2. At Highwinds we’ve had a lot of fun and interesting conversations over the years with a
wide range of game developers and gaming publishers. It’s always exciting to watch a small
company launch their first game and see them grow, and it’s a thrill to watch an established
company launch a new project and continue their business down new paths. Every project and
team is different, with their own goals and requirements, but being a partner in their business
is always an engaging and interesting experience.
While every project is unique, for gaming (and really, any type of software download),
the key statistic when it comes to the success of your delivery is completion ratio. Completion
ratio, defined by the number of downloads completed divided by the number of downloads
requested (started), is the foundation on which the rest of the monetization stack is built.
Converting customers into paying customers, driving ad revenue, selling DLC (downloadable
content) and upselling the rest of your library is all dependent on getting that customer
installed and then engaged with your application. That engagement cannot take place, though,
without the software first being delivered to your customers. Even when participating in retail
distribution, further interaction and engagement with those customers past the time you strike
that master gold disc is impossible without having a plan and a route to get them access to any
of your future content or projects.
In the realm of digital distribution, regardless of whether it is free-to-play, subscription,
DLC or advertising-based, the business goal is all about conversions. The goal is to get as
many users as possible to convert into paying customers. That metric is certainly the one
to be used in all business calculations, but in order to get to that conversion number, you
first have to achieve a few other metrics, namely a visit (or hit), a sign-up or registration and
then a completed download. The visits and registrations are primarily a function of marketing
and exposure, but the completed download is something that can be positively impacted with
engineering involvement.
Marketing and business folks will often present their case in terms of either a percentage
of visits converting, or a percentage of already installed users that convert, but really, the
completion ratio is the number that is determining the size of that base. Let’s look at an example:
COMPLETION RATIO
3. My game, “ZombieKittenville”, generates 100,000 unique hits each month to my
download and marketing page. That generates 10,000 downloads, but of those, only 50%
finish the download and installation. Once installed, though, 100 of those 5,000 installations
will convert on average $20 per month. This will generate $2,000 with a 2% conversion ratio
based on installations.
The next month I changed ZombieKittenville’s distribution and installation process with
the express intent of increasing my completion ratio. All of the base numbers and conversion
ratios stay the same. This time, though, I have 100,000 hits generating 10,000 downloads, but
with 60% finishing the download and installation. With the exact same monetization schemes
in place, and the same conversion ratios, I’m seeing a huge jump since I’ve now got a pool of
6,000 successful installs and converting 2% of them at an average of $20. I’m now generating
$2,400, a 20% increase in revenue from a 10% increase in completion ratio.
Clearly then, putting some effort and planning into how you make that initial engagement
with your players and customers-to-be can pay huge dividends, and here at Highwinds we are
seeing that become a much larger focus as companies and digital distribution models mature.
Below is an example of a real world game’s download analytics, showing completion ratios and
average file size, from “Company A”:
COMPLETION RATIO
4. Notice the wild variations in the numbers, which is generally an indication of a lot of
abandoned downloads and resumptions. There’s also no consistency to the data, which most
likely leads to wildly varying months in terms of conversions and eventually revenue. File sizes
for this game are above 1 GB, with what appear to be some massive patches that are multiple
times that size that players are being forced to download as well.
Now compare that another real world game in the same genre, from “Company B”:
Company B has shrunk the individual downloads down to 10 MB (an enormous difference
intermsofnetworkperformance),andtheyareconvertingalmosteverysingleoneofthem. The
game itself is roughly the same size as Company A’s, so there is still going to be abandonment
as the complete game is downloaded, but Company B can now track that exact point very
easily, and overall experience for the customer is going to be night and day in comparison.
There are no browser-based resumptions, no corruptions of the entire distribution (replacing
a bad download now takes seconds, not hours), and any interruption in service, or issues with
the build, can be immediately and easily tracked. The path for Company B to monetize has now
been paved and turned into a highway.
COMPLETION RATIO
5. The difference between these games is very easily explained, though. Company B has
learned from examples such as Company A, and their newer game had the benefit of engineering
and design effort being integrated into maximizing their completion ratios and streamlining
their distribution. Company A’s game is, in their defense, much older and without the hindsight
that Company B now has, but there are the things they can do to maximize their next round of
games, including the following five procedures:
COMPLETION RATIO
6. Make plans for utilizing high-availability,
high-capacity infrastructure
Use an installer/patcher with the ability to resume
and patch delta’s
Maximize the throughput to the player
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3
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Understand where your customers are, and be sure you have the distribution
channels and infrastructure in place to effectively handle them. This is
applicable to not just the game download, but also game servers, and even
the initial marketing and promotional material.
Having a customizable installer that can promote your brand while managing
the download and patching process can be invaluable. While your players
are paying attention to your branded installer, in the background you are
managing the file distribution, resuming and pausing if necessary, and
installing only the files that absolutely have to be completed in order to run
the software. You decrease abandonment, increase engagement and greatly
improve your ability to track and manage meaningful installation analytics.
You would rather have the player in and playing the game than having them
staring at a download, so make sure you have the fastest solution you can
in place.
Five Steps to See Improved Stats Today
7. Segment your downloads into manageable chunks
Engage the customer during the installation
and download
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Your game may be 26 GB fully installed, but the overall download and install
will be faster if that is split into 8-10MB requests. This more efficiently uses
the packets being transferred and is far less vulnerable to congestion and
traffic shaping on the ISP level. It also helps you avoid things like corrupted
downloads for files that take hours to complete if the user has to try again.
Use the chance to upsell your players or get them engaged with account
and character creation. Keep your company and your brand front and center
during the experience while providing a professional veneer that builds the
excitement and desire to complete the download and install.
Five Steps to See Improved Stats Today
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