Setting Bejeweled Blitz free Lessons learned moving from premium to freemium on iOS

Giordano Bruno Contestabile, PopCap Games

March 5th, 2011

Twitter: @giordanobc

My job: managing the business…

…even though I suck at it!

My excuse: half of those people work at PopCap

• But so do I

• Oh dear!

• I suck!

Some quick facts Launched in late 2000

History: Bejeweled, Bejeweled 2, Bejeweled Twist, Bejeweled Blitz, Bejeweled 3

Key platforms: PC/Mac, Facebook, iPhone, XBox360, DS

Units: > 55 million

Installs: > 200 million

MAUs: > 25 million

Users: 500 million+

One Very Long Minute History of Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook & iOS

Bejeweled 2 iOS Client launched 2 days after iTunes app store opened (Summer 2008)

Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook launched in November 2009

Blitz mode and FB Connect added to Bejeweled 2 iOS client (April 2010)

Major Feature Launches: Rare Gems; Daily Spin; Keystones Tutorial

One of the first games to be fully integrated FB and iOS

2+ years from launch, still consistently popular:

• Facebook: top 10 games by DAU (3M+)

• iPhone: top 10 top grossing games

Doubling Down on Bejeweled

Why Change?

From mode in a paid game to freemium game

• Reach much wider audience

• Update more nimbly; follow Facebook closely

A new iteration of a great premium game

• Feature set and game rules from Bejeweled 3

• Lose the version number: an evergreen product that continues to evolve over time

The Great Maneuvers

Launch Timeline Soft launch of Bejeweled Blitz in Canada iTunes app store (12/1) Worldwide launch of Bejeweled and Bejeweled Blitz (12/8) Retirement of Bejeweled 2 + Blitz (12/8)

Products One of few titles with Premium and Freemium business model Bejeweled Blitz (Freemium) Bejeweled (Premium $0.99 download)

Launch Goals Top 10 Premium Title Top 10 Freemium Title Rating of 4.5 stars or more 6M Freemium downloads in 1 month

Downloads Highest App Store

Rankings Current App Store

Rating

Bejeweled Blitz Well over 10M 2nd Free / 3rd Grossing ½

Bejeweled Premium Well over 1M 1st Paid

Retiring one game, launching two new ones

Change in metrics from premium to freemium

Key Metrics Change

Downloads Daily Average Downloads 9X

Daily Active Users Weekly Average 5X

Revenue Daily Average 5X

Did It Work?

… and still growing (every week has been bigger than previous one)

Comparing iOS to Facebook

Key Metrics iOS (FB = 100)

Daily Active Users Weekly Average 33%

ARPU DARPU 196%

Engagement Games played / day 208% (52!)

Retention 7-day retention 200%

Monetization % of paying users 205%

Learnings – behavior iOS vs FB On most metrics, iOS users are 2x higher than Facebook users

Contributing factors:

• “Always on, always with me” nature of mobile

• Bejeweled Blitz strongly suited to bite-sized gaming

• Efficient Apple ecosystem, in particular for billing

We see significant FB / iOS cross-over in user base

• New FB users discovering the game through iOS first

The Power of Free

Premium Vs. Freemium: Downloads

Freemium client has 9x as many downloads per day vs. premium

Bejeweled Blitz

Bejeweled

Many Play For Free…

As expected, ARPPU declined when switching from paid to free

• Higher percentage of free players

ARPPU still higher, but closer, to Facebook

…But Enough of Them Pay!

Increased user base driving much higher revenues

Facebook Connect: A High Barrier

Approximately 20% of Blitz iOS downloads have activated

Facebook Connect, unlocking full game content

FB Connect required to unlock full features

Ongoing campaigns to incentivize users to connect

Facebook Connect: A High Barrier Benefits of full integration FB / iOS:

• Opportunity to leverage the same social graph

• Cross-promotion and higher awareness

• Big part of what makes the game fun

Drawbacks:

• Only 20% of iOS users connect with Facebook

• Extremely complex to maintain and operate

Conclusions:

• Worth it if it improves the game

• Try to make FB Connect optional on mobile

Reacting to feedback

App Store Ratings & Customer Feedback

Initial Rating

½ Action Taken

Results

½

• Game speed was intentionally slowed to match that of Facebook app

• Initial app store ratings were impacted by customer complaints about speed

• Rating reached a low of 2 ½ stars

• Directly responded to customer comments with the message: “we are listening to you and making changes”

• Stopped requiring players on old Bej2+Blitz app to transition to new app

• Able to resubmit and launch new version with faster speed within three days

Results of Customer Response

Ratings of new version significantly higher, and buoyed overall rating of app

Stabilized App Store ranking

Additional updates planned to address remaining and ongoing feedback

Updated app (with faster speed & iPad

support) released Source: Distimo Monitor Source: Distimo Monitor

Lessons Learned

Don’t mess with everyone’s favorite game!

Listen to feedback and address it

• Make sure the team is ready!

Make sure that updating the game is easy

• Anything that can be server-side, should be!

Lessons Learned

Be proactive

• Happy users are less likely to rate your app

• A “rate our game” interstitial works well • Don’t try to force them

• Be honest in your messaging (“if you like us...”)

Business Model

Boosts

Low-priced in-game effects meant to be used regularly

Balanced not to grant excessive advantages

• The better player will still score higher on average

Rare Gems

Higher-impact bonuses

Can be activated every few games, appearing randomly

Require skill to be fully taken advantage of

Entertainment value as important as effect

Daily Spins

Slot machine mechanic granting in-game currency

1 free “daily spin” every day

Additional “daily spin” can be purchased

Key tenets

“Play forever”: no pay walls or limitations for non-paying users

Game is fun and balanced also without paying

Pay to have fun, not because the games forces or punishes you

Server-side code to tweak economy in real time

Events really important: busy marketing calendar

Our secret? Science!

mF =↑eng + ↑ret + ↑mon

…that I just made up!

More fun = more engagement, retention and monetization

A simple equation…

If players are having fun they will play, stay and pay

Marketing Efforts

Marketing Mix

Ads on Bejeweled Blitz Facebook

“Free App Of The Day” programs Mobile Ads

“Apple Love”

Result analysis Vast majority of downloads from:

• “Apple love”

• Chart position

• Organic searches

• Existing Blitz players

Free app programs didn’t drive significant installs

Encouraging conversion from paid advertising • Very high CPI in December ($0.50 / $1)

Organic growth more valuable than paid growth

Sustained efforts more effective than “burst” actions

What’s Next?

Next Steps for Bejeweled on Mobile

Bejeweled Premium

• Updates every 2-3 months with additional game modes and content

• iPad

Bejeweled Blitz (Freemium)

• Monthly updates

• Add new features close to FB updates

• Continue to address customer feedback

• Encourage and incent players to unlock full features by activating FB Connect

• Android

The Challenge of Android

5 (key resolutions)

4 (2.2, 2.3, 3, 4)

100+

25%

250M

10+

Fragmented

Open (?)

Screen resolutions

Supported OS versions

Phone models

ARPU as % of iOS

Active user base*

Distribution Channels

Ecosystem

Platform

*Estimated

3

2 (iOS 4, iOS 5)

10

100%

250M

1

Integrated

Closed

A Billion New Players!

★ iOS

★ Android

★Gree

★ DeNA

★…

★Facebook

★Google+

★QQ

★Vkontakte

★…

Thanks!

Questions?

@giordanobc