GameCyte attended the MI6 Conference here in San Francisco to hear about the latest and greatest in games marketing. One of the early panels from Tuesday brought together the minds of some of today's most successful virtual worlds and social games to discuss the future of free-to-play games and social networking.
The panel, moderated by Mark Friedler (founder of GameDaily and co-founder of Gigex), told attendees that the "Next New Game" was already upon us--a merging of social networking and casual gameplay, often characterized by the free-to-play (F2P) business model, supplemented by micropayments and/or virtual item sales. Friedler introduced the panel, composed of men behind some of the most prominent game services in the industry today: Andrew Sheppard of Outspark, publisher of Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice; Min Kim of Nexon, publisher of Maple Story; Daniel James of Three Rings, publisher of Puzzle Pirates; and Craig Sherman of Gaia Online. All four of these publishers have experienced critical and financial success for their titles in a business model which is growing more and more prevalent as publishers and developers attempt to create the next worldwide game phenomenon.
The panelists had a great deal to say about how to approach F2P games from a marketing perspective, for development, and the challenges of each, cautioning developers against trying to apply techniques which may have proven successful for traditional games. Kim analogized the differences to those between a blockbuster movie launch and an episodic television program--a movie or a traditional console title needs to come out strong and bring in an enormous first wave of customers for a return on what has likely been a massive investment. A television show or F2P game, by contrast, has a longer commitment to make--it needs to keep its audience far beyond the initial contact in order to generate revenue through repeat visits and sales of related goods. The term "Revenue per User" (RPU) was used rather frequently during the panel. Kim made the important distinction that, as an F2P product, the product itself is not really what is for sale. Instead, the publisher is providing a service to its users, generating attachment through fresh content and staying on top of player requests and suggestions.
Sherman likened an online social game to the digital equivalent of a modern mall, becoming more of a destination than a defined set of activities--a group of friends might spend an entire day partaking of the various services, visiting all of their favorite stores, eating at the food court, seeing a movie, et cetera, but the perception is not that they explored different features or achieved a high value from their time spent. When asked what they had done all day, a teenager would simply say that they "hung out with friends." An F2P game provides the same freedom to explore and sample the game's offerings before a commitment is made, with the resulting "try before you buy" model providing slower results, but results nonetheless. Kim and James offered examples from their own games; Nexon's Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds has been running for 12 years, and still enjoys ongoing success, while Three Rings' Puzzle Pirates just had its most profitable month in March after four years of operation.
James had further thoughts on marketing an F2P game in comparison to a traditional title, a comparison he has gone through firsthand with Puzzle Pirates, which began with a traditional subscription model as used in World of Warcraft. Three Rings went so far as to attempt a retail release of Puzzle Pirates with boxes on shelves, which performed disappointingly. James cites the market's immaturity with regards to what are perceived as "casual games;" the common perception evoking thoughts of a $20 one-time download from a games portal (titles such as Peggle or Diner Dash), whereas trying to market an ongoing service is still a difficult proposition through traditional retailers. Three years ago, Puzzle Pirates experimented with the F2P model, and the revenue from microtransactions have far exceeded the subscription method.
Marketing a social game, the panel agreed, is necessarily a viral process. In a game world which can be compared to "MySpace with avatars," a player will be naturally inclined to bring his or her friends along for the ride, building their in-game network out of their existing peer group--and thus bringing new users to the service. The panelists shared their insight on how to foster this phenomenon. The metrics for an F2P title are necessarily more complex than a retail release, but a steady stream of data from all aspects of the game's site, service, and marketing materials allow for a much more fluid process, more easily adapted to player needs. "We don't have to do it on day one," remarked Kim. Analyzing patterns like how many players visit a website vs. how many actually sign up for the game, and subsequently, how long players typically stick around once they're in, allows for publishers to market for the entire life cycle of the product. "We're in the business of manufacturing virality," offered Sherman.
The panel had several thoughts, as well, on the idea of "casual" gaming. Kim noted that he doesn't care for the term--he finds it "dangerous" in its connotations. There is an association, he suggested, between a game being free-to-play and the perception that it will therefore be of lower quality and less engaging, but he offered a compelling counter-example: If World of Warcraft were to abandon its subscription model and start relying on item sales, would it then become a "casual" game? The panel agreed that the notion of a casual game ought to speak more to its initial accessibility. Any game can be casual if a player can find their way into it quickly and easily, but once inside, like any diversionary activity, one can become immersed in the game for hours at a time.
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