Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
and get 25 coins.� So far, this type of service seems to be effective. The service pays you, the
publisher, a converted amount of real money for these actions, and your players love it because
they don't have to spend any real money to get the VC they so desperately want.
To Sell or Not to Sell
In the early mobile game market, the primary revenue model was to offer both a free, limited-
functionality version of the game and a paid, fully functional version, with the goal being to get
players hooked on the trial version and wanting more, leading them to buy the paid version.
The landscape since then has changed drastically, with game developers giving away more and
more functionality to users for “free� and relying more heavily on monetization of their games
using forms such as those discussed in the “Monetizing Your Game� section. It's important
to really study the market and see how well new games do when they go straight to the paid
model. You can gather rough information just by viewing details on the top games in the Google
Play store. Users are more apprehensive than ever about paying for something that they haven't
already engaged in, and they have so many free options that they may pass a new paid game
straight over.
On the flip side, Google Play still has a “paid� category, so in some cases it may make sense
to publish a paid game that you believe can rise up in that category. Either way, the choice
depends heavily on how desirable your product is. A game that uses a recognizable, licensed
character, for example, will likely sell copies no matter what the content is. A brand new game
with no previous track record may struggle to sell any copies at all. You will want to take all
marketing facets into account when making this decision.
Licensing
Licensing is a great option for quickly monetizing a game. When we say “licensing,� we're talking
about making a deal where another company pays you for the rights to distribute a certain
number of copies of your game. For example, a major cellular service provider or smartphone
vendor may want to preinstall your game on a new model of phone that will be released soon as
an extra incentive to potential buyers. In this deal, the company will either ask you to let them
preinstall the game at no cost to them or ask you to quote them some per-unit prices. Per-unit
prices these companies are willing to pay are typically several times lower than the retail price
of the game. If your game normally sells for $2.99, for example, the bundle price may be 20 to
50 cents per unit. It depends entirely on a number of factors, such as how popular your game is
and how many installs there will be. Obviously, you will want to negotiate the best deal you can
get, but if you structured your game such that it's freely distributed and relies on monetization
through VC and IAPs, you not only can afford to give it away for free, but can reap big returns
through the greatly expanded user base. In such a case, everyone wins.
With any agreement, make sure you read the contract and negotiate terms that are right for you.
It takes a little extra time and effort up-front but adds up in the long run.
