Playliner: What are VIP statuses in games?

In games of which genres VIP-statuses are most often found, what types they are and whether there is a reason to implement them, — App2Top.ru representatives of the Playliner service told.

Of the box office top 300 games in the USA, only 38 projects have the mechanics of VIP statuses.

What is VIP status? This is a premium account that gives a number of advantages to the player (for example, additional experience from battles).

We analyzed how various VIP statuses work and identified standard solutions that allow both increasing player retention and improving monetization. There is not much variety in these solutions, in most cases developers copy each other.

Temporary VIP status

In 41% of games “with VIPs” in order to receive the benefits of VIP status, it is necessary to activate it for a certain time (subscribe). “VIP Status activation” is usually purchased for premium currency, sometimes it is given as a reward for completing a task or increasing the game level. In almost all games, activation is given for free for a while so that the player can try out all the bonuses. We will call VIP-statuses with a subscription temporary.

An example of such a subscription from the game EmpireZ:

The most common subscriptions are for 1, 7 and 30 days. If you study the premium currency purchase stores and convert the subscription costs into real money for the first position of the store, then you can calculate the average subscription day costs when activating VIP status for different periods:

Monthly activation of VIP status costs players about $ 20, excluding discounts for the purchase of premium currency in bulk.

Permanent VIP status

The second type of VIP status does not involve activation. Let’s call this type “permanent VIP status”, it is present in the majority (51%) of games of titles “with VIPs”. It takes effect as soon as the player earns or acquires enough points to receive the first level of VIP status.

An example from the game 8 BallPool, in which you need to buy premium currencies for 240 points to get a silver VIP status:

In the Dungeon Boss game, you need to purchase 24 crystals to activate a permanent VIP status:

Let’s calculate how much it will cost the user in real money to activate a permanent VIP status, depending on the basic mechanics of the game (you can read more about how we segment the mechanics in this article):

The low cost greatly increases the probability of the players’ first payment, since for a small amount they receive permanent gaming advantages.

VIP Status Levels

Almost all VIP statuses can be upgraded by increasing their level. The higher the level, the more advantages the player gets. To level up, you need to accumulate a certain number of VIP points. Depending on the amount of content, developers make a different number of levels. Below is a diagram of the distribution of the number of VIP status levels in games:

Note that all developers give the opportunity to get acquainted with the advantages of each VIP level so that the player knows what he is investing in.

There are not so many basic options for pumping VIP statuses:

• Pumping “VIP” for entering the game

The player gets the points needed to upgrade the VIP when he enters the game. The more consecutive days a player enters the game, the more points he gets. A similar scheme of getting points increases retention. The scheme is often used in strategies with high ARPU and small DAU. An example is the game EmpireZ, in which points are given for entering the game, there is a temporary activation:

• VIP points when buying premium currency

To get points, you need to buy in-game premium currency. The more currency you have acquired, the more points and the closer the desired hundredth VIP level is. This is done, for example, in the Galaxy Legends game:

• Purchase of VIP points for premium currency

The ability to simply purchase VIP points directly for the premium game currency. If in the previous case, the player was encouraged to purchase currency with points, and then the currency could be spent at his discretion, then the situation is a little different. The player is already buying currency in order to then buy himself points for swapping VIP status. Example – Clash of Kings game:

The first method is usually combined with the third, the second by itself. Plus, sometimes a small number of points are given for raising the player’s level, completing some tasks, just as a bonus.

But there are also more complex combinations. For example, pumping the VIP level for the purchase of premium game currency and for entering the game, but these are exceptions to the rules.

Choosing a VIP status option for your game

Which option should I choose for my game? Let’s first give the distribution of genres and types of VIP statuses for all games that have VIP status:

In “other” we have combined single instances of games with other basic mechanics. In the case of poker, the situation is as follows: two games had a permanent VIP, one had a temporary one.

It follows from this diagram that game developers of other genres do not particularly use VIP statuses in their games. Perhaps this is dictated by the fact that the tests showed poor results, but perhaps also by considerations, “if competitors do not use the genre, then it does not work.” In favor of the second one, there is no diversity in the device of VIP statuses, they are all practically the same. Someone came up with one, everyone else cloned. In our opinion, you can add this module to a game of any genre, it is not so difficult to develop and weakly depends on other game mechanics.

The VIP status device depends on the parameters of your game:

1. If you are ready to give players really a lot of advantages, if you are sure that the ARPU of your game has where to grow, then you can consider the option of temporary activation. The conversion of ordinary players to VIP players will be less, but the total payments from each player to VIP status will be higher.Activation can be done for 1, 7, 30 days and put the corresponding prices in the game currency at $ 2, $8, $20. These are options tested by top developers.
2. To increase the probability of the first payment, a permanent VIP status with a small activation price of the 1st level (for example, $ 1) is suitable.
3. If you have a lot of places in the game where you can add some benefits to VIP players, then do a lot of VIP levels (a proven option is 10 levels).
4. In the option with activation, it is better to use pumping VIP levels for entering the game. The subscription itself gives a sufficient amount of money from users, and this option allows you to further tighten the retention.
5. In permanent VIP-statuses, it is enough to make pumping when buying premium game currency. For example, at the rate of 1 crystal = 1 VIP point.

All information on VIP statuses was obtained using the Playliner service.