2. Adopting a Fully Flexible MONETIZATION model Without scaring away players or ruining your game!
3. About Turbine The Premier Entertainment Services Company: Creating and Operating Massive Online Game Worlds and Communities Based on the World’s Most Important Entertainment Brands Founded: 1994 Employees: 300+ (Boston / San Francisco) Franchises: The Lord of the Rings Online™ Dungeons & Dragons Online® Asheron’s Call® Defined by Constant Innovation and Product Segment Leadership 3
5. DDO – What We Did Right Fun Party-based RPG Questing Unique Hand-crafted Adventures Fast Action Combat Faithful Adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons Diverse Character Customization Options Launch Date: Feb. 28 2006
6. DDO – A humble beginning Hard to Solo No Open World, few Outdoor Quests No PvP or Direct Competition No Crafting Only 10 Character Levels Did Not Fit the Expectations of a Traditional MMO Subscription Model
18. Makes it Free to Play Optional Subscription The Best Combat Of Any MMO In Game Store Purchasable Account Upgrades Level Cap to 96 ranks / D&D limit of 20 New Class: Favored Soul New Adventure Packs and Free Quests What Changed in Unlimited? 9
19. Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Feel Every Blow Of Battle With DDO’s Awesome Action Combat Explore Killer Dungeons Bursting With Ferocious Monsters Play Characters With Real Character Alone Or With Friends, Slay Your Way Join a Community of Thousands Free to Play – No Purse Strings Attached Shop ‘Till Your Enemies Drop At The DDO Store Head Start: Sep. 1 2009 F2P Launch: Sep. 9 2009 10
24. The Common Wisdom “Hybrid Models Don’t Work” “You can’t have subscription and MTX customers co-exist” “You’ll lose your subscribers” But also: “Concurrencies go up 10X and Revenues 3X… in Asia”
25. Designing the Model Target Timelines, Billing Capabilities and Distribution Channels Digital only or will we have a retail box? Macro-transaction only (content sales)? Micro-transaction store (consumables)? Keep Subscription plan relevant Rent full access vs. Buy a la carte What is appropriate to monetize? Content, Features and Consumables? What about existing features? Define Customer Tiers Free, Premium and VIP
26. DDO Unlimited Offering $14.99 / mo subscription (multi-plans available) Unlimited access to all content , races, classes 500 TP monthly grant 10 character slots Shared bank slot No level sigils required Exclusive first access to new content releases Priority access to full game worlds Access to in-game support Automatic upgrade for players who transact or purchased retail client Includes Free Benefits Add 2 free character slots for 4 total Reduced in-game limits Premium access to full game worlds Access to in-game support after purchase No subscription or credit card required Free download 2 free character slots Requires leveling token every 4 levels Limited chat, gold, guilds, mail, auctions Can purchase premium races/classes VIP Premium Free
27. The Undertaking Game Store UI Store Integration points Feature gating / unlock Item purchase support Free limits / restrictions Special VIP benefits Self-help tools Server optimizations Improved Accessibility Tiered P2P Client Download Game update: level cap, new class and new content Store Web front end Point balances Purchase history Billing Support non-subscribers Handle point purchases Set customer tier for CS Reporting support Performance Optimization Login Login Queue priority
28. Key Partnership – Store Implementation Turbine partnered with PlaySpan to implement a full-featured, web-driven, in-game store Turbine handles Billing and Game integration while Playspan focuses on Store frontend / backend Turbine-designed Store skin based on Playspan’s proven MTX platform, hosted on Playspan servers
34. Lengthy beta critical to effective iteration on game and store offeringsBeta and usability testing is critical to deliver a stable, top quality play experience! 22
35. The numbers please… Reduced acquisition costs 3x ad banner click-through rates vs. previous Subscriptions are up! Subscriber acquisition up 15% Reacquisition up 40% since F2P announcement > 5x concurrencies since launch 22% of players transacting in Store Includes use of free points 70% cart to checkout rate Indicates buyers are not afraid to spend money or buy things from the store.
38. Constant Fine Tuning Post-Launch Free vs. Premium How much should be Free to hit the desired acquisition rate? Adjust Store Pricing Some items not testable in Beta New Store Items / Services Re-spec Options Character Transfer Different Price plans & Service Levels Tiered VIP Plans? Product Bundles?
39. Or contact me offline at mark.rose@playspan.com Q&A / Discussion