FOMO: Secret Sauce For Driving IAP

It’s everywhere:• Offers and discounts• Limited-time events• Time-pressing mechanics• Short-term boosts like Happy Hours• Player tournamentsFOMO taps into a basic human instinct, making it incredibly effective.But here’s the catch:→ A ticking clock alone won’t help if you sell sh*t.FOMO works best when paired with something players already want.Something that has value.→ Then FOMO is the final nudge that pushes players past indecision.So, before you add that timer, ensure your offering is worth it.

Anton Slashcev September 3

Journal

Lucky Defense Scaled to $300K a Day

Daily $300K - just from IAP! 🤑 Launched on May 25th the game already did $20M+ revenue and 3,5M downloads. This is the same company that did Random Dice, the other very successful Tower defense game, which was later "westernized" into Rush Royale 😎.The main iteration of the game is in its core gameplay. It's a Cooperative game instead of PvP ⚔ (even though you can play the PvP event). Instead of monsters getting into some kind of a portal, where you lose lives, they just circle the map. The loose condition is based on the number of these monsters on the whole map, if it crosses 105 you lose the game. The random merging mechanic now continues into Mythic unit recipes, which are the main Damage units of the game + there is a gambling mechanic 🎰, where special […]

Jakub Remiar August 28

Journal

Personalized Gaming Offers Through Phone Numbers

The trend of expanding sales channels for in-app purchases (IAP) continues. Initially, sales were available only through the Apple and Google stores, then web shops appeared. Now, there is a trend of selling in-game purchases through messenger services, where you can send push messages and personalized offers specifically for that player, which won't be available to others.Two pioneering games, Monopoly GO! by Scopely and Coin Master by Moon Active are leading the charge by collecting phone numbers from users beyond the conventional Facebook Connect and email integrations. This strategy opens many opportunities to deepen engagement and streamline the sales process.I see this as a golden opportunity to expand communication channels with players and innovate to sell in-game currency. Imagine leveraging direct-to-consumer technology with a 'Buy Button' that can be seamlessly integrated into any messaging app. This personalizes the player's journey, […]

Oxana Fomina March 18

Journal

How IAPs Fuel Player Retention and Growth in F2P Games

Consider an experiment on a given game; IAP is turned on in one version, and in another, IAP is turned off. After one year, which version has more players? It's the one with IAPs on! Monetization increases engagement; far from a tax, it's a subsidy.In a rush to emphasize the unique low conversion and hyper-skewed nature of F2P, evidence rarely is presented as a time series. We often lament that "less than 1% of players pay!" but this isn't true on a time series basis. The retention rates of players who choose to pay are significantly different from those who do not. Over time, the share of DAU that's made at least one payment rises; it's also why we see ARPDAU rise. With enough time, payers outnumber nonpayers. Top games like Galaxy of Heroes or Summoner's War likely maintain 60-80% […]

Phillip Black September 4

IAP