World 16
Selling it
Prices, stores, retention and monetisation, with the arithmetic on show and the tricks to refuse named as tricks.
A game nobody hears of or can afford helps nobody, and the people who keep the studio open need paying. This world gives you the words the money people use and shows the sums behind them, so a bad deal or a bad number is something you can see. Some of what follows is honest business, and some is a way of taking money from people who would not give it if they saw clearly. Each entry says which, and where you should refuse. Figures have dates because they change. Nothing here is a benchmark to aim at.
- PremiumThe player pays once, up front, and owns the whole game. It is the oldest model there is.
- Free-to-playThe game costs nothing to download and earns money by selling things inside it. Most players never pay, so the few who do carry the rest.
- Platform feeThe share of each sale the store keeps. Steam's standard cut is 30%, falling to 25% and then 20% on revenue above set amounts.
- Store pageThe page where someone decides whether to buy or wishlist. Capsule art is its small banner image, which is what most people see first, in a list among others.
- The hookThe one thing that makes someone who has never heard of your game want it, said in a sentence. It needs to be something they can imagine doing and have not seen before.
- WishlistA saved list of games a player wants on a store. When a game on it launches or goes on sale at 20% or more, Steam emails them.
- DemoA free piece of your game for people to try. On Steam, Next Fest is an event where many games release demos at once for visitors to browse.
- Early accessSelling a game before it is finished, and updating it in public. Steam started its programme in March 2013.
- DiscountingSelling for less for a while to reach people who would not pay full price. Expect many of your copies to sell at a discount, and plan for it.
- PublisherA company that pays for or markets your game in return for a share of the money. Often they pay an advance, and you get no share of sales until your share has paid it back, which is called recouping.
- StreamabilityHow much fun a game is to watch someone else play: whether it makes moments people would clip and share, and whether viewers can follow it.
- Review bombingA flood of negative user reviews in a short time, often about something other than the game itself: a policy, a statement, a store deal.
- DLCExtra content sold after the base game. It can be a large expansion or a small item, and players judge the two very differently.
- CosmeticsPaid items that change how you look and nothing about how you play.
- Pay-to-winPlayers can buy an advantage over other players. Money beats skill, at least some of the time.
- Premium currencyMoney you buy with real money and then spend in the game, as gems or coins. It sits between your wallet and the price, on purpose.
- Energy systemYou can only play so much before the game makes you wait, with a meter that refills over time or for money.
- Battle passA track of rewards you unlock by playing during a season, usually with a free line and a paid one. Dota 2's 2013 Compendium was the forerunner, and Fortnite made it the norm from late 2017.
- Loot boxA paid item with a random reward inside, so you pay for a chance at what you want. It runs on the same schedule that keeps people at slot machines, with a game wrapped around it.
- GachaA loot box system built into the core of a game: you pay for pulls on a banner to win characters at very low odds. The word comes from Japanese capsule-toy machines called gachapon.
- WhaleTrade slang for the small number of players who spend far more than anyone else. It comes from casinos, where it means a high roller.
- Live opsRunning a game after launch as an ongoing service: events, new content, balance changes, seasons, all planned on a calendar.
- Soft launchReleasing a mobile or live game quietly in a few countries to measure how people behave and fix it before the big release.
- Retention curveThe share of players who come back after a given number of days, starting from those who first played on the same day. Day-1 retention is the share who return the next day. Churn is the opposite: those who leave.
- DAU and MAUHow many different people played on a given day, and in the last 30 days. Dividing the first by the second gives a rough idea of how often people come back.
- ARPU and ARPDAUTotal revenue divided by players, over a period. ARPDAU divides one day's revenue by that day's players. ARPPU counts paying players only.
- Lifetime valueThe money you expect from a player over all the time they play. If it's more than you pay to acquire one, you can buy growth with advertising.