The story of Shadow Fight 2 SE: Why did Nekki make a paid version of her hit?

How was the work on the paid version of Shadow Fight 2 going and how much she was able to earn, – Nikita Korzhavin, director of business Development at Nekki, told on his Facebook page. With the permission of the author, we publish the material on our pages.

Nikita Korzhavin

The current year should be truly significant and fateful for Nekki, as the world launch of our flagship project Shadow Fight 3 will take place on November 16. Nevertheless, in mid–August, a release took place, which we also waited for a long time and were a little afraid of: a paid version of Shadow Fight 2 was released – Shadow Fight 2 Special Edition. We worried in vain – the players very warmly accepted our addition to the main version of SF2.

Now no one will say for sure, but most likely, we have had thoughts about a special version of Shadow Fight 2 for a long time or even always. We created an incredibly successful fighting game (more than 250 million installations to date) and perfectly understood why they love it, what they will pay for, and where we disappoint our audience a little. It was the thoughts about the fans of the Shadow Fight universe that made us keep in mind the idea of developing a special version of SF2, where the main focus will be on the plot and content. Without pharming, advertising or other restrictions.

The impetus for the implementation of the idea of creating SF2 SE was due to several reasons.

1. We needed to migrate to a new engine

The SF2 fritupley version was made on Marmalade. And now the game is in stores on this engine. But when the news flashed that Marmalade didn’t have long to live, we had to think about transferring to another engine (by this time we were doing all new projects on Unity). We urgently began to rewrite the usual SF2.

Thanks to the Japanese, who temporarily saved Marmalade, we got some respite and decided to concentrate on the plot part, which could be polished, put into a separate application (hello, Special Edition!) and run in a full-fledged SF2 transition to Unity thanks to it.

2. We wanted to make a “director’s” version of Shadow Fight 2

The game has a lot of content, dialogues, stylish animated videos, there are interludes – 7 acts after all. And in general, the plot is twisted in such a way that it is worthy of a separate article, which we will definitely write in the future.

But, as in any freeplay game, we had to think about monetization, which means that non-paying players would hardly be able to complete the game in an adequate time and see all this diversity of ours.

In principle, we have good indicators with our installation figures – about 15% of active players reached its final. But we would like as many players as possible to get acquainted with our story, who would not rest on paywalls and would not farm. With the release of the Special Edition, any player gets this opportunity by paying only a few bucks.

3. Do not forget about those who have already passed the game

Ahead of us is the release of Shadow Fight 3. SF2 Special Edition is a great way to refresh your memories and pass the waiting time before the release of a new game.

Firstly, we have significantly reduced the time of passing the game. If in the free version without a normal donation it was necessary to spend about 300 hours to get to the end, now this figure is ten times less (and one employee of the company actually passed it over the weekend in 23 hours).

Secondly, for more motivation for the second run, we added a new storyline – a flashback story of Sensei, with whom you need to go through all the young SF2 bosses.

Of course, the players could have sabotaged the project to show how unhappy they are with the delay in the release of SF3, but we are glad that this did not happen, and our audience accepted the Special Edition so coolly.

Terms of development

The process of slow rewriting on Unity took us about 10 months. And three months before the release, we started working on the balance and new content.

Since we are still actively operating the free Shadow Fight 2, a small team was working on the Special Edition, separated from the main SF2 team.

Promotion

We conducted high-quality pre-release preparation, including the creation of announcement trailers, working with influencers and sending out press releases.

Our efforts paid off: more than 1,000 videos were released in the first week after launch, two of our trailers (one, two) scored over 300,000 views, we received 50 free publications before and after the release, including from Touch Arcade and Pocket Gamer. For sure, word of mouth also led to success, due to which the free Shadow Fight 2 found its multimillion audience, because we did not invest a cent in promoting the game. And, of course, we used our own games to support the release of the Special Edition.

The final chord of the first month of the project’s life was the featherings. On September 13, we received a worldwide feature in one of the collections from Google. And with the release of iOS 11, the game was in the “Everyone’s hearing” section.

Features in the App Store

However, the installation metrics were affected not only by features, but also by a rather curious trend that we observed even when launching free SF2 without additional support for stores. Then we reached the peak on iOS in the very first days, and then descended to the plateau. In Google Play, the situation was the opposite – the peak was reached only with time.

We believe that the reason for this lies in the device of the stores themselves, navigation and the game search system. Namely, that in the App Store the top paid games are in plain sight, and in Google Play it is buried deep in the last tab of ratings. Therefore, with the release and initial push from the press, YouTube and cross-promo, the game soars into the top paid in the App Store. And this attracts a lot of new downloads, which results in a peak, which then gradually subsides to a plateau. In Google Play, the opposite is true: at first the game is hardly noticeable anywhere, but then it gains search weight, is increasingly shown in recommended and similar games, and therefore the audience is gaining only over time.

The peaks in the App Store and Google Play are clearly visible on the graph below: the release on iOS (August 21) and the feature on Android (September 13) – and the game flew.

App Store (blue) and Google Play (Green) installations

Income

We launched the free SF2 back in 2013 and, to be honest, we didn’t expect anything special from the release of the paid version. However, in the first weeks after the release, SF2 SE earnings overcame a six-figure dollar amount. On peak days, the daily income reached $10,000. Moreover, the income was distributed in a rather unexpected way. The fact is that we decided to leave a few inaps for fans of high speeds, and they bring a significant part of the revenue. If at the peak inaps were 25-30% of the total income, then when everything calmed down a little, this figure began to reach 40-50%.

Percentage of inaps from total revenue on iOS

Percentage of inaps from total revenue on Android

According to the platforms, our revenues were distributed approximately 60 to 40 in favor of iOS:

Revenue by platform

But the most pleasant bonus was how the paid version of SF2 affected the free one. The number of installations in Google increased by 10% and revenues increased by about the same amount. And iOS surprised, albeit temporarily, with a twofold increase in installation indicators and a 50% increase in revenue.

Free version of SF2: Jumps in installations (blue) and revenue (green) on iOS

Resume

From our experience, we can compile some general tips that will be useful to developers planning to launch a paid game.

you can still earn money on paid games. Yes, in comparison with free-to-play games, the premium segment has significantly less revenue. And it’s probably not worth dreaming about millions of dollars, but it’s quite possible to earn hundreds of thousands;
due to the device stores, paid games feel better in the App Store than in Google Play;
to get into the tops of the App Store, it is important to push the game as purposefully as possible at the time of launch (press, YouTubers, cross-promo). In Google Play, the peak can be reached over time, that is, the promotion can be stretched over a longer distance;
if you have a free version of the game, then thanks to the appearance of the paid version, the metrics of the free one can improve;
inaps, even in a paid game, can make up a significant part of the income;
be sure to take the time to create a good trailer;
before and after the release, work with the press. But more importantly, focus on YouTubers. Give them free keys, ask them to write reviews and provide comprehensive support while working. I will definitely write about our work with YouTubers separately, but most likely after the release of Shadow Fight 3.

***

The story of Shadow Fight 2 does not end there. Firstly, Marmalade, thank you for being alive, but still we will be migrating classic SF2 to Unity. Secondly, we have plans for the console – and we want to start this path with the development of SF2 Special Edition for Nintendo Switch. Thirdly, there will be Steam. Fourth, November 16 is the day when the Shadow Fight universe will change completely.