This is the presentation I gave at GDC in San Francisco on 6th March 2012.

1. grgetherh
Mobile Social Freemium Games
Oscar Clark Evangelist
PapayaMobile Inc

2. State of the Mobile Market
We all know it's big...
• 5.6B mobile subscribers
• 900M Smartphones
• 575M Smartphone “app” users
• 120m people play Social games
• 81m play every day
• 49m play multiple times a day
• 31m have bought virtual goods
• 38% play on a mobile phone

3. Why is mobile different?
Players use different
devices for a reason
• Mode of Use
• Context and mood
• Fragmentation
• Reliability of connection
• The most social device?

4. Why Social on Mobile?
Gamers who play
together pay together
• Social discovery
• Low-pressure sharing
• Retention
• Social Capital
• Unlock 'True Fan' potential

5. Case Study: Zombies… OMG
Social Effect last beyond the
initial promotion
• 500k installs in 4 weeks
• 3 days of Pmail promotion
• Social Accelerator effects

6. Talking Mobile: Apple AppStore
App Store is the one
everyone wants to be
• 25bn downloads
• 575k+ apps; 100k + Games
• 100’s of new apps/day
• 17 of top 20 US Freemium
• Increasingly difficult to get
noticed

7. Talking Mobile: Android Market Place
Android market place is the
place for pushing
boundaries
• 700k+ Daily Activations
• 400k+ apps (25.6% Games)
• Polished new games can win
• Billing is challenging
• Alternative AppStores

8. Talking Mobile: Challenging Campaigns
Getting discovered is only going
to get more difficult
• Typical campaign starts at $20k
• Free App of the day less effective
• Users need a reason to download
• Competition is getting fiercer
• Being Free isn't enough

9. Talking Mobile: Fragmentation
Getting on mobile is a
different technical
challenge
• Device OS (upgrades)
• Screen size/resolution
• Controls? 'back button'?
• Processor performance
• Backward compatibility

10. Talking Social: Games as a Service
Social games need to be
services
• Measure Measure Measure
• Designers need to
understand the data
• Iterative improvements
deliver a narrative
• Minimum Viable Product
must still be polished

11. Talking Social: Who are your players?
Different Players buy for
different reasons
• Collector:
– "Got to catch them all"
• Explorer:
– "Where can I go today?"
• Socialiser:
– "I want to be popular"
• Competitor:
– "I'm going to Pwn ya!"

12. Talking Mobile: Who are your players?
Mobile Players play
based on Mood & Mode
• Entertain Me:
– "Keep me from going mad"
• Max my time:
– "Just two minutes to fill"
• Show and tell:
– "Too cool for you"
• Habit Forming:
– "My guilty pleasure"

13. Talking Social: Pricing is everything
Maximise the
opportunity
• Purchases will be a barrier
• Reduce the risk to the user
• Understand Price Elasticity
• Consumable vs Durable
• Billing models affect gameplay

14. Talking Social: Pricing is everything
Maximise the
opportunity
• Purchases will be a barrier
• Reduce the risk to the user
• Understand Price Elasticity
• Consumable vs Owned goods
• Billing models affect gameplay

15. Talking Money: Premium
Anticipation is essential
and it buys loyalty
• Players have to crave your game
• You can't measure the players you
turn away
• Few brands can sustain Premium
• Players are invested in game

16. Talking Money: Advertising
Brand sponsored
experiences
• Monetize those who won't pay
• Media buying is getting much
better
• Most effective when relevant to
the game
• Needs to be increasingly smart

17. Talking Money: Freemium
Give players a reason to
spend money
• Free-players are a vital audience
• First $1 spend must be easy and
rewarding
• Consumable goods (short term)
• Durable Goods (longer term)
• Make it possible to spend $100+
* Apologies to Nicholas Lovell

18. Talking Social: Understand the True Fans
True Fans are happy to
spend money
• Whales can be 1-4% of
audience but <60% revenue
• 86.9% of purchases are to
accelerate play
• 96.65% of purchases are on
consumables

19. Talking Social: Total Lifetime Value
We don't just want a one
night stand
• True fans can take 8-12
days to start spending
• Nagging payment requests
take their toll in time
• Work with the user lifecycle
to keep them engaged
• Avoid the 'hangover' Typical number of
Games an X-City
player where
spends money

20. Talking Social: Compulsion Loops
Give Players a reason to
keep coming back
•Schedule of reinforcement
•Grinding & flow
•Visible achievement stream
•"Just one more turn"
•What happens between
sessions?

21. Talking Social: Social Achievement
Playing the game should
grant me ‘Social Capital’
• Let players show off
• Different reward behaviours
• Gifting and Reciprocation
• Not social if I can't share
• The 'Poke' effect

22. Talking Social: Buy Better Play
Buying things should help
me love the game
• Each purchase must improve
the game
• Linking gifts to purchased goods
• Exchange time for money, but
keep it 'fair'
• Ambiguous strategy boosts
value

23. Talking Social: Tread carefully!
Easy to damage games
with poor Monetization
• Preserve Game balance
• Free Demo & Level packs
generally don't work
• Don’t annoy Free-players
• Nagging quickly gets dull

24. HTML5 + Flash
Do we focus on a Native
or Browser?
• HTML5 + WebGL
browsers on Android
• Will we get consistent
performance
• Needs app-like simplicity
• Papaya Social Splash
(Flash + HTML5 for
Android/iOS)

25. ...in the end it's all about the game

26. Who is PapayaMobile?
The leading social gaming network for
mobiles with 55 million users and 300+
games.
•Founded in 2008 with $22M raised through DCM and Keytone.
•90 staff with offices in San Francisco, London and Beijing
•More than 80% of users come from US and Europe
•Popular games earn more than $1 million per year.

27. Any Questions?
Thank you :)
oscarclark@papayamobile.com
Twitter: @Athanateus