Game Insight: 5 tips for mobile game operations

It is not easy to make money on mobile platforms, but it is not always the case. According to Darya Trushkina, vice president of business development at Game Insight and Narr8, developers can observe and analyze data to see the direction of the industry, so as to ensure that the games or apps they launch make money. Here are some key experiences:

1. Pay attention to Windows 8 system

Windows 8 may not have a big market right now, or even be considered very small, but this situation will definitely not last long. It may be a very big opportunity for developers.

My Country is currently one of the most successful games for Windows 8.

"For developers who want to make the biggest breakthrough, I would recommend considering Windows 8. The iOS and Android markets are already very crowded, and the cost of getting games exposed has become unaffordable for many small developers," said Trushkina.

The bottom line is that competition on Windows 8 is not that intense right now, so any games released on the platform are unlikely to need a lot of money to promote. And Microsoft has also said it's willing to promote Windows 8 apps for free, which reduces a lot of marketing expenses for developers.

This strategy has worked well for Game Insight's My Country game, which was released on Windows 8 in March and has now surpassed 350,000 users. "Early data shows that the platform has great potential for profit. Windows 8 has the potential to become a mainstream system," said Trushkina.

Global thinking, market understanding

Manufacturers who have sold products in multiple markets know that products that are popular in the United States may not necessarily sell well in other regions. Mobile games are no exception.

Different cultural backgrounds require different operating strategies.

"You can't create the same game for all countries. They need to feel that your game is tailor-made for them to be satisfied. A game that sells well in the United States may not be sold in the Japanese market," said Trushkina.

For example, Game Insight noticed that Japanese players completed game content six times faster than American players, and Korean players even faster, which forced Game Insight to create more content for players in these countries.

Cultural differences can even be seen in players’ willingness to pay for content. According to Trushkina, Japanese players are more willing to pay for IAP items in games than American players. The key is to launch paid items earlier.

"The average user payment rate in Japan is much higher than in the United States. If you can create high-quality content and localize it, Japanese users will like your game more," said Trushkina.

Understanding the Japanese market has been very helpful to Game Insight, whose games often appear on the Japanese sales charts, which is a rare achievement for a foreign developer. "It's clear that many developers are unwilling to spend time and effort on localization, and translation alone is not enough," said Trushkina.

Keep players interested with updated content

Web comics app Narr8 offers comic sequels for free, but charges for subsequent installments.

If you want to retain your users, you must keep them interested in the game. This is why Game Insight releases new content every one or two weeks. "Users want more and more content, and it's better to be different, so the challenge we face is to keep up with the market and create the content that players want," said Trushkina.

But the real difficulty is to develop new content for old games while also launching new content for new games. Although it is impossible to maintain a balance between the two, developers who can handle it as well as possible have a great chance of gaining user growth and retaining users.

Free model can also make money

As a game developer, if you want to rely on mobile advertising as your main source of income, you are going in the wrong direction.

"Mobile ads don't work well on smartphones," Trushkina said. Unlike many companies, Game Insight sells games that don't include ads, but still perform well. Instead of relying on ads, Game Insight focuses on game production and IAP.

Similar to the strategy of the comic reading app Narr8, the initial comics are provided to users for free, but subsequent sequels require payment. Basically, if you want to make money, first provide it to users for free and then make them sticky to the content you provide, so that you have a profitable user base.

Learn about the platform

This may not be surprising to many people. However, Android and iOS are two very different platforms. "The first and biggest difference is the different application approval procedures for the two platforms," ​​said Trushkina. Such changes make developers take different approaches when making applications for each platform.

Apple and Google also have different approaches to the ranking algorithms, which is one of the most difficult things for developers to understand. "Google's ranking algorithm is always changing," Trushkina said.

Developers spend a lot of money to attract more users. Not knowing the rules brings more uncertainty to success for developers.

Article from: Game Panorama