Hay Day Monetization: How This Farming Game Got to $1.15B...
Oct 5, 2022 4:47:15 GMT
Cowslips, sunnyphoenix, and 2 more like this
Post by lynnk2021 on Oct 5, 2022 4:47:15 GMT
Hay Day Monetization: How This Farming Game Got to $1.15B in Revenue
medium.com/udonis/hay-day-monetization-how-this-farming-game-got-to-1-15b-in-revenue-c3b6cd486c78
First of all, thank you to Redditor u/blueeyeboy8888 for sharing the above post in another thread recently. TIL the post's author Udonis is "an award-winning marketing agency specialized in mobile apps & games."
Since Supercell rarely shares and closely guards its metrics including lifetime earnings for its games, I don't how Udonis came up with the "$1.15B in revenue" in the headline of its post. Then in a blog post published in February 2022, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen shared publicly the following mind-blowing metrics, IMO.
FYI, I learned about monetization from watching a video of a presentation given by Supercell Server Programmer Jonas Collaros to an audience of his fellow developers in San Francisco in 2015 when he was working on Clash of Clans. IMO, Mr. Collaros shared many insights about developing Clash with a small team but here's the most memorable statement he made and I quote.
Udonis discusses how Hay Day monetizes non-paying players like me.
LOL, did everyone notice the recent upgrade to monetization? I didn't until I saw a big popup in the game telling me about the "Movie Theatre Update" whose rewards include new decorations. If you missed it, please look at the in game news tab.
I wasn't aware Hay Day has a subscription feature until Udonis discussed the Farm Pass.
Fascinating. Non-renewing subscription.
Sources: Are our best days behind us or ahead of us?
supercell.com/en/news/best-days/7600/
Clash of Clans: Designing Games That People Will Play For Years
Please DuckDuckGo or use your favorite search engine to view the above video with Jonas Collaros as the speaker.
medium.com/udonis/hay-day-monetization-how-this-farming-game-got-to-1-15b-in-revenue-c3b6cd486c78
First of all, thank you to Redditor u/blueeyeboy8888 for sharing the above post in another thread recently. TIL the post's author Udonis is "an award-winning marketing agency specialized in mobile apps & games."
Since Supercell rarely shares and closely guards its metrics including lifetime earnings for its games, I don't how Udonis came up with the "$1.15B in revenue" in the headline of its post. Then in a blog post published in February 2022, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen shared publicly the following mind-blowing metrics, IMO.
...At Supercell, we’ve been very fortunate in that in the past 11 years, we’ve released 5 hit games: Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars. They’ve had more than 5 billion downloads, and to this day, 250 million players play them every month, and each of these five games has grossed more than a billion dollars in their lifetime, and Clash of Clans and Clash Royale have grossed over $10 billion lifetime revenue so far...
FYI, I learned about monetization from watching a video of a presentation given by Supercell Server Programmer Jonas Collaros to an audience of his fellow developers in San Francisco in 2015 when he was working on Clash of Clans. IMO, Mr. Collaros shared many insights about developing Clash with a small team but here's the most memorable statement he made and I quote.
Monetization is a factor of your game design; Monetization is not the purpose of your game design. If any of us falls into the trap of thinking that monetization is the purpose of our game designs, then we fail as a game designer.
Udonis discusses how Hay Day monetizes non-paying players like me.
When you have a lot of non-paying players, you have to find a way to monetize them as well.
And this is where in-app ads come to the rescue.
At the same time, including ads in your game means skating on thin ice. The main risk is obvious — they can ruin the gameplay experience. You don’t want a bunch of angry comments about this across the app stores.
Hay Day’s developers are aware of this, so they carefully approached ad monetization*.*
Hay Day uses the players’ favorite ad format — rewarded video ads.
Unlike interstitials and banners, this ad format is hardly going to hurt the gameplay experience for anyone. In fact, let’s go over some statistics that tell us about how players perceive rewarded video:
68% of players say they like this ad format (TechCrunch)
32% of players think they are useful, 27% find them interesting, and 12% think they are enjoyable (Facebook Audience Network)
They are seen as the least disruptive ad format — only 24% of players find them disruptive (Facebook Audience Network)
Bonus: the players who watch them are 6x more likely to make in-app purchases! (ironSource)
...Monetization can be a tricky and complicated process. Even Hay Day monetization is still getting regular upgrades, just like the gameplay itself.
And this is where in-app ads come to the rescue.
At the same time, including ads in your game means skating on thin ice. The main risk is obvious — they can ruin the gameplay experience. You don’t want a bunch of angry comments about this across the app stores.
Hay Day’s developers are aware of this, so they carefully approached ad monetization*.*
Hay Day uses the players’ favorite ad format — rewarded video ads.
Unlike interstitials and banners, this ad format is hardly going to hurt the gameplay experience for anyone. In fact, let’s go over some statistics that tell us about how players perceive rewarded video:
68% of players say they like this ad format (TechCrunch)
32% of players think they are useful, 27% find them interesting, and 12% think they are enjoyable (Facebook Audience Network)
They are seen as the least disruptive ad format — only 24% of players find them disruptive (Facebook Audience Network)
Bonus: the players who watch them are 6x more likely to make in-app purchases! (ironSource)
...Monetization can be a tricky and complicated process. Even Hay Day monetization is still getting regular upgrades, just like the gameplay itself.
LOL, did everyone notice the recent upgrade to monetization? I didn't until I saw a big popup in the game telling me about the "Movie Theatre Update" whose rewards include new decorations. If you missed it, please look at the in game news tab.
I wasn't aware Hay Day has a subscription feature until Udonis discussed the Farm Pass.
“It’s a way to get really cool stuff in the game just by playing.”, this is how Hay Day describes their subscription feature — the Farm Pass.
And if you want the coolest stuff — purchase the subscription. The Farm Pass comes in the form of seasons that last for one month. They don’t even call it a subscription, but it definitely is. More precisely, it is a non-renewing subscription.
Wondering what makes a player want to purchase the next season’s Farm Pass?
Hay Day took care of this by designing special rewards — perks. These rewards only last until the end of a season. If the players don’t want to lose their privileged in-game life, they will purchase another subscription.
Finally, the option of even getting the Farm Pass opens up to players at level 11 and above. Therefore, the subscription is targeted at semi-experienced and experienced players.
And if you want the coolest stuff — purchase the subscription. The Farm Pass comes in the form of seasons that last for one month. They don’t even call it a subscription, but it definitely is. More precisely, it is a non-renewing subscription.
Wondering what makes a player want to purchase the next season’s Farm Pass?
Hay Day took care of this by designing special rewards — perks. These rewards only last until the end of a season. If the players don’t want to lose their privileged in-game life, they will purchase another subscription.
Finally, the option of even getting the Farm Pass opens up to players at level 11 and above. Therefore, the subscription is targeted at semi-experienced and experienced players.
Sources: Are our best days behind us or ahead of us?
supercell.com/en/news/best-days/7600/
Clash of Clans: Designing Games That People Will Play For Years
Please DuckDuckGo or use your favorite search engine to view the above video with Jonas Collaros as the speaker.
