Everyone knows exactly how it is accepted to make money on shareware games today. However, the developers from Soomla decided to streamline this knowledge and highlight three main techniques.
Actually, Israeli marketers told about them the other day in their post Three Creative Methods to Monetize Your Free App. Looking ahead, I note: there was nothing creative in the material, but it is as a reminder, a list of those things that cannot be forgotten today when creating a free-to-play game, the post is of interest.
Forced abstinence
This is about how you can characterize the first reception.
The best example here is Candy Crush Saga, or rather its mechanics with hearts. Recall that if a player loses a level, his heart is taken away. There are five of them in total. Lost five times in a row, either pay, or wait 30 minutes for another heart, or ask your friends to make up for them. Given the high complexity of the game — hearts end often.
At the same time, I want to play, and overtake friends on the map, and the victory seemed so close the last time.
Valuable purchase
We have a feeling that an example that clearly describes this technique will certainly be included in free-to-play textbooks, if, of course, someone does start writing them someday.
In Clash of Clans, the first couple of games are easy to play. You quickly erect all the necessary buildings, hire warriors, begin to make the first escapes, but over time more and more time is spent on the construction of buildings. First hours, then days, and then weeks.
It would seem that you are ready to put up with this if there were a little more workers, at least two. And, by an interesting coincidence, the second worker is worth some ridiculous money.
For many, it was the second worker who became the first payment in the game. And, as some studies say, after making the first payment, it is easier to make the second one.
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Soomla believes that the future of mobile monetization is behind advertising, because the vast majority of players do not make or even plan to make purchases in free—to-play games. But they will be happy to watch the commercial if they are promised a little hard in-game currency for it.
A source: http://blog.soom.la