Building Thriving Virtual Worlds =PROFIT Justin Beck CEO

UA costs are rising… Player retention is THE way to make profit

R&D Design of the game Publishing Social engagement with your users Live Ops Incorporating feedback into the content updates

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How we make money 6 Download the game for free Play and love the game Buy virtual currency Spend virtual currency in the game Repeat and buy more

Virtual Goods Expenses 7 Purchase Swag 30% Level Up 22% Premium Resources 15% Everything Else 33% 67%

Gross Revenue Total Accounts Average Payer LTV $5M 1.8M $145 8

Design

Open World to Explore Flag chains Direct engagement with neighbors

Hunting Parties Group hunting Invite in-game friends for synchronous game play

Kingdoms Recruiting, building, warring

Player to Player Trade The virtual economy formed around trade

Chat and Messaging The social infrastructure to pipe it all together

Things we would do differently Synchronous game play Relying on neighbors Total persistence A true economy

Things we got right Robust chat system Smooth friend, invite, and personal messaging system Faces and characters Social Engagement Loops

Publishing

Marketing and Communication Community building is downward, upward, and cross communication. Downward ChannelsUpward ChannelsCross Channels App Description1 Support TicketsIn-Game Chat 1 Update Hut Posts2 ForumIn-Game Messaging Facebook Page PostsReviews1 Forum App Review ResponsesStat DataReviews 5 Support Ticket Responses Update Hut Posts Support Tickets Game Forum Game Forum App Reviews App Reviews In-Game Chat In-Game Chat In-Game Messages Social Media Social Media PR / App Description PLAYER CROSS COMMUNICATION GAME DEVS

Engagement Ask questions and respond to player questions Facebook makes this engagement even easier

Update Hut Posts Communicating change logs Preview updates before they come out Replying to feedback In-game messaging about updates so that everyone knows they exist

Curating a list of Beta testers Sending beta builds Getting bug reports back from them Getting game play feedback from them They will be fickle (just like your players) They will be intense when engaged Auto Error reporting

Customer Support Have a straight forward customer support policy – Ignore the bad, reward the good Discipline when necessary Metrics to Measure: – Ticket volume and backlog – Average solve time – Average response time – Productivity

Live Ops

Swag Custom hats, weapons, and skins Limited time, in general high price Very cool looking – Player recommended Swag – Connected to Holidays Bundling with Sales

Economy Very small adjustments to problems and situations Player confidence in market stability is shaken when large changes happen – Players speculate and then act, thus causing large swing changes

Competitions Weekly Hat Races Weekly Tournaments League Rewards based on timeline

Additional content Our “Ages” – Exploration – Gathering – Emergence – Kingdoms – Ascension Dungeons Expanding skills Increasing level cap

Recap Design – Stay focused on features, social implications, and the social engagement loop (including motivation) Publishing – Build strong downward and cross communication channels in the product – Focus on engagement and quality over support Live Ops – Plan for content, know how much it will cost – User player feedback in making it – Know how it will be messaged and consumed

Thanks!