successful premium casual games casual connect europe 2013 jessica sachs, director of developer...

Successful Premium Casual GamesCasual Connect Europe 2013

Jessica Sachs, Director of Developer Relations

Do you know how to develop successful premium casual games?

Today you will learn…

• Big Fish premium casual consumer demographics

• How to develop a game our customers will buy

• Why Big Fish is the best publisher for premium casual games

BIG FISH CONFIDENTIAL 4

Who is Big Fish?

Big Fish is the world’s largest producer and publisher of casual games

Founded in 2002, Big Fish has distributed more than 2 billion casual games and launchesA New Game Everyday!® for PC & Mac via www.bigfishgames.com

3,000+ games in the Big Fish catalog from 550+ game developer partners worldwide

Global business with games localized in 12 languages and games sold in 150+ countries

We’ve published 250+ unique mobile games and 800+ SKUs across iOS, Android, and others

Offices located in Seattle, WA; Oakland, CA; Vancouver, Canada; Cork, Ireland; and Luxembourg

BIG FISH CONFIDENTIAL 5

We Publish to Multiple Platforms

PC / Mac Downloadso Leading online marketplaceo Millions of annual customers o 1 million+ daily downloads

Mobile Downloadso iOS, Android, othero Millions of MAUo 600+ SKUso Leading social casino platform

Cloud Streamingo Big Fish Unlimited o Subscription and ad-

supported modelo Browser, tablet, phone,

connected TV, and more

Leading catalog of casual games extensible across multiple gaming platforms:PC/Mac, Tablets, Smartphones, Consoles, Connected TVs, Social

We Connect Developers and Customers

Developers Consumers

Using analytics to match developer content with diverse consumer preferences at scale

6BIG FISH CONFIDENTIAL

Who are Big Fish’s premium casual customers?

That’s right! Women DO play games!

Consumer Demographics

• 87% of customers are Female, ages 35-75• Located in over 150 countries• Visit our website every day, have been

customers for 2+ years• Spend an average of 10 hours per week

playing Big Fish games• Mobile customers just as female, slightly

younger, and open to cooperative game play

Why premium casual games?

Customer Motivations• RELAXATION• More engaging than TV• Escape from daily routine– 52% of customers play in the evening

• Feeling successful, rewarded• Mental challenge of solving puzzles• “Me” time, not social hour– 77% of customers play alone (PC)

Premium Casual on PC is a Big Business

Dark Parables: Curse

of the Bria

r Rose

Dark Parables: The Exile

d Prince

Dark Parables: The Red Riding Hood Sist

ers -

5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000

Collector's Edition – English VersionFirst 7 Days Units Sold

UnitsSold Red Riding Hood is a

$2 million game on the Big Fish PC app store alone.

$3 to $4 million across PC, Mac, Mobile and Cloud

2011

2012

2010

Case Study: Dark Parables (a top tier game)

….or, put me in your game!

Examples: Match 3-

Time Management-

Casual Sims-

Resource Management

-Hidden Object

Adventure-

Why Hidden Object Adventure?

• Highly consumable– 20% of customers buy more than 6 games per month

• Allow for story immersion• Provide a mental challenge• Provide for relaxation

• 70% - 80% of premium casual customers prefer this genre for PC and/or mobile

What do our customers want?

• A theme that resonates – Mystery, Crime, Adventure

• 2D Painted Cinematics • Immersive story told through game play• High quality VO and SFX• Interactive Hidden Object Scenes• Morphing items and Collectables• Interactive Map and Task buttons

• Cartoon and/or Photo-realistic art• Overtly sexual female characters• Themes that do not resonate

– Fashion– Western– Sports

• Failing• Text heavy (excess of 20,000 words)• Less than 4 hours of gameplay• The lack of Hints or Skip functionality• Things that are disgusting

– Spiders, snakes, insects, blood & gore, vomit, dismemberment….YUCK!

What do our customers hate?

Hidden Object Adventure NOT the only strong performers!

Plan for other platforms early!

67% of customers play on an iPad!

54% of customers also play on an iPhone!

Big Fish Unlimited launched July 23, 2012!

Mobile Best Practices

• Plan ahead for mobile optimization!– Optimized mobile interface and UI– Design for touch devices, opposed to

mouse/cursor interfaces– Adjust touch radius for objects/puzzles/small

screens– Be efficient with assets – the smaller the game the

better the performance– Support multiple languages

• Test before you invest!

A Complete Solution for Your GamesThe Big Fish Platform

• A large global customer base

• Targeting all casual platformso PCo Mobileo TV

• Offering all relevant business modelso Transactionso Subscriptionso Virtual Goodso Advertising

Mobile

Cloud

PC / Mac

Premium Casual

Free-to-PlayCasual

Developer Partners (licensed and funded)

Big Fish Studios

Capitalizing on the Content Life CyclePr

ice

$13.99 or $19.99

(CE Download)

$6.99 or $9.99(SE Download )

$7.99(Cloud subscription

for hundreds of games)

$0.10 to $0.20(Ad ARPU)

$1 to $6(Premium Mobile &

Virtual Goods ARPU)

Downloads (Standard Edition)

Downloads (Collectors

Edition)

AYCE Subscription

Premium Mobile, Virtual Goods, and Ad Monetization

Paid Units

Content Origination Content Syndication Content Franchising

Not all games are created equal. Quality matters! Brand matters!

Case Study #1

February ‘12

PC/Mac CE

$500,000+

Grim Tales:The LegacyElephant Games

$800,000+

March ‘12

PC/Mac/Int’l

$1,000,000+

January ‘13

iOS Cloud

2013

Estimated Lifetime Value

2015+

$2,000,000+

Actual 30 Day Numbers

Android coming soon!

Case Study #2

November ‘12

PC/Mac CE

$800,000+

Christmas Stories:The NutcrackerElephant Games

$1,200,000+

December ‘12

PC/Mac

$1,400,000+

December ‘12

iOS Cloud

2013 2015+

Estimated Lifetime Value

$3,000,000+

Actual and Estimated 30 Day Numbers

Android coming soon!

International coming soon!

Why the difference?

• Immersive story told through gameplay• High quality animations (characters and

cutscenes)• Character Helpers• Achievements and collectibles• Interactive Hidden Object Scenes• Story-related mini games • Atmospheric Effects• Well known story, well known music

What you learned today

• Big Fish consumer demographics• How to develop a game our customers will buy• Big Fish is the best publisher for premium

casual games

This is how to develop a successful premium casual game!

Thank you!