Glu's CEO talks LTV, Mavens discuss the $10B mobile game, and Paradise Bay’s monetisation inspected

The top stories of last week

• 5 Why pre-registration campaigns are key to Japanese UA

  

  In countries such as South Korea and Japan, pre-registration campaigns that encourage players to sign up for as-yet unreleased games are a key part of game marketing and UA.

  David McCarthy, from Japanese developer Cybird, explained the place of pre-registrations in the region.

  Not only are they good for players, who get special - often limited edition - rewards for signing up, he says, but this means that games launch with an immediate enthusiastic player base, who remain loyal to the game as well as growing its audience through viral means.

  
  

• 4 Examining the slow pace of island life in Paradise Bay

  

  In our last installment from the IAP Inspector, we took a took at King’s most recent release Paradise Bay.

  The farming/resource management games has clearly been inspired by the likes of Hay Day, but its colourful Pacific setting and sharp focus on characters provides a strong thematic concept.

  As for the in-app economy, it’s convention with hard and soft currencies filling in the gaps created by timer gates and resource scarity. Crucially, the game isn’t overly restrictive in this respect, however.

  “In a nutshell, the monetisation of Paradise Bay is everything you'd expect from a game of this type - erring on the generous side, if anything,” commented our inspector Matt Suckley.

  “If you're after a game to check up on once a day you'll find something to enjoy here without spending a penny.”

  
  

• 3 West-to-China publisher MyGamez announces 9 million MAUs and new funding round

  

  This week, Finnish/Chinese mobile game publisher MyGamez announced it had closed its first equity funding round.

  It didn’t reveal the amount but did say that its portfolio of western titles which it’s published in China has resulted in more than 9 million monthly active players, from 47 million downloads.

  And that was obviously enough for existing investor Vision+ Fund, and Taiwanese investment outfit Yellowbell to dip into their warchest to provide more cash.

  
  

• 2 Is the $10 billion mobile game franchise inevitable?

  

  There have been a number of mobile games that have generated $1 billion in lifetime revenues.

  GungHo's Puzzle & Dragons was the first, closely followed by King's Candy Crush Saga.

  But what’s next?

  One bullish view of the future comes from Neil Young (previously CEO of ngmoco/DeNA West and now with his startup N3TWORK) who reckons the $10 billion mobile game franchise is inevitable.

  So, in this context, we asked our Mavens:

  Do you agree and what do you think a $10 billion mobile game franchise would look/play like?

  As ever, there was a strong debate on both sides of the argument.

  
  

• 1 Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi on comparing whale behavior in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Deer Hunter 2014

  

  In a guest column, Glu Mobile’s CEO Niccolo de Masi made a strong argument in favour of free-to-play games, both in terms of the advantages for players and for publishers like Glu.

  “Free-to-play games are arguably the best value for money entertainment experiences in the world,” he argued.

  Even when talking about the top 1% of spenders (aka "whales"), de Masi says they “spend at a rate comparable to a movie ticket: roughly $5-$10 per hour.”

  In a games such as Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, that adds up to $1,446 LTV per player on Android, compared to $1,252 on iOS.

  “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood whales play over 100 unique days and spend over $13 per hour on average,” de Masi reveals.