facebook’s product management director. “In fact, from initial data, we’ve seen that people comment more than ten times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos. We want people watching the broadcast after the fact to feel ‘in’ on the action. To achieve this, we will replay comments as they happened during the live broadcast when people watch it later.”
Other social features are also being rolled out, including the option to invite a friend to watch videos with you; creating a dedicated place on the Facebook app to find video based on trends and friend suggestions; and a Facebook Live Map for desktop, which allows broadcasts to be found based on location.
In addition, content creators will also be able to track new metrics based on these features. “We know that understanding live viewership is important to publishers and creators, so today we’re also rolling out two new video metrics: total live viewers during a broadcast, and a new chart showing the number of concurrent live viewers over time during a broadcast,” Simo states in the blog post. “These new metrics follow the updates we announced last month that give page owners a better understanding of when people are watching their videos.”
Battlezone is regarded by many as one of the first games to offer a glimpse of what virtual reality might look like. In fact, the original arcade machine had players looking through a “periscope” viewfinder that could be compared to some of today’s high-end VR headsets. Although we’ve come a long way from the 1980s wireframe graphics, the spirit of the game—where the player controls a tank against waves of enemies—lives on. Due to its first-person perspective and quasi-3D graphics, some consider Battlezone as a precursor to modern shooters.
Despite being around for over 35 years, Battlezone is a franchise that has been revived to fit into the technology of the era. A version that included strategic elements was published by Activision in 1998, which was followed by a sequel in 1999. The franchise later made its way onto the PlayStation Portable in 2006. Finally, a version that supported HD graphics and surround sound released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008.
In 2013, the rights to Battlezone were purchased by Rebellion Studios, which will be bringing the franchise to the platform it was always meant to be on: virtual reality. The game is set to launch for PlayStation VR in the fall, with other platforms to follow. As an added bonus, Rebellion is remastering the games from the ’90s and will be releasing them on Steam as Battlezone 98 Redux this spring.
Rebellion co-founder and CEO, Jason Kingsley, speaks to [a]listdaily about what it takes to bring the classic arcade game into an all-new era of technology.
What convinced Rebellion to make Battlezone as its first VR game?
Battlezone has always been an important game to my brother (and Rebellion co-founder) Chris and I, ever since our childhood days playing it in arcades, peering into the cabinet’s VR-like visor that put you in that wireframe world. Likewise, we’ve always believed in virtual reality, and that it would make a return someday. So, when Battlezone went up for auction, we knew it made good business sense to acquire the property, but we had a feeling the time was right to bring it back as a VR game.
How does virtual reality enhance a game like Battlezone?
It’s much more than enhancement. It’s as a big a shift, if not bigger, than when games moved into 3D space. I imagine people might look at Battlezone and think, “I’ve played a tank game before, so I know what being inside a combat vehicle is like,” but even if it’s a huge cliché, you really have to put the headset on and experience it for yourself.
In terms of marketing, as an industry we’ve kind of backed ourselves into a corner by describing video games as “immersive” since the ’80s, but a traditional combat game simply can’t give you the sense of presence, peripheral vision and battlefield awareness that Battlezone does.
We’ve done hundreds—if not thousands—of public demos with Battlezone, and the most telling thing is that people just love looking around the cockpit, let alone starting to pilot the tank! Others drive around the game maps ignoring enemies because they want to take in these awesome sci-fi environments. This is the power of VR. It’s the difference between, say, playing racing games as a teenager, and then actually learning to drive in person.
With the Battlezone franchise, we’ve seen VR envisioned in the 80s and 90s. How would you say those compare with the real thing?
That’s interesting because the original Battlezone was clearly influential on Tron. We’ve seen many people say our Battlezone is Tron-like, but it’s Tron that’s really Battlezone-like! In many ways, films like Tron and The Matrix have shaped our imagined view of virtual reality, but what we’re seeing in this new wave of VR is a number of different titles and lots of variety.
And this is just the beginning. Who’s to say what VR might be in one, five or ten years’ time? As a developer, I’m excited that gaming is leading this new generation of VR, but games will eventually just be a small part of a wider VR ecosystem. There is just so much potential.
What convinced Rebellion to bring Battlezone to PlayStation VR first?
Sony has been really great to work with, and the company has done an amazing job supporting independent developers like Rebellion making their first VR titles. I think it’s a mutually beneficial relationship, of course, but we’re very excited to be able to say we’ll be there when PlayStation VR launches, day one. Naturally, we believe that Battlezone will be one of the essential launch titles, and with such a high install base for PS4, we’re confident PlayStation VR—and Battlezone—will do well.
How do you promote a game like Battlezone when the majority of people haven’t been able to try VR yet?
I think the thing we’re trying to remember is not to rush things. “Triple-A” titles, like our Sniper Elite games, require a certain timeline and lead-time for marketing, but as you rightly point out, it’s not that easy to actually try VR right now if you’re a member of the public, even if you’re interested in it.
This means we need to work with PlayStation so that Battlezone is at as many public shows as possible before launch, but also really leverage the community once PlayStation VR is in the wild, because it’s going to win a lot of converts very quickly, and they’re the guys and girls who will make VR a success via word-of-mouth.
No one is really sure what will happen when the VR platforms launch. How will VR ads work? Will YouTubers have the same success with VR games as they do traditional Lets Plays? Will we need to return to guerrilla hardware marketing like the original PlayStation days? These are the kind of questions we’ll be answering soon enough!
Apart from the VR features, what sets Battlezone apart from other tank-based shooting games?
Battlezone is far from a lumbering tank sim. It offers sleek, arcade, first-person shooting, so it has a lot in common with arena shooters, not just tank games.
The world we’ve created full of neon-coated wastelands and looming futuristic structures makes for a breathtaking landscape that you won’t see in many other combat games, and that’s just for starters. There are things like the license itself and all the nostalgia value that comes with it. We’ll have more than few treats for Battlezone fans!
What also makes Battlezone stick out as a VR game is the procedurally generated campaign map, in which dozens of environments, missions and levels will be mixed together across the single-player campaign. That means no two campaign playthroughs will ever be the same, and that should make Battlezone highly replayable.
What is it about the Battlezone brand that stands the test of time?
I think for a certain generation of gamers, the 1980 Battlezone sparked imaginations because it represented the cutting edge, the future of games at that time, so it’s remembered fondly for that. But for many gamers of the PlayStation 4 era, Battlezone will effectively be a new IP and their first gateway into VR. So it’s the best of both worlds!
Hardcore Henry is an action-adventure film shot entirely in first-person, using a GoPro camera rig. The effect is that of a video game in which we, the audience, play Henry—a silent but powerful protagonist. Given the overall feel of the title, it’s no surprise that STX Entertainment has unleashed the awesome marketing power of video game fans, for which punching, shooting and tossing grenades is all in a day’s work.
The first Hardcore Henry trailer debuted exclusively during a two-hour event on Twitch, and was watched by over one million fans. YouTube views across all trailers have exceeded 28 million.
The STX marketing team has since partnered with game developer, Starbreeze Studios, to drop Hardcore Henry‘s on-screen ally, Jimmy, into their video game, Payday 2. “Coke Jimmy,” portrayed in the film by Sharlto Copley, is now a playable character with two new heists created just for him: Hardcore: The Boiling Point Heist and Hardcore: The Murky Station Heist.
While video game adaptation films like Warcraftand Assassin’s Creedadvertise to a broader audience, video game fans are an obvious choice for Hardcore Henry marketing, tapping into a $91.95 billion market primed by first-person games like Call of Duty and Halo. STX even hosted a GoPro camera giveaway promotion, tapping into another obvious demographic choice for the film.
Directed by Russian filmmaker, Ilya Naishuller, Hardcore Henry (originally titled just Hardcore) was successfully crowdfunded on Indiegogo in 2014. The film is experimental in itself, utilizing a custom, over-the-face GoPro camera rig and carefully choreographed stunts. After a well-received showing at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015, STX Entertainment picked up the worldwide rights to the film for $10 million.
Armed with rave reviews from critics and attendees of SXSW, Hardcore Henry, the world’s first feature-length, entirely-POV motion picture, explodes into theaters worldwide on April 8.
Mobile marketing automation company Swrve has released its latest report on mobile game monetization, and as usual, the data provided give marketers invaluable insight into the state of the mobile games market. This information is critical to not only the marketing, but to the design of mobile games, as the two are inextricably linked these days.
Swrve’s report deals only with free-to-play (F2P) games and the revenue delivered by in-app purchases, which means it does not address premium games such as the $6.99 Minecraft mobile, nor advertising-supported titles, subscriptions, or other variations on revenue. Still, F2P games account for well over 90 percent of mobile game revenues, and this data is vital to understanding what’s happening. One more thing to note is that this report covers the month of February 2016, so it doesn’t look at long-term patterns. However, it does cover tens of millions of users and their associated monetization events.
Swrve originally conducted this same study in January 2014, and found that only 1.5 percent of active players made in-app purchases. This time, Swrve saw an improvement, with 1.9 percent of players making a purchase within the month. “That means that excluding any revenue from advertising (which does not fall under the scope of this report), the vast majority of players deliver no revenue, again confirming that greater care should be taken in user acquisition to ensure, as much as possible, that onboarded users fit the subset of ‘spenders’. Why spend money on users who will never generate revenue?” Swrve noted.
These numbers bear close examination, because of both the trends and the overall situation with F2P mobile games. Most games seem to operate with a very small percentage of players providing the bulk of the revenue, which should concern everyone. If you have a million players but most of your money comes from only a thousand people, what if something happens to drive away that small number? It’s more than just theoretical; as there have been games that rolled out a design change, thinking it wouldn’t matter, but ended up losing a significant number of high-value players because of it.
Thus, keeping an eye on the general state of mobile F2P games is important when deciding your own marketing and design strategy for your mobile games. After all, the players are comparing games all the time, and there are plenty of alternatives if yours isn’t a good play value for the money.
Swrve looked at a number of other important mobile game monetization aspects. For instance, the report found that the monthly mean average spend is $24.66, up from the $22 seen two years ago. The average number of purchases per month is 1.8, with an average value of $13.82, both an increase over 2014.
Multiple purchases are uncommon, since 64 percent of players only make a single purchase in the month, which is up from 49 percent in 2014. At the other end of the scale, over 7 percent of paying players make five or more purchases in a month, which is down some 13 percent from 2014. Swrve notes that this may be due to a change in the behavior of gamers, or developers encouraging that pattern, or perhaps something of both.
The report notes that while the bulk of purchases (over 39 percent) are between $0 and $5, they only account for 14.5 percent of the revenue, down from 27 percent in 2014. The trend has gone in the other direction at the high end, sales over $50 make up only 2.5 percent of the total purchases, but supply 18 percent of the revenue—an 11 percent increase from 2014. Clearly, so-called “whales” are more important than ever to generating revenues.
Price points all over the scale generate significant revenue in different ways. That is, there’s no clear data pushing marketers and game designers from preferring one price point for in-app purchases over another. The best price points are therefore going to be determined by the nature of the game, its audience, and the data derived from purchases over time. It’s a good idea to have a range of price points to give the audience a chance to show what they like and how much they are willing to pay for it.
Back in 2014, Swrve’s report showed that over 50 percent of all revenues within the month came from just 10 percent of those making purchases, which meant that less than 0.2 percent of the total player base generated more than half of a game’s revenues. “Apparently things have got a little ‘better’,” Swrve’s report noted. “Sure, a full 48 percent of revenue still derives from the top 10 percent of payers, but that’s a little down on previous trends. To add context to that number, if we express that group as a percent of total players, they still represent a mere 0.19 percent of that group. In other words, over 48 percent of all revenues come from a mere 0.19 percent of all players!”
At the same time, some 60 percent of all payers contribute a little less than 20 percent of total revenues, which is an improvement over 2014. Clearly, marketers must learn as much as possible about the customer base and figure out how to acquire, engage and retain the best-quality players. The possibility for improvement is enormous, given that a small percentage of players have a huge impact on revenues. On the flip side, if you get any part of acquisition, engagement, or retention wrong, you could see a huge drop in revenues. No pressure, right?
Swrve also noted that over a quarter of the sample size were “new.” That is, playing the game for the first time in February. That’s down significantly from the over 50 percent it once was, suggesting that players are more likely to stick with a favorite game than constantly look for new ones.
Notably, the time to first purchase has dropped to 14 hours, and 59 percent of purchasers make that purchase in the first day after install. Some 55 percent of all revenue comes on the first day, and only 22 percent comes after day 5.
Marketers face more responsibility than ever for the success of a game, particularly a mobile game that relies on converting users into paying players and keeping them for a long period of time. It’s no longer enough just to acquire installs. Marketers have to find high-quality players who are likely to stick with the game and be motivated to spend. Certainly, the game’s design bears some responsibility, but designers need to rely on marketers for insight into the marketplace.
What convinced Rebellion to make Battlezone as its first VR game?
