Mobile Game Monetization Best Practices 2022:TheBeginner’s Guide

Mobile Game Monetization Best Practices 2022:TheBeginner’s Guide

If You have a million-dollar idea for making a potential Game. Then, Do you know how to gain money from making Games? Do you know what the techniques game developers use to monetize their games? Do you know which game monetizing technique best suits your game?

Most game developers focus their interest on the Idea behind the Game. However, they take most of the time to implement the game mechanics and like so. But Monetizing the game is equally important because making a potential game needs a lot of hours, lines of codes, logic, calculations, high-end graphics, strong math skills, art and animations, sounds,..etc which needs a lot of money to implement. So from the early stages of game development itself, the developer should focus interest on Game monetization also.

In this blog, I discuss Mobile Games(Android Games,iPhone Games ) and HTML5 Games Monetization techniques, Details of Ad Network Providers for Mobile Game Monetization.

Android Game Monetization Techniques:

1. Free Version:

Most of the games in the Google Play Store are free to play Games. The developers earn money from their free version of the game by displaying ads and in-app purchases. Here are some more techniques to earn money from free to play games.

Banner Ads: Banners are rectangular ads that appear in specified areas of the players’ screens during gameplay. We can set them at the top or bottom of the Player’s Screen.

Full-Screen Ads: These ads take up the entire screen of your game. It lasts for only a short period and disappears soon.

Native Ads: These ads are more naturally integrated within your app content, making them blend in with the rest of the page with the matching designs and layout.

Interstitial Ads: These ads typically appear where the gameplay naturally pauses. For example, in between levels or stages. It is a video Ad that comes with a close button.

Playable Video Ads: Playable ads are an interactive ad format that allows users to play the advertised game.

Rewarded Ads: Players are given a “reward button” that fits the Game Play to click on it and watch the full video Ad so that they can get a reward in turn.

 Service providers: www.adcolony.com

Incentivized Downloads/Offerwall: Offerwalls are another opt-in ad format. In an offerwall, players get a “wall” of actions they can complete to earn in-game rewards. The actions may be complete the survey, install another game, or make an in-app purchase in another game.

Service providers: www.tapjoy.com

www.revu.co/monetize/

Game Exit: Once the player finishes playing your game, you can present him one last full-sized ad.

More Games:We can have a “more games button “ display other Game Publisher games and Get money from great gaming vendors.

Subscription: Subscriptions are a set amount of money players pay on a regular basis to access special in-game features and additional content.It is best suited for news and entertainment apps.

Icon Drop: Your game is authorized to send push messages to the user and these can be used to promote other games.Service provider: www.airpush.com

Branded Virtual GoodsIf games have virtual goods like currency, fashion(clothing, jewelry, powers, tools, collectibles…etc), you can offer a branded versions of them and get paid by advertisers by making them watch videos.

Search:we can ger $12 per 1000 downloads.User gets a search app installed along with your game.

Service providers:www.Startapp.com

Call only Ads:Call ads are designed to encourage people to call your business, and can appear only on devices that make phone calls. When a potential customer clicks your ad, the ad places a call to you from their device.

2.In-app Purchases:

In-App Purchases (IAPs) are the leading monetization model for mobile games which are free games. According to Business of Apps and Games, 79% of mobile games monetize with in-app purchases.

In-app purchases are in-game purchases where the player pays the real money to purchase extra lives, coins, weapons, moves, boosters, etc. We can provide the player an in-game store on the home screen to buy what he wants.

3.Paid Version:

Charge the user for downloading the app or game

Premium versions:First release light version and allow them to upgrade to full version via In-App purchases

Level Packs:Advanced version of above one . Break the game in to few level packs and sell each one independently.

Worlds and Skins:Sell the Player the existing game having different worlds and Game Skins which allows the player to customize the look and feel of the game.

4.Limitation Removal:

Remove Ads Option: Offer the player with Ads-free game version. Usually for $0.99

More (Energy/Life/Turns/Time): Implement Energy mechanics like life points, and timers in-game limits in the gameplay for around 5–10 short sessions. So sell more life points and increase the timer to let the player finish the level.

5. Merchandising:

Sell t-shirts/lunch boxes/branded cases if the player wishes to purchase them. It increases your brand also.

Ex: Angry Birds t-shirts, lunch boxes…etc

6. Social Games:

Duels: Let users compete for prizes against each other.

Service provider: Nextpeer

Tournaments: Suits for Real-world Games like Cricket…

Gifting: Give options to give coins and virtual goods to other users as a gift.

7. Blended InGame Ads (Sponsors):

Find some Sponsors and display their ads in your apps or games.

Top Ad-Networks for Mobile Games:

Priority List based on Google Trends….

  1. facebook Ads (link)
  2. AdMob (link)
  3. AppLovin (link)
  4. Iron Source (link)
  5. Mintegral (link)
  6. Unity Ads (link)
  7. ChartBoost (link)
  8. InMobi (link)
  9. Revu (link)-specialized inOfferwalls Monetization
  10. Bango
  11. smartlink
  12. Launchpad
  13. Moloco (link)
  14. InMobi (link)
  15. Start.io (link)
  16. TapZoy (link)
  17. Vungle.com
  18. Smaato (link)
  19. Smarty Ads (link)
  20. Adcolony (link)
  21. Mookomedia (link)

Ad-network providers more details:Link

Billing InApp Purchase providers:

Service providers:Google

Conclusion:

As there are many techniques to monetize mobile games,choose better combination methods to maximize your profits and choose better AdProviders that give better ROI. Also, keep in mind don’t overload the games with too many ads that make the player frustrated and leads to deletion of the game on their mobile phones. I made this research for my gaming company Gameroost. Hoping this data helps other Game developers too…..

If you have a potential game idea,developed a wonderful game and know the strategies of earning money  from games ,It brings you money even when you sleep.

What is the best Board game in the world?

What is the best Board game in the world?

                     Do you know the best board game? Do you know which board game is played by most people? Do you know people spend most of their time playing board games? In fact knowingly or unknowingly you also spent your time on board games. If you want to know about the most popular board game then you are in the right place. Here we discuss games and know the starting point of board games along with statistics. 

                      Nowadays, High level games are available in the market. Those games have rich graphics, good sound quality and animation. We can easily download on our mobile and play the game anywhere. Even though we can not avoid the board game. Board games are not only for entertainment. It triggers our left side brain to think logically. Smart moves and decision taking nature plays an important role in board games. Game designers always keep this point while designing board games. We have different board games. Ludo is the most popular board game these days. As per survey most of the people are showing interest in the Ludo game.

                       We can see the discussion of board games in most of the civilizations. Ancients treated the board game as daily activity. They invited friends to play board games. Many times friends turned into enemies at the end of the board games. It leads  to misunderstandings and wars. As per the records Pachakalu (Pachasi) Senet, Hounds and Jackals were the oldest board games. Ludo is inspired by those games. Four players are required to play Ludo. Now the Ludo is available for six players also. 

                        Pachasi, nowadays we call Ludo, is discussed in Mahabharat. The die is little bit changed when we compare pachasi and Ludo. Pachasi die is modified by square cube die and Patented as Ludo in England in 1896. As per the history, Ludo(Pachasi) was created in India in the sixth century CE. You can find the clear sign of the legacy of the Ludo game in caves of Ellora. 

                         Analytics says that 80 mobile phones out of 100 mobiles have Ludo games. The Ludo game has experienced significant growth from 1990. The popular British daily newspaper The Guardian described board games as “Making a comeback”. Now we are all witnessing the success of the board game Ludo. This growth was raised by 40% from 2010 to 2014. A 1991 survey says that the global board game market was over $1.2 billion. The recent survey in 2021, it crossed $1500 million. All these statistics clearly say how people are interested in board games.

                          Nowadays, Ludo is available in video game format also. So we can download it and play with friends where we want. Ludo king is the most popular video game. The only issue with mobile games is the memory availability. Now the mobile is not only for calling. It is useful for knowledge gain, business activities and fulfilling all our daily needs. We can not remove the apps every time and reinstall them. The only solution, our apps should be available in less memory so that we can keep all our important apps. Here I can suggest one Ludo game app Ludo Family:Ashta Chamma, it is available in 11M. It is the best suitable Ludo game app for the people who are concerned with mobile memory.  It supports playing with friends as well as playing with computers. It has very simple graphics and game play. I am sure you will enjoy this app. 

                          I hope this blog helps you to gain knowledge on Ludo games. Please feel free to write your option on this blog so that I can improve my blogging. You can write your comment, suggestions on this blog. I will touch your heart with another blog. Thank you.

The Journey of Gameroost

The Journey of Gameroost

The Story of Gameroost:

You are here, which means you want to know about gameroost. Before I start talking about the gameroost, I want to thank you heart-fully because you are showing interest to know my story, to know my footsteps from nothing to gameroost. I really appreciate you and I make this blog to inspire you to start what you want to do.

I strongly believe that what we are today is because of the acts we did yesterday. All our bad/good incidents decide our path. So many times, little words may become a strong foundation for great achievements. Sometimes, our bad habits turn into our passion. The people who we meet in our life may leave their influence on us.

The stone which do not have any value:A stone with no value

The gameroost started from my career journey experience. It is very difficult to narrate the gameroost without touching on my journey. So I will tell you the most important incidents which motivated me to start gameroost. I did my MCA in 2010 and then started looking for jobs. I got a job in August in one of the established gaming company. I don’t remember who said this line that “The first company is the best company in our life” and It is true also. Now I have 11 years experience in the IT industry. I did not find a better company than the first one. It taught me how to be and should not be in IT companies. 

Just Imagine the man who comes from the family, even one person from the entire family does not pass the 10th class exam, who studied in government school. Suddenly he started experiencing the corporate software industry culture. Still I remember the first time I experienced the central AC, office chair and my own desk. The people were new to me, their talks were new to me. I just started observing them. As a result, I sophisticated myself. I completed 2 and half years by just understanding the software culture. 

I started to be one of these so-called software people. I went to pubs once a quarter. Chit chats with colleagues at launch time, tea time and walk after launch time. I thought this company was enough for me to meet my requirements by that time. I did not think about changing the company. All of a sudden one day, I still remember that day. I carried my box and kept it on my desk. My colleagues and I went for a tea break. People around me started talking about the one serious issue about the company. I did not believe that and I neglected it as a rumor. But HR came at 1PM and confirmed that the company is going to shut down and clearly mentioned that you are not an employee from now onwards. Everything is blank. I reached my home with a launch box and remained as a stone which did not have any value.

The brightness of light in dark room

It took almost three days to believe that the company got shut down.I believed that the company would remain until the end of my life. But all of the sudden everything changed. My colleagues used to call every day for the first week. Those calls also reduced day by day. All left from me. After a few days, I realized that I need to start everything from zero level and then started applying for jobs. I got a new job after two months. But this two months journey means a lot in my life. Accidently I saw one quotation from Infosys narayana sir that “LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE WE NEVER KNOW WHEN THE COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU”. This quotation changed my view on the IT industry. 

In this period I struggled a lot for money and it taught me the importance of having our own side-hussle. Then I started writing my own games. I know how to program the logic but I don’t know what challenges I will get in this journey. So the actual journey in my life started now.

My first success is the biggest failure in my game development journey

I just started developing games for the android platform at the beginning. I chose a very well known game “Mario” as my first game. Luckily I got Mario game images and sound files on the internet and I downloaded it. I started the Mario program and it finished in only a week. I published a game with the name “Tough and Funny Mario” in the android play store. Still I remember that day, I published it around 7PM and I checked it in the next day. It got 2000 downloads. I was very happy that day. “Tough and Funny Mario” got around 1,50,000 downloads in a month. It was a big surprise to me. So far everything is going on very well. But one day I got mail from Google Play store. This particular email gave me another challenge. All of a sudden my happiness took u-turn. 

The mail says that Google is stopping publishing your “Tough and Funny Mario” game because of mis-using the Mario properties. The actual story is that the Mario game owner filed a case on my game because my Mario version got more downloads than their Mario game. This is very strange right. I didn’t even expect that my game was going to hit the market. But It gave competition to the actual Mario game which I played so many times in my childhood. I laughed and took it as one of my achievements in my life.

But the point is, by that time I did not know anything about the policy violations and the terms & conditions. I thought good programming is enough to publish our game except that I did not think about anything. Now I started learning about the violations and different programming languages to make our games for different platforms.

If we don’t have passion, we can’t fight for a long time. Because the journey is very tough and we quit when the problem is in front of you.

without passion we can't succeed
I have been improving my skills from 8 years onwards. My wife joined along with me. We both shared our responsibilities. We faced many setbacks in this 8 years period. Sometimes we thought our gaming was going to hit the market but it did not happen. Sometimes we started earning the money from our product but it got unpublished after a while because of some unknown policy violations. But we never think to give up our trial. Everytime we are studying about our mistakes and start correcting them and preparing the games. We improved graphics, marketing knowledge. We started publishing flash games, facebook games and HTML5 games. We have plans to publish games for the IPhone market in the upcoming years. Now two members are working for gameroost. We want to improve this count in future. We know this journey is tough but we never give up because it is our passion.

This is all about gameroost. I want to keep it as short as possible. I hope it inspires you. I am requesting you please visit gameroost.com and games which are in the android play store. If you like any game, please download it. I keep most of my games free and occupy very less memory. Finally leave your comment or suggestions about this blog. Thank you.