Tag Archives: gaming

Loot Boxes & Game Developer Remuneration

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In the free to play gaming market, loot boxes pose a real quandary for game developers. Using the Japanese gacha system they are a popular game mechanic for increasing player engagement. However, the recent controversy with a number of high profile paid games (using loot boxes) is a cause for concern. It appears that core game players don’t like loot boxes. They have already paid for the game and they don’t see the need to have to pay for new content.

With free to play games it is different. Casual game players are used to daily reward mechanisms. A number of countries are now looking at the legality of loot boxes as a form of gambling. Are they a form of gambling? As the in-game currency cannot be used outside of the game, in most cases they have been shown not to be a form of gambling. However, loot boxes in games have now grabbed the attention of legislators in a number of countries.

Game developers need to be very careful in their implementation of a gacha type loot box system. They need to ensure it is property designed to reward players for ongoing play and not give an unfair competitive advantage.

For us we see it as a systematic structural problem in the games market as a result of the prevalence of free to play games. Professional game developers need to be remunerated for creating quality games that provide hours of entertainment - even if they are free to play. Google and Apple are delighted with dominance of free to play games as it effectively gives their customers free content. Yes, there is the freemium business model but it only works for a tiny number of large publishers. Both Google and Apple have a big part to play in correcting the market to so that there is a balance between free content and content creators getting paid. Unless this occurs, the games market will stagnate with no innovation and everyone making the same type…. With lots of loot boxes!

 

Virtual Reality Gaming. Has it Arrived?

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Virtual Reality was new to the market in 2016. But now has it come of age in 2017?

Virtual Reality, VR, AR, Headset, Tech, Games, Gaming,

At GDC in 2016, one, Patrick Walker peeped into the future to predict what is now occurring, see link below. He indicated the huge investment in VR of over a billion dollars in 2015/16 and this got a lot of game developers interested. But is it possible to prise the market away from the big boys? Probably not? Just look at the 2017 best selling VR games with games from Rockstar, Epic, Impulse Gear and Capcom all with big titles and new iterations of popular franchises in VR.

2016 VR hype shifts to reality thanks in no small measure to PSVR. It’s got good immersion and is now accessible widely and buy to entry is cheaper than rivals. PSVR has at the moment first to market advantage and will be an entry point for early adopters of VR.
All the big players want in and interesting to see the situation today as a gold rush. Suffice to say you need deep pockets to enter this market. Walker provides insightful market analysis on the non-VR gamers and their expectancy on the price of entry with just about 50% unwilling to pay over $350 for the kit. So unit price must drop to attract a critical mass.

Price is everything

He points to the price problem of upgrading your hardware to handle the VR. Understandably if PSVR can do this without it using a unique console it makes sense. So it transpires the players need deep pockets as well. What’s new?
He outlines the product providers with marketing stats research reviewing their ability to compete and how they are seen. These stats are from the time of his talk but are still very pertinent today.

Let’s look at a few VR providers.  HTC Vive (Steam VR) – Thought of as expensive with average content availability. Oculus Rift Considered expensive with not too many games. PSVR is cheaper with a good bank of content. Viewing the VR game charts of today ( Feb 2017) the game content for all platforms has increased considerably as developers are trying for first to market advantage, with whichever system prevails. So there is more choice on all systems.

In Nov 2016 the Walker said the market was saturated but predicted more of the same with new entrants waiting for VR to become financially viable for their brand. Again it’s a balancing act between console or PC with consoles being preferable. A disadvantage for non-console VR is that the system requirements for VR are expensive because VR requires high refresh rates pushed to two displays, it’s going to be fairly demanding.

Below are the recommended system requirements for the Oculus Rift, which are likely fairly similar to what you’ll need to support Steam VR. — NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater— Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater— 8GB+ RAM— Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output— 2x USB 3.0 ports— Windows 7 SP1 or newer.

What the players think

Reviewing VR games by existing or potential customers seem to highlight that gamers value user review as opposed to price, unlike mobile games. Logical really as the entry point into VR is so high that gamers expect to pay a premium price for a premium experience.
Other stats that were interesting is the correlation between VR user score and minutes playing which is not indicative of popularity, unlike other platforms, maybe because of the sea sick syndrome? However, retention is a good indicator and it is marked by players returning again and again. So varied metrics for VR games should be used to assess their popularity.

Walker gave some predictions regarding new entrants to the race, some of which has come to pass. He is also predicting Facebook and Apple entering the market and the technology advancing rapidly. He also sees Microsoft having an interest specifically in Augmented Reality or AR, seeing it as the preferable experience in the future.       But judging by todays parameters, he thinks mobile and social VR seem to provide the biggest potential for future growth. Walker provided a good overview of the market which is still in flux as we speak but consolidating by the day. As a marketer of games, I found it very informative and advise you to watch the virtual space.

VR talk VR focus Nov 2016 Watch it here
Patrick Walker EEDARTrack / Format Games & Entertainment Overview
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023900/Data-and-Insights-in-the

Big Data and Gaming

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Big data gaming

As the gaming industry continues to grow, it is no wonder that commentators see Big Data analytics as the perfect development tool in this progression. The phenomenal growth of gaming worldwide with an estimated two billion gamers creates a convenient data flow, which if managed correctly can drive user engagement to an even more intuitive experience. Looking at gaming in the USA it is incredible to think that it is bigger than the movie industry, which annually has a figure of $8 billion spent on ticketsales. Compare this with $20 billion in revenue for the gaming industry in the US and you begin to see the possibilities for Big Data in this scenario. The possibilities are immense, Big Data can be used to drive advertising in games and radically increase the player involvement and interaction with the game itself.

Tailored Marketing and the Game

Game players online and offline are constantly leaving behind masses of data which if collected and managed correctly can lead to a more personal experience for the participant. Much like a personalised shopping experience on the likes of Amazon, where you are offered, what may appeal to you, as indicated by your previous shopping pattern, gaming can now provide this individual choice. It is possible using Big Data analytics to develop a marketing strategy built around the individual player or players. This will allow the Game Developers improve segmentation, optimisation and targeting of the different types of players they attract.

The gamer because of their data stream footprint, leave clues to what type of things appeal to them. All the Big Data now has to do, is create an appealing and bespoke collection of options for that player based on the information gathered. A marketing analytics framework can be built upon data received about players and used as an inducement for potential advertisers. Data is streaming from the moment we interact and play with a game, whether that be on social media, PSP, Xbox or on your Smartphone with a mobile App. Data gives the who, what, where, when, and how we play, and with whom. This allows game makers to selectively approach the players with a variety of offerings which may appeal to that individual. The advertising potential is obvious, but other enhanced options for playing may also be offered, maybe linked to the geographical location of the player or players.

User Experience

The competitive among us may require little motivation but with the use of Big Data it is possible to provide real time feedback for all types of gaming scenarios allowing player improve, if they so desire. This could be a logical step for quiz or trivia type games which value improvement as a key factor of the game. A game which encourages you to get the Highest score or be an online champion needs real time data and Big Data could enhance this capability.
Imagine the potential for trivia and quiz games if the player was continually challenged to learn and display evidence of learning as they played. This is bordering on the space of educational free apps which are designed for such tasks. But most quiz fans will recognise the need to learn and increase their knowledge for the next quiz online whether it be in music trivia, sports trivia or just fun trivia questions the pursuit of excellence in knowledge terms is absolute. We all want to enter the trivia quizmaster Hall of Fame.

Big Data and Developers

Obviously more Data crunching gives you more of a work load but with the right analytics onboard this need not be the case. It is possible to use open source licensing models which is an accepted data management activity. Apache Hadoop is an open-source data-processing platform and has been used by such names as Yahoo and Facebook. There are a raft of options available using the cloud or not. All the big players are there including IBM, Microsoft and Google.

The ability for game developers to receive feedback from the players can be immensely useful pointing to bugs in the software or highlighting if the architecture of the game itself is capable of being improved upon. Monitoring and performing analysis on millions of gamers playing your game can provide invaluable insights into which parts of your game are popular and which parts are not. Using Big Data analysis will allow individually styled enhanced versions of a game that appeals to a certain group of players or maybe even an individual.

There is also the predictive possibilities of using Big Data, such as when a game is launched and at peak time of play when the service can either slow down or crash as has happened in the past. This can be anticipated and the capacity can be increased to allow for these peak times, which in turn will improve the gaming experience for all types of players on all types of devices, social, Xbox, PSP, mobile smartphones.
The game now is for developers to keep up with the opportunities open to them using this wealth of information. Big Data creates new opportunities for developers to increase revenue with improved market segmentation and improving player experience, which in turn adds to the bottom line.

Contact us for more details on how we are using Big Data in gaming.