Interview: Microsoft sells Xbox controllers under the Shadow Fight 2 franchise

In early April, Microsoft Corporation began distributing Xbox 360 controllers in Russia in a package branded with the Shadow Fight 2 mobile game from the Moscow studio Nekki. About this event in detail App2Top.ru Sergey Babaev, Business Development Director of Nekki, told us.

Hi! Tell me a little bit about the box itself, what’s inside?

Sergey BabaevHi !

Look, there is a bundle designed for Shadow Fight 2, which includes a wired or wireless joystick from Xbox 360, connected to a PC.

Inside there is a card for 5000 rubles and a link to Shadow Fight 2 in the Windows Store. That is, you can download the game on any Win device, activate the code and play with the joystick, plus, immediately get a bunch of game currency.

I may be wrong, but for the Russian market, such a promotion of the game is generally a precedent. Have you been negotiating with Microsoft about this for a long time?

At least, the case is very rare, at most, it is unique, yes. I don’t remember exactly such actions, although I may be missing something.

We agreed on the case itself quickly. He went through some metamorphoses during the discussion. Initially, it was generally planned to attach cards to the bundle “Windows-based tablet + joystick”. The first decisions were made with Andrey Ivashentsev (the leader of evangelists in Russia), then we found out the details with his colleagues and gradually came to the idea of launching branded bundles with joysticks. It took a little longer, but serious cases require serious preparation.

The question begs itself: why did we agree with Microsoft to brand only Xbox 360 gamepads, and not those that are sold for Xbox One?

As far as I understand, these are the most popular controllers, which are perfectly sold out by users for PCs. It was possible to cover fresh devices from Xbox ONE, but to begin with, they did not pile up the case. We’ll get to them, I’m sure.

Can you reveal on what terms the deal was concluded?

We had to launch Shadow Fight 2 on the Windows Store platform (not to be confused with the Windows Phone Store), introduce support for Xbox joysticks and implement a system for awarding bonuses by cards. We were very pleased with our cooperation on the mobile platform, so we agreed to support this platform, spending about 2 weeks of pure time on it. The project does not require any enhanced, additional support and receives the same updates as the main mobile versions with a slight delay.

What circulation is planned for branded gamepads?

The first set is around 10,000. We are already preparing a second 50,000 cards for the logical continuation of this case within the M-Video network.

As we know, Microsoft does not have its own stores in Russia, so the question is quite natural: which sites is the company going to use for advertising?

Yes, one of Microsoft’s tasks is to negotiate with retail chains and online stores. The bundle is available in Svyaznoy, Ozon, Yulmart, Citylink, Enter, DNS and retail stores of Startmaster, Key, Oldy, Domotechnika and Media Markt. Well, and in a number of smaller stores.

Moreover, the Startmaster network will host competitions with cool prizes on weekends – Xbox ONE, Lumia phones, etc.

In total, at how many points does Microsoft plan to promote the game?

I won’t say this for sure, but we are definitely talking about dozens of stores in Moscow and the Moscow region.

Do you expect real downloads from the campaign, or is it primarily about raising the image?

In fact, we still have no problems with downloads to the Windows Store. In Russia, we are constantly moving through the TOP 3, sometimes holding the championship. By the way, everything went very well in other countries (we visited the TOP 5 of the USA, Canada, China, Germany and a number of other countries).

The aim, of course, is mainly reputational – even greater penetration of the brand into the daily lives of users, even greater recognition, even greater preparation for the release of Shadow Fight 3.

Over the past year, the Shadow Fight brand, in my opinion, has begun to turn from just a successful one into a very popular and well-known one, sometimes even outside the playing core audience. And this is very important, both for the company and for the success of the subsequent parts.

I already know the answer, but could you re-answer it for our readers: the controller supports not only the PC on which you can play Shadow Fight 2 today, but also the Xbox 360. Does this mean that the game is worth waiting for on this console?

I don’t know about the second part, but the third one is definitely worth waiting for on consoles.

We’ve just already shifted our main forces to SF3. Plus, the second part is implemented on Marmalade, which will not allow you to support the console so easily, you will have to sweat a lot.
Well, before we can think about consoles, SF2 has to go through 2 more launches – STEAM and MacStore.

The main platform of the game today is mobile devices. Therefore, personally, the meaning of promoting the game among console and PC players is not entirely clear to me. Could you reveal why Nekki is doing this at this stage?

Well, it’s also like “the game earns on mobile, why launch somewhere else”. This judgment is a very common mistake of both small studios and successful indie developers and even large experienced companies. Yes, it is necessary to measure the potential income with its scale – in a different structure, millions of rubles are not money at all and will simply get lost in financial corridors. But, in general, you need to earn money everywhere. Money, like the audience, does not happen much.

In a sense, we are trying to “get familiar” with the brand of the PC audience. Considering that all this is steadily self-supporting, benefits the global brand, increases its recognition and reputation of the company, then the activity is more than justified. Although, if possible, I would recommend working out cases, even if they do not bring net profit – this is an investment in the future. Not everyone can afford it, I understand. For example, for a small indie team, this is risky: the time spent may result in the fall of the earning project and no “developed brand” will be needed … in all other cases, this work is necessary. I repeat, it is also profitable for us.

You don’t have to worry about mobile – there are several cases planned for the summer (not only with MS), on promotion. And, of course, we are not talking about the purchase of traffic, but about such case-based, branded activities.

And what about the payback within the Windows Store?

Unfortunately, I will not be able to show my favorite AppAnnie charts, because my Windows Store software is systematically failing there and statistics are available only for a couple of days since the beginning of the year. Therefore, we had to turn to our internal statistics and the following picture turned out:

• DAU – 22,000 users (average)
• WAU – 75 000
• MAU – 180 000
• Average daily user growth: 4,000 (at peak 15,000)
• In total, there are about 400,000 users on the platform in 3 months
• Income range: $400-$1000 (at the peak of 1,700)

I see. Thanks for the interview!