Online Game Deployment is a core business process for online game publishers. It includes all of the activities required to get a game ready to play on the player’s system, such as download, install, update/patch, launch and repair functionality.
Typically, we’ve found that game developers and publishers will build their game deployment solutions with the mindset of “make it work now and improve upon it later.” They’re either looking to save time and money or they don’t have the time and money to do it right from the beginning.
The result is that their games launch with substandard deployment solutions. We address the hidden costs and other challenges of doing this in another blog post.
But what isn’t understand is that any short term cost or time savings will have a long term impact on the success of their game.
Where alpha and beta players are more tolerant of tech glitches, once the game is deployed publicly, those early adopters are not so forgiving. Using them to test your deployment technology will prove to be a negative that can have a direct and lasting effects on your bottom line.
Players acquired earlier are worth more to your game.Statistics from Superdata Research indicate that a player acquired in the first month of a game’s launch date is 10X more likely be playing 12 months later than a player acquired in the 12th month following the launch date.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is true, especially for online games. You have that‘one moment’ in front of your target player to make the best first impression you can.
In the past, players may have been more forgiving, but as technology evolves, players now expect to have an easy and engaging experience while downloading your game. For your first-time players, a solid first impression is tantamount to your game’s success, and the economics agree.
Abandonment Economics
Here’s an example:
IF
- 50,000 players enter into the Acquisition Funnel each month and
- Average Revenue per User is $2/Month and
- Lifetime Value of each player is $8 and
- And acquisition funnel abandonment is 50%
THEN
- Only 25,000 new players login to the game each month
- 25,000 potential players have been lost x $8 lifetime value
- $200,000 in potential lost revenue each month
Make an awesome first impression and reduce your abandonment rate!
Take a hard look at your game patching software and your game download manager. Does what you have make it easy for your players to download, update and play your game? Does it give your target players the best first impression you can offer?
It’s worth a hard look because early player loss has long term effects.