The key to success in free-to-play is knowing your player

The founder of Player Research, Graham McAllister, believes that in most cases the reason for poor monetization is not the chosen business model, but the quality of the game.

According to McAllister, successful monetization is based on three factors: clarity, usability and user experience (understanding, usability and player experience.). Why on earth would a player spend money on a game that he doesn’t understand, that he can’t handle and, accordingly, that doesn’t entertain him?

“Can people play the project? Will they achieve what you want them to achieve? It all depends on the understanding of the game and represents the lowest level. The basic stage. If you do something wrong at this stage, the rest will also fail.”

To understand exactly where the failure occurred is not an easy matter. The inability to find out the reasons why players do not spend money on the game can become the main problem of developers.

“If someone doesn’t play your apps, it doesn’t mean at all that you are using the wrong free-to-play model. If you don’t know where you made a mistake, there is a danger that you will change your business model, which may actually be perfect.”

What is the solution? Developers must “constantly interact with their users,” because managing the three elements of successful monetization implies that the developer must know his player.

Source: www.pocketgamer.biz