#sgsconf

1. East Meets West
Lessons from Japan
Harry Holmwood
CEO, Marvelous AQL Europe
Marvelous AQL Europe
Union House, Eridge Road, Tunbridge Wells, UK • phone: +44 (0) 1892 513407• fax: +44 (0) 1892 800050
info@maqleurope.com • www.maqleurope.com

2. 2
East Meets West
• Who we are
• Why Japan is different from the west
• Why Japan is the same as the west
• Why we should care
• What we can do

3. 3

4. 4
“Little King's Story is a game of stunning breadth,
imagination and slickly implemented design, and filled with
an envious degree of heart and soul. 10/10. ” D-PAD
87
metacritic out of 100

5. 5
“No More Heroes is a love letter to
83
videogames that never grows old, tired, or
dull. 93%. ” Nintendo Gamer metacritic out of 100

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9
Mobile Social Networks
• Play games against people who want to play
them
• Not spamming your real-world friends

10. 10

11. 11
Different Game Genres
• Dating Simulations
• Idol Raising Games
• Card Battlers

12. 12
The Differences
• Less history of PC/mouse
• Phones primary way to access content
• More powerful phones in early 2000s
• Gaming on phones more advanced, earlier
• Payment by phone culturally normal
• Game-focused social networks
• Play against strangers
• Strong service culture
• Different game genres

13. 13

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20
Some KPIs (approx)
• Mature PC browser games in Japan
• Over 2 years old
• In excess of $200 ARPPU (per month)
• Retention rates 70%+

21. 21
Mobile Versions
• Retention rates much lower (40-50%)
• ARPPUs still strong ($150+)

22. 22

23. 23
Mechanics
• Time gating
• Collection
• Upgrading /merging
• Rarity
• All seen in western games too
• Flexibility in payment types

24. 24
Mechanics Not Presentation

25. 25
Gacha

26. 26
KompuGacha

27. 27
Improving GachaMonetization
• Kompu Gacha delivered the best monetization
• But it’s not allowed in Japan any more
• Be careful, let’s avoid a backlash
• Temporarily increase probability of rare items
• Can deliver a 10* ARPPU increase/day

28. 28
Team Battles
15% of users want to
spend money to help
them contribute to a
team or community

29. 29
Retention
• 7-day retention is early sign of
success
• (percentage of users logging in
daily for 7 days)
• Biggest titles have achieved 40%
7-day-retention
• Going on to generate 1bn Yen +
($12m+) revenue

30. 30
Make it Fun
• Retention is the most important KPI
• But it’s also the hardest to fix
• 150 new games each day
• What did you do today to bring
users back?
• Were you the most interesting thing they saw
on their phone?

31. 31
Improving Retention
• Login bonus
• Achievements and rewards
• Team battles
• Regular events
• Give away rare item as tutorial is finished
• These will help, but won’t dramatically
improve retention if people aren’t having fun

32. 32
Think Long Term
• Some games take 8-10 months to
get to peak performance
• Social games really are a service –
your team will be on them forever
• Be patient
• Acquire users only when you’re
ready
• Budget for all of this
• Or partner with someone

33. 33
• The future is exciting but…
• 2013 will be the hardest year the industry has
ever had
• User Acquisition model is broken, but you still
have to do it
• Development costs are rocketing
• You need deep pockets to buy the time to
succeed
• Long term partnerships are essential

34. 34
Ask me now or…
harry@maqleurope.com
@hholmwood