The Gamification of Mobile Games
APP是個大生意，而APP中最大的生意就是遊戲。Flurry估計在2012年，從APP賺取到的收入將會接近10億美元，而遊戲將占到其中超過80％的金額。
The free-to-play business model (aka freemium), where consumers download and play the “core loop” of a game for free, but then pay for virtual goods and currency through micro-transactions, is the most prolific business model in the new era of digital distribution.
免費遊戲的商業模式（即免費增值），消費者可以免費的下載和執行“基本功能”的遊戲，但隨後可以透過微交易模式使用貨幣支付購買，這種微交易模式是數位發行新時代最賺錢的業務模式。
When it comes to app consumption on iOS and Android smart devices, consumers spend over 40% of all their time using games.
當談到消費者在iOS和Android智慧型手機上使用APP的時間，可以發現其中有超過40%以上的時間都花費在玩遊戲上。
Posted by Dan Laughlin on Thu, Dec 13, 2012
The most successful companies in the new mobile economy, from Electronic Arts to Zynga and Mobage to Supercell, deeply understand consumer behavior differences by game genre.? This level of understanding greatly informs a company’s app acquisition, retention and monetization strategies.
在這個新的移動經濟中最成功的公司從Zynga和Mobage到Supercell，，都十分深入的了解消費者在不同的遊戲類型會產生的行為差異。這種對消費者的理解程度在吸引客戶，留住客戶(留存率)和盈利策略上極大的影響了這些公司開發的APP。
In this report, Flurry examines the consumer behavior differences by app usage, retention and demographics for the top nine freemium game genres in mobile gaming.? For this analysis, Flurry leveraged a sample of more than 300 million consumers using iOS and Android games each month. Please note that, for consistency, we include only free titles.
在這份報告中，Flurry調查手機遊戲中排名前九名的免費遊戲類型，統計消費者使用這些不同APP的行為，留存率和使用人數有哪些不同的消費行為差異。對於這樣的分析，Flurry利用300多萬消費者每個月使用iOS和Android遊戲作為樣本。請注意的是，為了保持一致性，我們只包括免費遊戲的標題。
In the chart below, we lay out a “loyalty matrix” that plots the top nine freemium game categories by how often they’re used compared to how long consumers continue to use them over time.? Specifically, we plot the 90-day?retention rate?of app categories on the x-axis against the?frequency of use?per week on the y-axis. We lay the “scatterplot” out in a Cartesian coordinate system with four quadrants.?
在下面的圖表中，我們制定出一個“忠誠度矩陣”，顯示前九名免費遊戲類別跟消費者會持續使用這些類別遊戲的時間做比較。具體來說，我們繪製90天的保留率作為x軸，繪製每星期的使用這些類別APP遊戲的頻率作為y軸。我們制定了一個四個象限的直角坐標系統的“散點圖”。
Quadrant I represents a “sweet spot” for developers, whose games are used intensively by a set of highly retained users.? Well-designed “appointment” mechanics drive frequency, as users are compelled to maintain and progress in their respective game.? Social Turn-based games succeed in building an active, loyal user base by offering popular “evergreen” games played among friends.? From a revenue perspective, while there exists significant potential to show advertising impressions to consumers who use so frequently, games in the Slots and Resource Management & Simulation (labeled as “Mgmt/Sim”) genres commonly monetize via in-app purchase. However, companies that maximize revenue in Quadrant I extract revenue from consumers willing to pay via in-app purchase, and then by showing ads to those who do not pay.
Quadrant II is characterized by the most intensive usage over a short customer lifecycle, and is occupied solely by the Strategy genre. This audience is demanding, game lifecycles are short and a game’s live services must be flawlessly executed. Successful Strategy game developers accelerate monetization by driving competition among players (“Player vs. Player”) and by encouraging fast game progress through premium currency spends. With frequency of use so high, users churn through content quickly. To maximize retention, developers must continuously release new content after the game’s initial launch.
Quadrant III also attracts a fickle gaming audience, but adds the challenge of having fewer opportunities per week to monetize the user. The well-documented success of the Card-Battle genre in Asia, and now Western markets, is even more impressive when considering the short time frame developers have to drive transactions. Targeted user acquisition is critical to avoid paying for large batches of users that will drop off quickly due to the “hardcore” nature of the content and game mechanics.
Quadrant IV features easy-to-play and highly repeatable games that can remain on a user’s “play list” for years. These evergreen titles may lack the depth required to generate sizeable in-app purchases, but do generate substantial advertising impressions over time.? In addition to driving strong ad revenue, the large audience size of these games can be used to cross-promote a developer’s more narrowly focused, but better monetizing titles.?
As the mobile app economy grows, the sophistication of its related advertising services will reach those found on the Internet today. Leveraging big data, the ability to target users based on demographics and personas, and then track the effectiveness of such targeting is just starting to take hold (Flurry has invested in this direction with its own services like Flurry AppCircle, an ad network, and Flurry Ad Analytics, an ad effectiveness solution). ?As developers and app marketing providers become more savvy, they can better acquire the kinds of users that will reliably play and pay in their apps. ?Below, using the same sample set of games, we look at the Age and Gender of users by genre.
A quick review shows that Quadrant I is largely comprised of middle-aged females that play games we know to have attractive retention and usage metrics.
Quadrant II shows that males are not extending into the same 40+ average age-range as female players. ?Casino / Poker games tend to attract older males the best.
Quadrant III is undoubtedly the hottest sector of the mobile gaming market, with young, male “core” gamers pausing their console gameplay sessions to increasingly play mobile games. These young men are difficult to corral, but can monetize at a rate that justifies the cost and effort of acquisition.
Quadrant IV shows younger females adopting games that feature more involved gameplay than those played by the middle-aged female crowd. ?While the youngest users enjoy the quick solo experience of the Endless genre, the late twenties / early thirties crowd are diving deeper into game mechanics and making it a social experience.
As mobile gaming rapidly matures, it is becoming increasingly difficult for new and small developers to succeed. The game quality bar has risen dramatically, user acquisition costs continue to climb and organic installs via app store discovery and featuring are harder to come by. One great equalizer for developers is the ability to collect and harness the power of data. In fact, game developers tend to be the “power users” of analytics, using sophisticated metrics to track user progress, tune gameplay and maximize monetization (a large part of Flurry Analytics' use base is game developers). ?In an industry that has historically been considered more artistic and subjective, connected devices and the ability to rapidly iterate on already shipped titles has ushered in an age of science and measurement.? In short, data has enabled the “gamification” of the mobile industry.
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