PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: PvsZ 2 does 16M downloads, Oculus Rift eyes Android, and 78% of IAP big spenders happy with purchases
One of the key underlying concepts of business is the perception of worth.
If a consumer thinks that a product has worth, they'll spend money on it. If they see it as worthless, they'll find another item to buy.
This has been the metric that's driven the games industry for years, but now the movement to free-to-play and games as a service is threatening to turn all that on its head.
Despite this disruption, the perception of worth still plays an enormous decision in whether a player will invest in a few IAPs or if they'll continue playing a game for free. Now, more than ever before, players are beginning to look at the time and money required to advance in a game as deciding factors on whether theyll invest in it.
So let's take a moment and look back at how players spent their time and money in the past seven days as we look at the week that was.
Monetisation
- Market research firm EEDAR found that 78% of mobile gamers whove spent $50+ on IAPs felt like they've got 'their moneys worth'.
- Joint research from App Annie and IDC found that revenue from Google Play now exceeds the revenue from dedicated gaming handhelds.
- Our Charticle takes a look at EAs biggest mobile earner, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, one year into its lifecycle.
- EA made some waves when it announced that FIFA 14 on mobile would be free-to-play.
- And speaking of EA, our Monetizer examines the F2P success of Plants vs Zombies 2 - which has been downloaded 16 million times in 2 weeks.
- Finally, DeNA talked shop at GDCEurope to explain how it transformed Transformers Legends into a monetisation machine.
Industry voices
- The Muteki Corp's Adam Rippon gives his take on working with Sony, and how it saved the Dragon Fantasy dev 'from the brink of death'.
- Grand Cru's Thorbjörn Warin took the mic at our Cologne Mobile Mixer to warn that 'No one wants to be Zynga anymore'.
- 148Apps' Carter Dotson thinks the time has come for the industry to define IAP ethics - before someone else does.
- US correspondent Matt Diener wonders if Sony's Vita-heavy posturing at Gamescom is part of a ploy to transform the handheld into a mini-PlayStation 4.
- Our mystery Newbie Mobile Gamer takes a crack at Icebreaker, and finds IAPs akin to cheating.
- And our Mobile Gaming Mavens mull over whether a BlackBerry buyout will save its Canadian bacon.
User acquisition and Retention
- Sega, Capcom, and Taito are joining forces with 12 other companies to create a massive mobile cross-promotion network in Japan.
- Wooga's Timo Dries suggests that charts and analytics are nice, but that love is the ultimate metric for connecting with your players.
- Want to get more players? Toss synchronous multiplayer out the window (says PerBlues Justin Beck).
Tools and platforms
- VR headset Oculus Rift once again teased that it's working on mobile compatibility, with Android coming before iOS.
- With 100 million users already to its name, Korea-based messaging giant Kakao is making inroads into the Philippines.
- While rival service LINE announced that it now has 230 million registered users.
- Big Fish learned that you can't build on clouds as it shutters its Unlimited casual game streaming service.
- And finally, Gameloft sees the potential in Windows Phone 8 as it announced an addition offering of 15 games for the platform.