Dynamic pricing model or help iphone game succeed

How many complaints have you heard about Apple destroying http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/26040.html "> video game industry?" The competition is so fierce, prices are slipping, and no distributors are willing to pay for the cost of 99 cents in the development of high quality video games.

But a handful of issuers are making a lot of money, mainly new issuers, which means it's possible to make money. In this article, we will analyze the market data to understand which variables will achieve a successful application.

The market for app Store, Android harsh or Nokia Ovi is becoming increasingly competitive, and profits are dwindling, which in part eats into host gaming. But on the other hand, they also bring some useful new things to distributors:

1, 0 transmission costs

2. Huge Market Range

3. New technology

4, more importantly: data. Publishers can almost immediately manage the impact of price changes or online advertising.

Next, we will use variable data to parse how to build a relatively simple model to predict the success of a mobile game.

Iphone_games (from neonpunch.com)

First question: How can games appeal to users?

1, with excellent quality

2, has the good visual effect

In Numero, we monitor user satisfaction and page traffic for nearly 4,000 applications. We plotted the following chart: the numbers on the x-axis represent the highest level of user satisfaction and page traffic rankings for total revenue, for example, "1" represents the best quality and visual effects of the application, and the Y axis is applied to the rankings of the total income list. Ideally, the top application in the list of user satisfaction and page access should also be at the forefront of the total income list. Here is the chart.

Grossing prediction (from in Numero)

Although there is a certain connection between the two variables, the results are not very satisfying. From this chart, it is difficult to predict the total revenue level of the game. But if we look at the following table (game state Note: The 5 most-watched iphone apps in the table, the user satisfaction of each game is high), we see something strange:

Top Games Numer

Price factor. "Angry Birds" and "Tiny Wings" only cost 0.99 of dollars, is the lowest price two games, but their total income than the price of a higher game to much more. We should not have come to the conclusion that the distributor should price the game at 99 cents, but we can draw a chart similar to the above, with the indices on the x-axis replaced by new factors, "punishing" those overpriced applications:

Grossing prediction (from in Numero)

The straight line of the chart above can well predict whether a game with an "index" will make a profit. It shows that in two games with the same visual effects and quality, users will buy the cheaper game. When my 9-year-old nephew saw FIFA 11 selling for $5, he decided to spend 30 dollars on the mainframe version. If the iphone is priced at 1 dollars, he says he'll buy all two, one for the boring time of vacation travel and the other to play at home.

Dynamic pricing

Call one day (game Bang Note: March 2, 2011) of the data, we found no famous games in the vicinity of a few days released. But we know that "death space" was popular in the January, when in Numero wasn't paying attention to itunes data. The game now costs 99 cents. Why not continue to set high prices? Because the host version of the fans are more rich, they will be released within 2-3 weeks after the game bought. After this time, the main buyers of the game are those who occasionally play games, they just want a simple game, to pass the boring lecture time. These users will only choose the best and cheapest games in the most popular games.

Then we introduced a new factor to penalize the product based on pricing. Or, if the Publisher publishes a great game for 9.99 of dollars, it may sell well in the weeks before it is released, but then the profits will gradually decline unless prices fall. Here is the chart:

Grossing prediction (from Bruceongames)

Although it is difficult to see intuitively, the average forecast error has been reduced by more than 15%. After the release, the game price must be lowered. But the way on each platform is not exactly the same: the price of an iphone game must be tuned to 0.99 dollars over time, and the ipad game can be priced higher because users will think the product is worth more.

Conclusion

The model can be further developed, taking into account the relative size of each game market, the spread of user value to the game, and so on, becoming the most priced game of the same type of game is not the best option for high profitability. But it should be clarified that there is never a "suitable price", only a series of appropriate prices. In the fast developing digital market, pricing should be based on game value and dynamic development.

Game State Note: This article is scheduled on October 12, 2011, the time, events and data are subject to this.

This article is from: http://gamerboom.com/archives/40262
Original English: http://www.bruceongames.com/2011/03/15/what-successful-iphone-games-have-in-common/