This document summarizes key industry trends in mobile gaming in 2017, as presented by the CEO of GREE International Entertainment. It outlines four major trends: 1) creative exits as developers outsource work, 2) vertical partnerships between developers and IP holders, 3) the rise of international markets like Berlin and Shanghai, and 4) strategies around bundling and unbundling games and monetization models. Specific examples are provided for each trend to illustrate how mobile gaming companies are adapting their business models and operations.
4. “Middle” has neither the scale benefits nor the agility of smaller
teams, and has not participated in growth & maturity of the
mobile platform
“Rich” receive recursive benefits from scale, brand, ability to leverage top IPs
“Poor” can continue to innovate with small teams, access platform featuring
MOBILE GROWTH ELUDES
“MIDDLE”
*AppAnnie Estimates, US Revenue in January 2017
5. 4 KEY TRENDS
1. CREATIVE EXITS
2. VERTICAL PARTNERSHIPS
3. RISE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
4. BUNDLING
7. 2. VERTICAL PARTNERSHIPS
• From audience to IP holder: how should developers build hits today?
• Vertical partnerships can come in the form of:
• Moving older games to low cost developers
• Co-developing
• IP Partnerships
• For Hire Partnerships
• This can impact a number of roles within a company including:
• Publishing
• UA
• Brand/Franchise Marketing
• Live Ops
• PR
• Platform Relationships
• As a result you’ll see companies outsourcing development without losing
revenue
• Development
• Art
• Engineering
• Product
• Design
• Product
Marketing
10. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
• Content approvals
are required
• Must partner with
a Chinese
company & only
with government
approval
• Hands out $4Bn in
government
subsidies
• SR&ED (“SHRED”)
tax breaks - one of
the biggest sources
of government cash
for private sector
innovation &
research
• Hiring subsidies more
common
• Favor the conversion
of temporary contracts
into open-ended ones,
e.g. reactivating long-
term unemployed,
supporting groups at
risk of labor-market
exclusion, etc.
11. “There’s only two ways I know of
to make money –
bundling and unbundling.”
~ Jim Barksdale,
VC, Netscape CEO
4. BUNDLING & UNBUNDLING
12. A strategy that joins products or services together in
order to sell them as a single combined unit.
BUNDLING:
UNBUNDLING
The process of breaking apart a product or service into
smaller parts.
14. • Shooting / Combat
• Driving / Racing
• RPG
• Storytelling
• PvP / Multiplayer
BUNDLING
IN AAA GAMING
TOP AAA GAME … incorporates multiple gameplay
styles
15. UNBUNDLING
IN MOBILE GAMING
• Shooting / Combat
• Driving / Racing
• RPG
• Storytelling
• PvP / Multiplayer
TOP AAA GAME … deconstructed for mobile
16. BUNDLING CASE STUDY
SimulationMatch 3
2015*
20M Installs
$30M revenue
2016*
100M installs
$180M revenue
(+20% RPI, unlocks
ability to increase UA)
For January 2017*, Playrix’s
total mobile revenues ($17M)
are greater than Zynga’s
($14M)
*AppAnnie Estimates
17. BUNDLING CHECK LIST
● Provide a clear, 'better together' value proposition
● Focus on 'attach products' with low penetration,
high potential
● Stick with higher-margin attach products
● Ensure value of attach product is high enough vs.
core product
HOW TO TAKE ONE GAME AND MARKET TO THREE,
NON-OVERLAPPING AUDIENCES: