"Brave New Virtual World: Making Free-to-Play Games Work for You" -- a presentation first given at the Play for Free Seminar in Copenhagen on 19.November.2009 -- http://www.dadiu.dk/seminar/playforfree/programme.htm
2. Involved in Games Since 1996
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
3. Playmatics Founders: Lots of Experience
in Creation of Original & Innovative IP
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
4. Playmatics Founders: Experience Working with
Large Media Companies & Licensed Brands
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
5. What a long, strange trip it’s been!
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
6. Brave New Virtual World?
Making Free-to-Play Games Work for You
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
7. • Global Market:
The global online games market is expected to reach
$13 Billion in revenues by 2011
For 2009, $5.5 billion globally spent on virtual goods
Market Overview
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
8. • North America:
North American virtual goods activity could exceed
$15 billion by 2014
In 2009, an estimated $400 million to $600 million will
be spent on virtual goods in the United States
Market Overview
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
9. • Increasingly Competitive:
The market is very crowded. For example, in January
2009, there were a reported 200 virtual worlds in
development targeting younger people alone.
A popular game on Facebook can be cloned in as little as
1 month
Lots of money pouring into space
Market Overview
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
10. • Rise of Social Networks:
Facebook grows 600k+ month.
Time spent on social networking sites tripled in August 09
Playfish network currently hosts around 9M active users at
any one time – this number was ~3M less than a year ago.
Playfish Installed 100M Games In 18 Months
Packrat – estimated $15k -- $25k/month
Market Overview
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
11. Types of Free-to-Play Games
(There are pro’s and con’s for each.)
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
15. Virtual Worlds / Social Worlds
Habbo Hotel
Virtual Goods Make Up 85%
Of Habbo Revenue -- $70M
in 2008
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
16. Social Games (Casual)
Farmville
Zynga gets two-thirds of its projected $100 -- $200
million-plus annual revenue selling virtual goods
ranging from digital farm buildings to poker chips.
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
17. Social Games (Core)
City of Eternals
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18. Funware
Example: Gift-Giving as a Game
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23. Focus on Real-Time Co-Op Games
12+ Million Subscribers
$1 Billion+ in North America
Mario Party 8
6M+ Sold
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
26. Games, Virtual Goods & Virtual
Economies Work Together to
Create an Ecosystem
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please
Attribute Credit if You Use These Slides
31. Integrating Virtual
Goods Into Free-to-Play
Game Experiences
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
32. Gifting Playfish titles are
typically released
with just 20% of
their final
features
developed and
implemented.
The rest is
introduced over
time in response
to the demands
of the community
and based on the
overall success
of the title.
Source: “Building
Social Games At
Scale” Panel
Social Gaming
Summit, June 23,
2009
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
33. Decorative
Playfish sells around 20M items in
Restaurant City every day – through
either spending money- or through time
spent in game.
Source: “Building Social Games At Scale” Panel
Social Gaming Summit, June 23, 2009
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
34. Collectibles & Rare Items
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
42. Free-to-Play Games are a
Lifestyle….
Require full-time commitment….
Must have good metrics….
Launching the product is just the beginning…
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
43. Constant Attention to User
Acquisition
What’s The Bounce Rate?
How Much Churn?
What Are Conversions? LVP?
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
44. Customer Acquisition Funnel
How many people who
come to your website
actually stay and register?
If 100,000 come to your site, you’ll be lucky
if 5% to 15% take the step to register.
Of that 2% to 15% -- anywhere from 1% to
15% will become purchasing players!
Buying Your Users:
The major
players in social
games are
spending
millions of
dollars on user
acquisition.
Example Source:
http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/11/17/zy
nga-raises-15-2-million-at-a-625-million-
valuation-or-is-this-old-news/
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
49. In-App Purchases for iPhone
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
50. Resources
VentureBeat – www.venturebeat.com
TechCrunch – www.techcrunch.com
Inside Social Games – www.insidesocialgames.com
Virtual Goods News -- http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/
Virtual Economy Research Network -- http://virtual-economy.org/
Games & Innovation -- http://gamesandinnovation.com
Margaret Wallace on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/MargaretWallace
Copyright 2009. Margaret Wallace. Please Attribute Proper Credit if You Use These Slides
51. Questions?
Contact: Margaret Wallace, CEO
margaret@playmatics.com
Twitter: @MargaretWallace
Disclaimer: All images here, if not the explicit property of the author, are used for educational
purposes only. They belong to their rightful owners and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Margaret Wallace – Full bio here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Wallace
The Founders of Playmatics Have been involved in the creation of many original and innovative IP titles.
The Founders of Playmatics Have worked on some of the largest and most popular brands.