How are currency shops arranged in top games?

When developing or supporting a free-2-play game, the question often arises – how to properly design the premium currency purchase window and how to set up discounts. Representatives of the Playliner startup with the help of their service found and analyzed screenshots of banks (currency stores) with the purchase of premium currency of 150 of the highest-grossing mobile games in the USA.

Number of positions in the bank

By positions we mean the number of options for buying premium currency in the bank. The chart shows the proportion of games with a different number of positions.

As we can see, most developers are limited to 5-6 positions, which provide a choice when buying currency for any audience of players. Other options are the exception rather than the rule. The Movie Star Planet game stands out in particular, which has as many as 12 positions in the bank.

The cost of the first position

Here are the shares of games that have a certain value of the first position.

Note that almost all developers use a classic marketing ploy in the form of $ *.99, which increases the demand for premium currency. A small price barrier allows you to purchase without much doubt.

The cost of 2-6 positions

Let’s see how much the remaining positions can cost.

Despite the fact that the first position costs either $0.99 or $1.99, the second position costs $4.99 in most cases. Note that the most common prices in $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 they match the denominations of dollar banknotes.

Buying a premium currency of $100 in almost all games is the maximum. However, there is one game in the TOP (Knights & Dragons), which sells crystals for as much as $1,650!

It probably makes some sense.:

Discounts

The more a player spends, the more profitable it is for him to buy premium currency. Let’s calculate the benefit of 2-5 positions relative to the first one. For example, in 9% of games, the second position is 1.1 times more profitable than the first. This means that for $1 of the second position, you can buy 1.1 times more premium currency than for $1 of the first. Below are graphs of the distribution of benefits of 2-6 positions relative to the first.

The more the position is worth, the more pronounced the benefit.

Design of purchase windows

Let’s show a few elements that, in our opinion, may be interesting when developing a bank with a premium currency.

• Reward for the first purchase
  A rare case, but it happens.

Right in the premium currency purchase window, the bonus is shown on the first purchase. This is done, in particular, in Candy Crush, but for some reason few people use such a move. But, for example, in the game Zombie Evil it is used:

Most often, more premium currency is given as a reward at the first purchase (Age of Ships game):

• SALE icons, Discount Values, Most Popular and Best Value
  Making such icons is standard for most purchase windows.

• Time-stretched currency purchase
  A new trend.

Now more and more games are appearing with such options for purchasing premium currency. This is due to the fact that such a scheme improves not only the monetization component, but also simultaneously tightens the retention rate. The player is offered to purchase the opportunity to receive premium currency daily for a certain period. As an example, in Heroes Charge:

• Showing the most expensive positions at the beginning
  Sometimes developers show players the most expensive purchase at the top of the list.

A controversial decision, but it is used by 22% of developers in our sample.

Banks depending on the genre

We analyzed screenshots of more than 150 games included in the US box office top, regardless of their genre. But each genre has its own nuances. For example, in midcore games, the starting position costs more, and, in general, the rest of the purchases too. In casual, on the contrary, the emphasis is on micropayments.

A few words about our service – Playliner. This is a system for analyzing the functionality of mobile games. One of its features is just the ability to quickly find any necessary screenshots of games included in the US box office top by any parameters (including screenshots of game banks within a certain genre).

If you have any questions, we will be happy to answer them in the comments!