Josh Larson, President & COO of Mochi Media, discussed lessons learned from launching their virtual currency Mochi Coins. Mochi Media operates the world's largest browser-based game network. Their data from over 170 games using Mochi Coins showed that games grossing hundreds of thousands in revenue typically had development cycles of 3 months or less and attracted tens of millions of players. Larson provided tips for game developers including picking the right virtual goods to enhance gameplay and drive revenue, pricing accordingly and offering real value through bundles, promoting virtual goods prominently in-game, evolving games over time through new content and features, and tapping into social motivations through leaderboards and gifting.
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Lessons In Virtual Currency: Josh Larson, President & COO Mochi Media, Inc.
1. July 20-22 2010 Casual Connect Seattle 2010 Creating Successful Games:Lessons in Virtual Currency Josh Larson President & COO, Mochi Media
2. 2 Who is Mochi Media? Company’s mission is to build a ubiquitous game monetization and distribution platform World’s largest browser-based game network: #1 in comScore for online games 150,000,000 monthly active unique users 40,000 publisher websites 20,000 unique games 4,000 active developers
3. 3 Our Virtual Goods Dataset Launched Mochi Coins in July 2009 Since then, over 170 Coins games launched Early successes: Top games grossing $X00,000s in revenue with dev cycles of 3 months or less Attracting tens of millions of game plays Typical games to date are single-player and browser-based Nearly all are ads-enabled as well Over 650 non-free items for sale across a variety of transaction types (items, levels) and genres
4. 4 Lessons from launching a virtual currency Listen to your customers Got it right: 30+ feedback sessions with developers / publishers; company-wide customer interaction Got it wrong: Didn’t prioritize consumables for launch Utilize beta period Got it right: Ensured product stability and produced data for all stakeholders at formal launch Got it wrong: Thought retro-fitting games with transactions would produce results Support top payment categories Got it right: Incremental revenue gained from mobile and offers, achieving roughly ~10% gains Got it wrong: A lot of options, challenge is finding point of diminishing returns with limited engineering & BD resources
5. TOP FIVE tips Lessons from Mochi Coins Virtual Economy for Developers: 5
6. 6 #1: Pick the right virtual goods Accelerators Additional Levels / Modes Aesthetics Consumables Full Unlock Item Unlock Powerup
7. 7 Accelerators Items that help player progress thru game, providing shortcut or multiplier effect.
8. 8 Additional Levels / Modes Additional gameplay offered to your fans thru purchase of extra levels or stages (not unlockable thru normal gameplay).
15. 15 #2: Price accordingly and offer real value Cheap / free items can incent adoption; packages can drive higher price & revenue Bundles represent 8% of revenue Source: Mochi Coins economy, July 2009 – June 2010.
16. 16 #3: Show off the goods Location, Location, Location Readily-accessible store, and items/levels visible from outset and in-game will get things seen
17. 17 #3: Show off the goods (cont’d) Detailed descriptions, and even video, can highlight the benefits of your virtual goods
18. 18 #4: Evolve your game and develop IP Thru Live Updates, can push new items, levels, maps and other features Change Pricing, Items, Analyze, Iterate, Rinse, Repeat New Content Distribution Site Locked
19. 19 #4: Evolve your game and develop IP (cont’d) Leverage assets of traditional retail launches for sequels: Trailer Email Outreach Cross-Promo from other games Bloons TD4 Email Blast Shadez 2 Trailer
20. 20 #4: Evolve your game and develop IP (cont’d) Bloons on Real Housewives of New Jersey!!
21. 21 #5: Tap into social motivations Feed users’ competitive nature with high scores / leaderboards, which can motivate purchase Social Leaderboards Scores from Facebook Friends Sharing your Scores & Achievements
22. 22 #5: Tap into social motivations (cont’d) Gifting expands your player base, and highlights items
23. 23 RECAP: LESSONS LEARNED Lessons from Launching a Virtual Currency: #1: Listen to your customers #2: Utilize a beta period #3: Support top payment categories Top Five Tips for Developers: #1: Pick the right virtual goods #2: Price accordingly and offer real value #3: Show off the goods #4: Evolve your game and develop IP #5: Tap into social motivations
24. 24 Other resources Mochi Wiki: http://wiki.mochimedia.com/ Mr. Shen: alexander@mochimedia.com Josh Larson: josh@mochimedia.com