Monetizing the game; How?

[Divicid]

I am aware that this is an ongoing discussions in other threads, but i believe there is need for an actual thread focused on how H&H can make money, no matter if it's game breaking or not.

Two things you have to understand about H&H and it's playerbase, is that people have money, and people have time. Some people have more time than money, and some have more money and others.
That is the crucial thing about this discussion. Other important aspects if the fun of the game, and being able to be competitive and social.

Now we have three kinds of players in this sort of games.

1. The free player
The sort of player that does not have the financial backing, or the devotion or even sees it as senseful to invest any money in the game.
This player will not pay you 10$ or 1$, so it does not matter what sort of monetization you do. They exist as the "Social, Competitive and Social" aspect of the game. They are there to be interacted with, not to earn money from.
They are simply here too have a fun time and enjoy the game. This is most likely the second biggest group of players in H&H.

Earning per players : 0$

2. The Sub's
This players don't mind paying a monthly sub fee for the game, they have time to invest and money. On the other hand they are fixated on the sub costs, which means that a cost of 7$, 12$, 20$ can make a difference to if they will sub or not. This players enjoy the game, just as the first category, but they also value their time more. Meaning they are ready to some certain degree pay for a Sub to make the game easier and more enjoyable. This is most likely the largest category of players in H&H.

Earning per players 7$

3. The inbetween

These players have subs, and do not mind paying for certain store items, but they will only pay for it if they consider it well worth it.
A study about app monetization i recently read conclude that the players buying from ingame stores are worth around 4-5 times more then people not paying.
For this thread we going to take the base of the subs, so

Earning per player: 7$+ 7x4 = 35$

4. The "whales"
These are the players that is the core base for monetization. The ones you target for earning money. These players are there to compensate the players who does not pay for the game, offering them advantages that saves them time, but also makes sure the benefits are not game breaking enough too scare of the other 2 categories. These people don't care if the sub is 20$, 30$, or 40$. They do not mind paying 100$ a month on the game, or even upto 1000$. They are ready too open their wallets too make sure they have a fun experience, doing what they prefer, and value their time more than their money. Or they simply see a way to spend their time doing more constructive things, without having to grind the game.

These players are the ones you target with ingame store items, they are the minority of the game. You can find them in all sorts of games, like Stronghold Kingdoms, Shakes & Fidget, Farmville, or other crappy tablet games. They have found a game they enjoy, but they like too progress fast, and does not have the time to spare.
I can of course only speak for myself, but i would consider myself one of them. Looking back at Salem i've spent 1,220$ on it. Playing Stronghold Kingdoms i've spent 640$ on it. I paid around 500-600$ playing Archeage, and playing on Empyrion on private servers i might have spent another 200$.

Now in the mobile app industry the "Whales" which is around 2% of the player base, stands for incredible 90% of the total revenues of a game according to a study from Localytics.

Earning per player?

Now say that only 50% are subbers, 38% are free players, 10% inbetweeners and 2% are "Whales" how much can you then earn on 1000 players?

Subbers : 7x500 = 3,500$ (Simple math)
Free users: 0x380 = 0$
Inbetweeners: 35x10 = 350$
Whales: As these people count for 90% of the total earning the sum would be 3,500+350 = 3,850 (10%) x 9 = 34,650$ (90%)

Now of course H&H does not have this playerbase, far from it, and alot of the playerbase that exist lives in impoverished countries. But does it not create the incentive to create a ingame store?
Don't get me wrong, the game needs all of it's players, if there is no playerbase, then there is no "Whales" as the game would not be any fun.
But simply understand one thing, if you want to earn money on this game, then accept that the majority of people will be complaining about the ingame store, but they are not the one supplying you with 90% of the revenues.
At the same time, understand that the ingame items can't be gamebreaking, as it would deter people to play the game, or as people would call it "Pay2win".

So how does other games create a succesful monetization?

1. You could have popups, or advertisment people have to click on, earning you a profit through affilation. Most likely the least income, but would make the game "free" and at the same time generate a profit.
2. VIP access, or in this case, Subs as we already have.
3. Time saving items; Alot of games have items, or features that saves people time. This is where you will earn your money.

Now how can you earn money, on saving players time in H&H without making it "gamebreaking"?

There is 2 ways

1 - Regular payments
For example, salt. Now if i spend 10 hours in the game looking for salt im sure i would be able to find a decent amount to bring home. The factor is time commitment, i want to achieve something, and i am ready to put down my time into it. What if a player is ready to put down money on it instead? Instead of looking for 10 hours, i pay 10$ and get roughly the same amount of salt. Is it game breaking? No, because there is nothing gamebreaking in saving time. This is also a feature you can use alot of times, giving you a steady income.

2 - One time payment
Another thing is tools, allow the players to buy tools that speed up certain grinding aspects, like you had in Salem. This will save people time, AND the item will exist in the world, meaning it's available too other players. Is it gamebreaking? No, once again, it's about saving time. The work i do with my tools taking me 2 hours, perhaps would take a free player 4 hours. It is though a once in a lifetime thing to purchace. Meaning it's a good way for a "quick" buck, and should be expanded regulary with new tools.

In conclusion, if you want to monetize this game you have to decide how much you want to earn. And i assume, and hope, that both jorb and loftar wants too earn as much as they can from this game, without breaking it. And if not, then just make it free with no subs or any other costs, so we can end this discussion. But i sincerly hope you will implement a Shop ingame and take advantage of the potential profits.

[shubla]

no one pays 1000$ a month for hnh what the fuck are you talking about

im pretty sure that most money just comes from regular subs, people that buy hats and stuff are a nice plus, but primarily its subs

Saving time is gamebreaking

Why not just sell 5000 every stat chars for 500 dollars?
"To save time" It wouldnt be gamebreaking at all, right?

Your post is bad

[Divicid]

no one pays 1000$ a month for hnh what the fuck are you talking about

Never said anyone did, and how could they? There is nothing to spend it on.

im pretty sure that most money just comes from regular subs, people that buy hats and stuff are a nice plus, but primarily its subs

Im pretty sure you right. Seems abit obvious?

Saving time is gamebreaking

Depends on how you implement it. And even if it were, how large of an impact would it have on the playerbase vs total earnings?

Why not just sell 5000 every stat chars for 500 dollars?
"To save time" It wouldnt be gamebreaking at all, right?

That would be gamebreaking, never suggested it. Also that would ruin the possibility of future payment.

Your post is bad

T_T

[shubla]

50% subbers sounds just drastically optimistic.
Of course I dont know how many people actually subscribe who play this game. But im pretty sure that its more near to 20% than 50%

[Divicid]

50% subbers sounds just drastically optimistic.
Of course I dont know how many people actually subscribe who play this game. But im pretty sure that its more near to 20% than 50%

"Now say that only 50% are subbers"
It's called an estimate.

And also

"Now of course H&H does not have this playerbase, far from it..."

You perhaps should read the post again?

[Beezer12Washingbeard]

With the way the sub/verify bonuses stack, I think the subscription levels should be changed to give the bronze-silver-gold tiers more meaning. Currently they all give +30% development and 100% convenience, but I think it'd make more sense if they were tiered to incentivize buying the higher level subs, e.g.:

Bronze: +10% char development, +50% convenience
Silver: +20% char development, +75% convenience
Gold: +30% char development, +100% convenience

[MagicManICT]

no one pays 1000$ a month for hnh what the fuck are you talking about

Can't say people will or wouldn't in HnH, but they have in other games. In an old interview I read with the Three Rings developers (Puzzle Pirates, Spiral Knights), they reported a few customers that were dropping very large sums of money into the game. I want to say that the number was in excess of $20,000 US over a period of a few months from just one person.

Just because I can cash grab from people who have lost connection to their inhibition (or never had one) doesn't mean I should.

[borka]

-snip- alot of the playerbase that exist lives in impoverished countries. -snip-