Josh Burns, Associate Director of Product at 6waves, presented at our SF Game Monetization event on May 9th, 2012. Check out the SF Game Monetization meetup: http://www.meetup.com/SFGameMonetization/ In this presentation, Josh shares his learnings from working on hit Facebook games such as Kingdoms of Camelot and Ravenwood Faire.

1. Best Practices for Maximizing
Revenue in Free to Play Games
Josh Burns
Associate Director, Products
6waves

2. INTRO

3. What do we do?
Distribution Game Advisory
Full Service Global
Game Publishing
Hosting Localization

4. Why should you listen to us?

5. BEST PRACTICE #1
INSTANT COMPLETION

6. Instant Completion

7. Instant Completion
• “Finish Instantly”
allows players to use
Facebook credits to
complete a training
session instantly.
• These accelerators are
priced modestly to
lower the barrier to
purchase.

8. Instant Completion
DAILY REVENUE: PAY RATE: ARPU:
125% Increase 43% Increase 60% Increase

9. BEST PRACTICE #2
PROPER MERCHANDISING

10. Proper Merchandising
BEFORE AFTER
A larger image of the new item easily grabs the player’s attention

11. Proper Merchandising
DAILY REVENUE: 24% Increase PAY RATE: 28% Increase ARPU: 120% Increase

12. BEST PRACTICE #3
SELECT ALL FRIENDS

13. Select All Friends

14. Select All Friends
Select All Friends
implemented
Invite
Requests
DAU
Date (Days)

15. Select All Friends

16. BEST PRACTICE #4
PLAYER BONUSES FOR RETENTION

17. Player Bonuses for Retention
• Player receives more
coins for every day
he/she comes back to the
game
• As the bonus get better
each day, the player is
incentivized to return to
the game.

18. Player Bonuses for Retention
PLAY RATE: 11% increase

19. Player Bonuses for Retention
• Players must collect four
parts to complete one item.
• Encourages players to return
to the game several days in
a row.
• Offers exclusive rewards
that cannot be purchased in
the game.

20. Player Bonuses for Retention
No cap for consecutive daily logins. Players are offered their pick of bonus
Players receive different bonuses each gifts. Additional “picks” are given for
day. each consecutive daily login.

21. Player Bonuses for Retention

22. BEST PRACTICE #5
PAYMENT PAGE OPTIMIZATION
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23. Payment Page Optimization
BEFORE

24. Payment Page Optimization
Screen fold
AFTER

25. Payment Page Optimization
Avg. Revenue per Paying
User

26. Payment Page Optimization
How to increase the pay rate and ARPU?
- Highlight the ‘Buy Coins’ button
- Label and highlight the ‘Best Deal’ option
- Make sure the ‘Best Deal’ option is above the
fold (visible without scrolling down)
- Give away special items when players buy the
‘Best Deal’ package
- Set a higher threshold for the cheapest payment
option, e.g. US$2 (20 Facebook Credit)
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27. BEST PRACTICE #6
PREMIUM CURRENCY SALE
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28. Premium Currency Sale
• Things we tried:
– 25% - 75% discount on item sales
– Time limited offers
– Viral promotions (buy something and a friend of
yours will also get it for free from you as a gift)
– Bundle purchases
• What worked best?

29. Premium Currency Sale

30. Premium Currency Sale
Revenue
$$$$$$$
Buy 1 Get 2
Free Events
Notice the increased frequency of
promotions will not reduce the
revenue in the later periods
Date (Days)

31. Buy 1 Get X Free
• Best Practices
– Always have item clearance sale at the same time as an item sale, to sink
the currency out of the system at an accelerated rate; this prevents
hoarding or stockpiling of premium currency
– Seasonal item inventory (whose date has passed) is always a good target
for a clearance
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN Total
10 coins 10 coins 20 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins
Purchased None $60
for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10
Spent 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins
Balance 0 coins 0 coins 10 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins
10 coins 10 coins 20 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins
Purchased $70
for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10 for $10
Spent 10 coins 10 coins 20 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins 10 coins
Balance 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins 0 coins
User spends 2x more than
normal due to item sale

32. BEST PRACTICE #7
IN-GAME DISCOUNT CARD
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33. In-Game Discount Card

34. In-Game Discount Card

35. BEST PRACTICE #8
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY

36. Try Before You Buy

37. Try Before You Buy

38. Try Before You Buy

39. BEST PRACTICE #9
PRESS YOUR LUCK

40. Press Your Luck

41. Press Your Luck

42. BEST PRACTICE #10
MYSTERY CRATES

43. Mystery Crates

44. BEST PRACTICE #11
CROSS-BREEDING

45. Cross-Breeding

46. Cross-Breeding

47. Cross-Breeding

48. Cross-Breeding

49. Josh Burns:
josh@6waves.com
Publishing Inquiries:
bd@6waves.com
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