my game's a hit... now what do i do?
DESCRIPTION
Marianna Polyakova, Director of Product Management, PlayFirst (The Winter Nights: Mobile Games Conference http://www.wnconf.com/en)TRANSCRIPT
PlayFirst Confidential
My Game’s A Hit…Now What Do I Do?
Marianna PolyakovaDirector of Product Management
PlayFirst
PlayFirst Confidential
Product Management Update
Who is PlayFirst?
Plan and Benchmark
Live Operations
Finding the Problem(s)
Control the Information
2
PlayFirst Confidential
• Global Leader in Mobile Family Entertainment
• 650,000,000 Diner Dash Downloads LTD
• Over 40 Games in iTunes
• iOS users are over 70% female, highly engaged
#2 #8 #15
#13 #22
#2 #16#13
#9
#1
#15#8#4
#4
PlayFirst Confidential
Carefully Planned Features
201220112010
IAP Venues
V.2.0
IAP Currency
Retina
Universal
FREE
UX Optimizatio
n
3+ Years in the App Store, 200+ Updates for Key Titles
Game Center
PlayFirst Confidential
Plan and Benchmark
PlayFirst Confidential
Map Your Benchmarks and Plan
• Gather Data!!
• Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)• Retention
• Monetization
• Virality (w/ Social Features)
• Map User Experience• Level Ramp
• Economic Balance
• Feature Interaction
PlayFirst Confidential
Live Operations
PlayFirst Confidential
Design, Features, Economic Model
• Assumptions about Player Behavior
Analysis
• Actual vs. Model• Player Income• Spending
Patterns• Balances• Pinch Points
A/B Test
• Price Sensitivity• Currency Sinks • Time Delay• Product
Placement• Spending Habits
Optimized Design, Features,
Model• Price • Time vs Money• Value Proposition• New Assumptions
about Player Behavior
PlayFirst Metrics Driven Approach
PlayFirst Confidential
Finding the Problem(s)
PlayFirst Confidential
First User Experience
10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Player Tutorial Retention
V1 V2
PlayFirst Confidential
UI/UX Iteration
Diner Dash, 2012Diner Dash, 2010
PlayFirst Confidential
1
Monetization: ARPDAU
UI/UX Iteration
20% Increase in Revenues
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Level 7 +229%
Level 4 +351%
• Top of the Funnel
• Conversion Points
• Additional Monetization• Venue & Currency Bundles
Level 1 +68%
Diner Dash Optimized Retention
Diner Dash Optimized Conversion
PlayFirst Confidential
Control the User Experience
PlayFirst Confidential
Economy Tuning
10 11 12 13 14 15 $-
$0.10
$0.20
$0.30
$0.40
$0.50
$0.60
$0.70
$0.80
Mall Stars ARPU by Level
10 11 12 13 14 150.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
Mall Stars Conversion by Level
pre tune post tune
PlayFirst Confidential
A/B Testing
1 2 3 4 5 6 70
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Mall Stars AB Test: Currency Sunk/DAU
1 2 3 4 5 6 70
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Mall Stars AB Test: Currency Purchased/DAU
variant total population
PlayFirst Confidential
Key Objectives to Sustaining Success
• Set Benchmarks
• Map user experience
• Analyze Data
• Test, Tune, and Iterate!!
