F2P Games and their revenue

from http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/11883998456

While not directly Hearthstone related, I figured this would be an interesting read for anyone in the F2P or P2W camps.

http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/26/only-0-15-of-mobile-gamers-account-for-50-percent-of-all-in-game-revenue-exclusive/

AGAIN THIS ARTICLE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT HEARTHSTONE SPECIFICALLY

But it does give you an idea on who and where the money generally comes from in F2P titles.


The group of gamers responsible for half of all in-game revenue in mobile titles is frightening because it is so narrow, according to a survey by Swrve, an established analytics and app marketing firm. About 0.15 percent of mobile gamers contribute 50 percent of all of the in-app purchases generated in free-to-play games.



That means that some people, known as “whales,” account for a huge amount of purchases in mobile games. These people are very valuable users who are single-handedly making games profitable so that game companies can make a lot more games for those people who don’t pay anything.



On the negative side, there are a lot of people who have become accustomed to paying nothing at all for their mobile games. For game companies that depend on in-app purchases in their free-to-play games, that can be a nightmare.

“People are very mobile, and they have a lot of options,” Reynolds said. “Trying to capture them is becoming more and more difficult.”



Reynolds said that only 1.5 percent of active players surveyed in January actually made a purchase in that month. About 50 percent of revenue comes from the top 10 percent of the players who do make purchases. Expressed as a percentage of players, this group of big spenders represents just 0.15 percent of the total. It makes sense for game companies to identify these spenders and target them with incentives, but they shouldn’t be the sole target of campaigns, Reynolds said.



Of the people who pay, 49 percent make just one purchase during a month, while 13 percent of paying players make five or more purchases. A significant amount of that spending activity takes place within the first 24 hours the game is played. For the players who make a second purchase, the average time lapse between the first and second purchases is a mere 1 hour and 40 minutes.


The entire thing is a very interesting read and really gives some good insight on F2P games, how their business is managed. Things to note: We have no idea what Hearthstone's "pay versus free" numbers actually look like. We don't know if the profits mainly come from "whales" in hearthstone either. We also know that since Hearthstone isn't technically yet a mobile game, that spending trends can and probably ARE very different at least at this point.