Building Thriving Virtual Worlds =PROFIT

1. Building Thriving Virtual Worlds=PROFIT Justin Beck CEO

2. UA costs are rising… Player retention is THE way to make profit

3. R&D Design of the game Publishing Social engagement with your users Live Ops Incorporating feedback into the content updates

6. How we make money Download the game for free Play and love the game Buy virtual currency Spend virtual currency in the game Repeat and buy more

7. Virtual Goods Expenses Purchase Swag 30% Level Up 22% Premium Resources 15% Everything Else 33% 67%

8. Gross Revenue Total Accounts Average Payer LTV $5M 1.8M $145

9. Design

10. Open World to Explore • Flag chains • Direct engagement with neighbors

11. Hunting Parties • Group hunting • Invite in-game friends for synchronous game play

12. Kingdoms • Recruiting, building, warring

13. Player to Player Trade • The virtual economy formed around trade

14. Chat and Messaging • The social infrastructure to pipe it all together

15. Things we would do differently • Synchronous game play • Relying on neighbors • Total persistence • A true economy

16. Things we got right • Robust chat system • Smooth friend, invite, and personal messaging system • Faces and characters • Social Engagement Loops

17. Publishing

18. Marketing and Communication • Community building is downward, upward, and cross communication. GAME DEVS Support Tickets PR / App Description Update Hut Posts App Reviews Game Forum In-Game Chat In-Game Messages Social Media PLAYER CROSS COMMUNICATION

19. Engagement • Ask questions and respond to player questions • Facebook makes this engagement even easier

20. Update Hut Posts • Communicating change logs • Preview updates before they come out • Replying to feedback • In-game messaging about updates so that everyone knows they exist

21. Curating a list of Beta testers • Sending beta builds • Getting bug reports back from them • Getting game play feedback from them • They will be fickle (just like your players) • They will be intense when engaged • Auto Error reporting

22. Customer Support • Have a straight forward customer support policy • Ignore the bad, reward the good • Discipline when necessary • Metrics to Measure: • Ticket volume and backlog • Average solve time • Average response time • Productivity

23. Live Ops

24. Swag • Custom hats, weapons, and skins • Limited time, in general high price • Very cool looking • Player recommended Swag • Connected to Holidays • Bundling with Sales

25. Economy • Very small adjustments to problems and situations • Player confidence in market stability is shaken when large changes happen • Players speculate and then act, thus causing large swing changes

26. Competitions • Weekly Hat Races • Weekly Tournaments • League Rewards based on timeline

27. Additional content • Our “Ages” • Exploration • Gathering • Emergence • Kingdoms • Ascension • Dungeons • Expanding skills • Increasing level cap

28. Recap • Design • Stay focused on features, social implications, and the social engagement loop (including motivation) • Publishing • Build strong downward and cross communication channels in the product • Focus on engagement and quality over support • Live Ops • Plan for content, know how much it will cost • User player feedback in making it • Know how it will be messaged and consumed

29. Thanks! justin@perblue.com