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论社交游戏在发展中国家的盈利解决方案

游戏邦注:本文作者是Nicholas Talarico,原文发表于2010年9月8日,以下所涉内容均以当时为准。

许多社交游戏公司都在窥视着有利可图的国际市场,特别是那些发展中国家市场。但是比起发达国家,他们在发展中国家市场将面临更多挑战。所以对于这些社交游戏公司来讲,让他们在这个市场中快速获取营收的方法便是不断整合当地的在线游戏付费方式。

对于很多发展中国家来讲,缺少足够合理的支付方式确实是个致命的问题,同时这些国家人民的可自由支配个人开支能力也不能被忽视。为了弥补这些缺陷,有些游戏开发商为这些地区的游戏运营提供了较为有利的汇率(在游戏现有汇率基础上进行调整),而这种有利的汇率是综合考虑了当地的人均国内生产总值,互联网普及率以及一些其它因素核算出来的。然而这种方式却存在着较大的经济风险,以下就是其中两个弊端:

首先,使用这种方法会增加不同服务器(IP)的货币来源渠道,但却会扩大经济测量的难度,导致开发商混淆计划性货币来源和其它货币来源,从而引起一些货币管理问题。如果开发商难以衡量游戏经济情况,那就无法制定较为合理的运营决策,不利于他们在这个“游戏即服务”的竞争环境中快速发展。

另外一个问题(更重要的一点)是改变发展中国家游戏的汇率,将使那些来自发达国家,且具有较高消费能力的玩家为图便宜而通过代理进入其他地区的游戏。这样就可能导致游戏的经济系统极度失控。

所以,在发展中国家使用“有利汇率”这一方法盈利的开发商并不多见。

但是如果这种有利的汇率是与可行的方案绑定而非与IP挂钩,也许将会有不一样的成效。举个例子来说,如果用户只有通过一部菲律宾手机才能成功完成交易,那么开发商就可以放心,用户并非因为有利汇率而从德国通过代理进入菲律宾IP。对于这点我已经取得了较为成功的测试,并且正在做进一步的优化处理。

游戏内容的本土化策略

我在Offerpal时曾有一位来自于排名前五的社交游戏公司盈利主管透露,比起不断优化付费渠道或者争取更高的营收分成,策略性的虚拟商品推销和库存管理更为强大,而且有助于提高游戏收益。我很惊讶这个道理如此浅显,但还是有很多社交游戏公司仍在不遗余力地寻找所谓的最佳盈利解决方案。

作为游戏开发商和内容管理者,我们最主要的运营职责便是保证用户对虚拟货币的需求。为了实现这一目标,我们必须尽心尽力地管理游戏经济和虚拟库存,同时抓住“现实”世界中的流行消费趋势,并将其运用于游戏项目。这方面的案例已经屡见不鲜,那些大获成功的节假日主题虚拟商品就是一个明证(游戏邦注:例如《Barn Buddy》中的南瓜灯以及《Mafia Wars》的美国独立纪念日主题虚拟商品)。

mafia-wars-fourth-july-sale(from games.com)

mafia-wars-fourth-july-sale(from games.com)

开发商在发展中国家也必须重视这种策略,但是必须根据不同的IP设定不同的内容。就像以圣诞节为主题的商品在美国很受欢迎,但在印度却并不可行,因为当地更受欢迎的是以排灯节为主题的商品。所以游戏开发商必须真正了解自己的用户,知道他们所在地,特殊行为习惯,喜欢做什么买什么等。虽然从维基百科或者相关书本我们也能了解上述内容,但要注意的是,我们这里所说是一些极细致的文化差别。有很多大公司在处理文化差异这一点上常会选择与当地相关人士或者公司合作,以更好地推行其游戏本土化策略。

除了完整的本土化策略,开发商还必须考虑到支付服务覆盖范围(包括直接支付和选择性支付)对游戏盈利所带来的影响。下面是针对直接支付和选择性支付方式的相关策略:

选择性支付服务

我们所熟悉的提供快速且免费的选择性支付平台包括Offerpal,Super Rewards,Gambit,Peanut Labs,TrialPay和Ultrawall等。我们一直希望能针对这些平台进行比较测试,同时我也相信只有通过测试我们才能筛选出最好的东西。

我仍将不断比较并测试不同的支付服务供应商,但建议大家最好采用基于UI的AB测试(游戏邦注:例如奇数便是Ultrawall,偶数便是Gambit),这种测试效果往往在几天后就会立杆见影——通过测试就会发现一些鲸鱼玩家(指高消费用户)已经浮出水面。但必须指出的是,这种测试支付服务供应商的方法,其实会对整个行业产生消极影响。

lucky train(from gamezebo.com)

lucky train(from gamezebo.com)

例如,我是《Lucky Train》游戏玩家,我喜欢通过CPA推广方式获得该游戏的虚拟货币LuckyBucks。假设A Bit Lucky(游戏邦注:《Lucky Train》的开发商)在刚开始只与Offerpal合作,而我作为一名游戏用户在周一首次接触了Offerpal这个平台,并在这天注册了Netflix账号而获得了100个LuckyBucks。隔天(也就是周二),我回到了《Lucky Train》的“积分”页面,并发现Offerpal仍是该游戏的唯一供应商。而这时我便不能够再次注册一个新的Netflix账号了,因为Offerpal的内部系统知道我之前已经注册过了,所以拒绝了我的注册请求。这样也可以避免Netflix的损失,控制广告商的支付率。

但是周三我再次进入《Lucky Train》的“积分”页面时,我看到的却是Super Rewards。当我再次点击Netflix并希望能够获得LuckyBucks时,Super Rewards并不会阻止我的行动,因为它并未拥有我之前注册Netflix的任何相关数据。但是当到了月底,Netflix便会发现这种方法引来了很多不必要的麻烦。虽然作为游戏用户,我通过这种方法赚取了更多虚拟游戏币,但是其他人(包括Netflix, Super Rewards或者A Bit Lucky)却都得不偿失,其他开发商也有可能步此后尘,这将不利于游戏产业的发展。既然我们都是这个产业的受益者,那就应该维护这种良性发展趋势。

以下是各种推广服务类型:

CPA,CPI,CPV等

CP_是cost per的缩写,其后空格可以是代表行动/获取的A(Action/Acquistion),代表安装的I(Install),以及表示浏览量的V(View)。它已成为过去3年中颇为可行的选择性支付方式,在那些重视营销预算和在线营销的发达国家中尤其如此。

但在一些发展中国家也同样适用。例如CPI(cost per install,按安装付费,如果用户下载安装了另一款游戏或应用,就可以获得相应奖励)就适用于所有国家的各种用户群体。这种方式的支出费用虽然较低,但它是一种免费且容易操作,对所有用户具有普适性的方法,所以能够以数量取胜,弥补其低支出的不足。

调查活动

调查与CP_活动一样,在发达国家中较为普遍。但是对于很多发展中国家来说,它们也需要一定的市场研究做支持。Peanut Labs是这一领域的市场调查先驱,他们在过去6至12个月的时间里一直致力于调查国际市场(和发展中国家市场)用户,而这种调查活动也为该公司在国际市场创造了可观收益。这种调查活动是一种免费操作方式,而且适用于他们指向的任何目标用户。

任务

以完成微任务兑换虚拟货币,也是一个较为全球化的盈利解决方案。我希望随着UI和游戏展示方式的不断改善,微任务能够在整个虚拟货币生态圈中扮演着更加重要的角色。Gambit已经与大众服务外包公司Crowdflower展开类似合作,Offerpal也在其平台上推出了“Mechanical Turk Tasks”这种微任务项目。但是对于这些积极展开微任务的公司来说,重获用户粘性、重新定位用户,以及库存问题仍然需要予以重视。

Offerpal-TASKS(from insidesocialgames.com)

Offerpal-TASKS(from insidesocialgames.com)

BringIt平台

作为这一领域的新面孔,BringIt可以称得上是游戏经济中的“源头”和“水槽”。也就是说,在BringIt的游戏环境中,用户既有机会获得虚拟货币,也有可能失去一切。BringIt为用户提供了一个平台,让他们在游戏大框架的迷你小游戏中“下赌注”以赢取虚拟货币。虽然这项产品并未进行完整的本土化处理或语言翻译,但却可向大众用户免费开放服务(因为它会让用户花掉虚拟货币,所以才称它是一个“水槽”)。

直接付费服务范围和优化策略

不论是指向发展中国家还是整个国际市场,开发商都必须考虑所有合适的直接支付手段。除了Playspan,Allopass和Moneybookers这三大支付平台之外,还有两大主要的支付平台,即Offerpal和Super Rewards(他们不仅拥有选择性付费方式,也开通了了直接付费方式),特别为了补充选择性付费方式的不足,这两大公司同样也设置了许多直接的付费方式。这两大平台都拥有超过100种的国际支付方式,通过这些方式,用户既能够直接支付费用,也能够通过来自一些合作伙伴的“深度链接”完成支付操作。很多发展中国家都在推广这种支付方式。

除此之外,历史目标定位也是一个不可忽视的重要问题。开发商刚开始时最好向用户提供其所在国家的所有可行的支付选项(包括直接和选择性支付方式),但得随着时间流逝和交易数据的积累,向用户展示更具策略性的支付方式。否则用户将会因为繁杂的选项而不耐烦,进而影响用户的付费转化率。

例如,有一名意大利亚用户在连续3个月的时间里坚持每隔3天登录游戏的“积分”页面赚取虚拟货币,此时他是受到CPI推广的影响(他需要安装另外一个应用以换取当前游戏的虚拟货币)而采取这种行动。在过去10周时间里,该用户一直在通过PayPal进行交易,这时候用户已经清楚自己想采用哪种支付方式,他并不需要其他付费选项。如果开发商在一个可拆解的UI中,将PayPal支付选项居于首位,同时再辅以其他一些简单的推广服务,那就是一个理想的操作方式,很有助于提高游戏用户的付费转化率。

因此,游戏开发商应该在不同国家,针对不同的用户,调查他们在过去的行为,并采取多种不同的测试(包括对零售价,默认包装选择等做出测试)。只要方法得当,就有可能提升50%的付费转化率。

手机覆盖率并不等于支付转化率

毫无疑问,手机支付方式已经成为多个国家最受欢迎的支付方式。所以Zong, Allopass和Boku等手机支付公司在过去几年时间里迅速占领了整个国际市场。不就前,这些手机支付方式也席卷了美国。但是,如果这些手机支付方式的UI不合理,用户甚至不知道自己的手机带有支付功能,那就无法实现理想的付费转化率。同时,用户都喜欢“激励”机制,但是仍有许多付费公司不能满足他们的需求。在过去的几个月时间里,我一直在测试不同的支付服务展现方式,并因此明显提升了游戏的付费转化率和营收。

选择正确的方法还只是这场硬战中的一个步骤,不仅手机支付是如此,其他支付方式也不例外。

总结

提高可自由支配的个人开支能力,并针对不同地区调整支付方式,相当于提升了交易量和收益。

开发者应该针对不同国家制定相关解决方案,这是我结合过去几年的数据和观察所得出的结论,采取正确的行动通常都有助于提高付费转化率,扩大交易规模。

总之,国际市场和发展中国家都有无数发展机遇,只要开发商用心学习并多费心思,必定能够获取巨大效益。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Optimizing Social Game Payments for the Developing World

by Nicholas Talarico

Social gaming companies have long been interested in monetizing international markets. While developing nations are part of that picture, they pose additional challenges and should be considered separate from developed markets, in which the quickest way to move the revenue dial is often to simply integrate the most adopted local online payment method.

While lack of adopted payment methods is an issue in the developing world, discretionary spending power is the key concern. To compensate for this, some developers have tried offering more favorable exchange rates for those locales. This exchange rate, based on the game’s existing rate, can be calculated with a simple formula that includes per capita GDP, internet penetration, and some guess work. This method poses significant economic risk, however, for two main reasons.

First, the increased currency source for that set of IPs will cause make economic measurement more difficult, because it becomes tough to separate this planned source from other, mismanaged sources. When game economies become difficult to measure, key revenue decisions are more difficult to make, which is detrimental or devastating in this fast-paced games-as-service environment.

The second – and probably more important – risk with altered exchange rates in developing countries is that some users from developed nations with higher spending power will invariably proxy into the IPs with favorable exchange rates for increased “earning” power. This may tilt the game’s economy out of control.

As a result, very few developers employ the tactic of favorable exchange rates in the developing world.

It is possible, however, to do this if the favorable exchange rate is tied to a method rather than to an IP. For example, if a user needs a Filipino cell phone to successfully complete a transaction for virtual currency, the game developer can more safely bet that said user isn’t proxying into a Filipino IP from Germany for a preferred exchange rate. I’ve begun testing this method with significant success and optimization to follow.

Game Localization, and Culturally-Relevant Content

While I was at Offerpal, a director of monetization for a top-5 social games firm remarked to me that rather than optimizing across payment providers or grinding for higher revshare, he discovered that strategic virtual merchandising and inventory management is more powerful to sustainably increase revenues. I was surprised that this was an epiphany, but many social game companies are still determining best practices when it comes to monetization.

As game developers and content managers, our most fundamental revenue responsibility is to maintain high demand for our virtual currencies. We can do this through diligent measurement of our economies and virtual inventories, as well as simply staying on top of consumer trends in the “real” world and applying them to our game commerce. We’ve seen this time and time again with holiday-themed virtual goods (think jack-o-lanterns in Barn Buddy or Fourth of July-themed items in Mafia Wars).

This should also be applied to developing nations, too, and can be IP-targeted. Christmas-themed goods, for example, play well in the US, but may not in India, where Diwali-themed goods may be better. Know your users, where they come from, what their likely behaviors will be, and what they like to do/buy. It might seem logical to get this information from Wikipedia or a book, but we’re talking about the smallest of cultural nuances; many of the top firms have opted to partner with people or companies from that specific culture.

Along with complete game localization, payments coverage (both direct payment and alternative payment) is essential to monetizing international markets and the developing world. Below, I explore various strategies for both direct pay and altpay.

AltPay Coverage

We all know that there are a number of qualified alternative payment platforms available through quick and free integration: Offerpal, Super Rewards, Gambit, Peanut Labs, TrialPay, Ultrawall, and more. We’re all tempted to test each of these against one another, and my mantra has always been to test everything and leverage competition for better treatment.

I have and probably will continue to test providers against one another. But I recommend doing so only with a UID-based AB test (for example: odd numbers see Ultrawall and even numbers see Gambit), and I always flip the buckets after a few days — a couple of whales can inaccurately tip the test. It has to be pointed out, however, that testing providers can be very bad for the industry.

Let’s say I’m a Lucky Train player and I prefer CPA offers as my means to acquire LuckyBucks. We’ll pretend that A Bit Lucky (Lucky Train’s developer) is ABing Offerpal against Super Rewards. I, as a user, first see Offerpal on Monday. I sign up for Netflix in exchange for 100 LuckyBucks. On Tuesday, I go back to Lucky Train’s ‘Points’ page and Offerpal is still the provider showing. I try to sign up for Netflix again, but Offerpal’s system knows I’ve already signed up for Netflix and won’t allow me to do so. Netflix avoids a bad lead and advertiser payout rates are preserved.

On Wednesday, however, I go to Lucky Train’s ‘Points’ page and, as part of their test, A Bit Lucky is now showing me Super Rewards. I click on Netflix and because Super Rewards doesn’t have the historical data that I’ve already completed this offer, I’m allowed to continue and earn my virtual currency. However, at month’s end, Netflix sees that this is a poor lead and issues chargebacks and scrubs rates. I, the user, got my virtual currency but somebody (Netflix, Super Rewards, or A Bit Lucky) isn’t going to get paid – and that’s usually passed down to the developer. It’s bad for the industry. We’re all part of this insane growth and we should protect it as such.

Here are some of the specific offer types:

CPA, CPI, CPV, etc.

CP_ (cost per: Action/Acquisition, Install, View) has become a proven method of alternative payments over the past 3 years, especially in the developed world where marketing budgets are focused and where online marketing is king. However, some CP_ offers are available for developing markets. CPI, specifically (when the paying action of an offer is the install of another game or app), is often available to all users, regardless of which country they come from. Payouts are typically low (due to poor quality installs), but CPI offers are free and easy for anyone, so the volume can make up for lower payouts.

Surveys

Surveys, like CP_ campaigns, have their largest budgets in the developed world. However, marketing for many products is growing in the developing world and corresponding market research is needed. Peanut Labs, the market leader in surveys, has increased its international (and developing world) survey reach in the past 6-12 months, which has helped their international monetization significantly. Surveys are free and are available to whoever they’re targeted (based on user demo data).

Tasks

Micro-tasks in exchange for virtual currency is a near-global monetization option, and I anticipate that as UIs and presentations improve, this method will become a more viable part of the virtual currency ecosystem. Gambit already partners with Crowdflower, and Offerpal has Mechanical Turk Tasks on its platform. That said, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Re-engagement and re-targeting by the micro-task companies is weak, and inventory is a big issue.

BringIt

A new player on the scene, BringIt acts as both a source and a sink in game economies. That means that users can both gain and lose virtual currency within the BringIt environment. The platform allows users to “bet” a game’s virtual currency on themed mini-games within the game frame. The product is yet to be fully localized or translated, but is free for users (it costs them virtual currency, which acts as the sink) and is available to anyone.

Direct Pay — Coverage and Optimization

As it relates to developing markets as well as overall international coverage, having all the right direct payment methods is key. Aside from payment platforms like Playspan, Allopass, and Moneybookers, the two leading altpay and direct pay monetization suites, Offerpal and Super Rewards, have a large number of direct payment methods to complement their altpay focus. Each supports over 100 international payment methods either through direct integration or through “deep links” from an aggregation partner. Many of these methods are promoted in developing countries.

What hasn’t yet been nailed, however, is historic targeting. It’s good to start a user off with all methods available to them for their country (altpay and direct pay). However, as time passes and transaction data accrues, users should be shown payment methods more strategically. Otherwise, clutter and distraction can become overwhelming, negatively impacting conversions.

As an example, consider an Italian user who has come to an app’s ‘Points’ page every three days for 3 months to buy or earn currency. Initially, the user did a few incented CPI offers (installing another app in exchange for the current app’s currency), then they began doing PayPal transactions routinely for the past 10 weeks.

The user has clearly adopted their preferred payment mechanism. They no longer need to be shown all the other options. A collapsible UI that holds PayPal in a frame above a few simple offers would likely be the optimal scenario for improved conversions for this user and others in the same bucket.

Overall, users should be bucketed according to past behavior and more granular tests (price points, default package selection, etc.) should be run on each bucket. It’s work, but I’ve seen as much as 50 percent lift if this is done properly.

Mobile Coverage Doesn’t Mean Mobile Conversions

It’s no secret that mobile payments are the preferred, adopted form of payment in many international markets. The extent to which the mobile payment companies (Zong, Allopass, Boku) have gained international coverage in the past couple of years is staggering. It wasn’t long ago that US coverage was “coming soon.” However, coverage doesn’t lead to transactions if the UI isn’t right. Much of the time, users are unaware that they can pay via mobile (in their country). In other cases, users need a nudge that many of the payment companies aren’t successfully giving them. Over the past few months, I’ve experimented with various presentation strategies on this matter with very clear (and in some cases dramatic) increases in conversions and revenue.

Having the method is only part of the battle, and that goes for any method – not just mobile.

Summary

Discretionary spending power plus availability of locally-adopted payment methods equal increased transactions and revenue.

In countries where one, the other, or both don’t exist, developers should dig deeper and get creative for solutions. Having looked at the numbers backward, forward, and sideways for the past few years, this is easy for me to say. However, making the right moves often means real improvements in conversions and transaction sizes.

Overall, there’s a ton of opportunity to sustainably monetize international and developing markets, and if educated and committed, it can be a very profitable exercise.(source:insidesocialgames


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