Post on 24-Feb-2016
description
Turkish Delight !
Case Study: Knight OnlineMonetizing a Free2Play game and keeping it alive and fresh over 8
years
Rahul SandilGamersFirst
1s e c t i o n
ONEBackground• Key Market Indicators• Founded GamersFirst
in 2001• Found Knight Online in
2003
Key Market Demo
Average age :2570% < 30 yrs
1/3 of population > 14 are gamers
25,000,000 gamers in total
63% of gamers are 14-17 years old 15 000 PC cafes
6 hours of game play/week
3G subscribers: 40M in 2011 (7M in 2009)
1/3 of all mobile phones are
smartphones
250 online video/ month watched on avg
per subscriber
TURKISH ONLINE USERS
35M INTERNET USERS
5TH BIGGEST INTERNET POPULATION IN EUROPE
13TH BIGGEST INTERNET POPULATION IN THE WORLD
9 M TURKISH ONLINE SHOPPERS
70% are YOUNGER THAN
30 YEARS Vs.
39% are YOUNGER THAN 30 YEARS IN UK
TURKISH ECOMMERCE
US$12.4 bnIN 2011
THE WORLD‘S2NDFASTESTGROWINGECOMMERCEMARKETIN 2011
68% Growth
Social MediaTurkey is Ranked
1st FriendFeed
4th
Facebook9th
Combined CCU of Top 5 MMOs
175,000
BACKGROUND• Found Knight Online in 2003• Already released in Korea in
2001, it set the land speed record for failure…
• Which meant that by the laws of Inverse Demographics (which I just made up), it would blow the roof off of the North American Market!
• Game was translated to English and published by K2 shortly afterwards
2s e c t i o n
TWOHORIZONTAL EXPANSION
ALT TITLE: MORE TURKEY PLEASE
2s e c t i o n
TWOHorizontal Expansion– Initial wave of Turkish players
in 2006– Within a year game overrun
with Turkish players (in a good way)
– Gaming phenomenon!!
HORIZONTAL EXPANSION• 1 in 10 Turkish citizens
has played Knight Online
• OEM “hardware” appears: The KO Pedal
• Turkish player data:– Conv Rate: 8% - 12%– ARPPU: $18-$26– Average LTV: $80-$120
HORIZONTAL EXPANSION• 1 in 10 Turkish
citizens has played Knight Online
• OEM “hardware” appears: The KO Pedal
• Turkish player data:– Conv Rate: 8% - 12%– ARPPU: $18-$26– Average LTV: $80-
$120
UNTIL THE DARK TIMES…EVERYTHING WAS LOOKING GOOD . . .
• Hackers/cheaters begin to appear en masse
• DDOS attacks in 2007 cripple game servers for months
• Turkish government BANS Knight Online (possibly preparing for 2011’s attempt to ban the internet)
• Net result?
• Hackers/cheaters begin to appear en masse
• DDOS attacks in 2007 cripple game servers for months
• Turkish government BANS Knight Online (possibly preparing for 2011’s attempt to ban the internet)
• Net result?
• A few million more unique logins appear
• Max CCUs double• Number of
transactions quintuple
3s e c t i o n
THREEThree Cs of Monetization• Community• Currency• Content
• Combos and Sliding: Two features that started their lives as bugs
• Daily/Weekly/Monthly Live events
• Localized GM/CS• Embraced Social Media
early
1. COMMUNITY
• Pricking with E-Pins• KOL everywhere!• Everyone Makes
Money [on the secondary market]
2. CURRENCY
• PVP: The UGC gift that keeps on giving
• Everyone Loves a Trader• Annual Content
Updates3. CONTENT
LEARNINGS
s u m m a r y
SUMMARY
DON’T Play
Tipping the Scales
Play
I want items
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
Play
I want items
I don’t want to spend money
Tipping the Scales
I want items
I don’t want to spend money
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
Play
I want items
I don’t want to spend money
I want to PVP
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
Play
I want items
I don’t want to spend money
I want to PVP
My clan needs me
How did my friend get that?
I can pay with Cash
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
Play
DON’T Play
I want
items
I don’t want
to spend
money
I want
to PVP My clan
needs me
How did
my friend
get that?I can pay
with
cash
Wow – The GM’s
speak Turkish !!
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
Play
Life Time Value of Paying Player
$80 - $120
Peak CCU45k -55k
Conversion to Paying
8% to 12%
Tipping the Scales
DON’T Play
I wan
t item
s
I don’t
want to
spend
money
I want
to PVP My clan
needs me
How did
my
friend
get that?I can
pay
with
cash
Wow – The GM’s speak
Turkish !!
THANK YOU(ALT TITLE: SHAMELESS TWITTER WHORING)
@rahulsandil