開發者聊Voodoo在超休閒遊戲的表現和執行狀態

原作者：Tom Kinniburgh 譯者：Willow Wu

手遊領域又經歷了一次變革。免費應用排行榜近年來逐漸被超休閒遊戲所佔領。2017年，Ketchapp（現已被育碧收購）掀起了極簡遊戲機製革命，發行了Tower、Ballz這樣的移動產品。這些遊戲注重的是極簡視覺效果以及淺顯易懂的玩法機制，包含了極其輕量化的進階系統。最爲重要的是，這些遊戲的核心盈利方式並不是IAP，而是廣告收入。這些遊戲真的非常簡單，任何人都能在10秒內明白它的玩法。於是，越來越多發行商、工作室以及獨立開發者也加入了這個趨勢，琢磨起類似的休閒產品。今天我們所說的超休閒遊戲市場已經是一片紅海，但霸主是誰大家都不言而喻：Voodoo，他們從高盛集團獲得了2億美元融資，進一步穩固了市場地位。

回顧Sensor Tower（2018年）6月美國地區的數據，免費遊戲Top 100中，有24.7%是Voodoo公司的產品。免費遊戲下載量大概有57%是來自於超休閒領域。

應用商店中的所有遊戲類型，沒有任何一種能夠像超休閒遊戲這樣擁有如此高的下載量。玩法簡單，再加上玩家學習、攻克挑戰並不需要多少時間，導致舊的遊戲很快被丟棄，玩家會不斷尋找新的遊戲。很多遊戲開發者也注意到了這點，大家都在努力打造下一個熱門產品。然而，無論是遊戲資源還是推廣工作，Voodoo都是手到拈來，其他遊戲公司很難與他們競爭。那麼，Voodoo是如何成爲超休閒領域的巨擘？

1.只用經過市場驗證的玩法

Voodoo不在乎你的遊戲玩法，作爲一個遊戲發行工廠，他們的大部分產品明顯都是“借鑑”了其他人的早期作品。比如 Dune！借鑑了Tiny Wings，Hole.io借鑑了Donut Country，Paper.io借鑑了Slither.io。

無論是哪個遊戲，它們成功的原因並不在於遊戲機制的創意或者技術水平，而是Voodoo能夠更有效地推廣遊戲，獲得比原作更多的用戶。雖說糟糕的遊戲設計仍然不會被接受，但是相比新穎的玩法設計，Voodoo更看重的還是是否有經過市場驗證。

原創遊戲設計對Voodoo的成功來說是可有可無的，這對一般遊戲開發者來說是很難接受。Voodoo之所以能夠在市場中脫穎而出，是因爲他們能跟多個優秀的開發工作室合作——這些人按照已成功的設計模式製作遊戲，然後Voodoo運用一流的營銷團隊、增長策略讓遊戲登頂App Store。哪種遊戲設計最受歡迎，這是市場說了算，而不是由Voodoo決定的。

2.快速發行

根據過去一個月對Google Play和App Store的跟蹤統計，Voodoo在這期間發行的7款新遊戲已經進入了美區免費應用榜單的前300。其他超休閒遊戲發行商大多隻發行一兩個新產品，甚至沒有。與這些公司相比，Voodoo的速度真的是快得驚人。這凸顯了遊戲公司慣用策略的根本轉變。

大多數開發者在經歷迭代、測試後，會選擇在菲律賓或新西蘭等CPI較低的國家進行測試發行。根據玩家的反饋，遊戲設計師和開發者對首次用戶體驗（FTUE）、盈利平衡進行優化、迭代，逐漸提升產品的生命週期總價值和留存率。對打磨後的產品感到有把握之後，團隊會聯繫蘋果和谷歌平臺的相關人員，推介遊戲，希望能進入編輯推選。同時，他們劃出了一大筆用於營銷的資金，測試多種不同的廣告，爲了製造出最大的水花而做好充足準備。然而，這個流程對超休閒遊戲來說太繁瑣了，Voodoo也不是這樣發行遊戲的。

與他們合作的開發工作室可能有100~200個，每個團隊都在瘋狂地製作新遊戲。無論是哪個遊戲，最重要的都是核心玩法。最初的測試發行階段不會考慮meta內容，甚至廣告也不會。然後，在沒有做任何宣傳的情況下，將產品投入美國或中國這樣的關鍵地區測試核心循環，看看玩家的反饋。根據Voodoo的官方說法，他們的遊戲應該具備以下特點：體積小、適合登上YouTube、即開即玩、沒有懲罰機制、有新意，這就把不少遊戲排除在外了。

然後，遊戲要接受殘酷的考驗。次日留存率至少要50%才能獲得成功。這就創造了一個競爭非常激烈的環境，統計數據成爲了這些頂級發行商的關鍵參考因素。作爲一名開發者，你想知道自己的遊戲是否能夠真的能觸及到到大量用戶，這便是Voodoo擅長的地方。

3.讓遊戲迅速增長

在CPI低的環境中，遊戲可以很迅速地增長。如果你能花1美元再賺回1.50美元，那麼你應該繼續投入更多的錢，讓產品增長更快。這種關係經常被表示爲爲LTV > CPI。

不同類型的F2P遊戲有不同的盈利模式，可以根據其機制或受衆進行大致分類。盈利最強勢的遊戲（比如博彩、策略遊戲）平均會在每個玩家身上投入50+美元，因爲這些產品的生命週期總價值非常高。然而，他們的受衆人羣比較少。

基於內購的盈利模式注重的是將單位用戶所產生的收益最大化，但這樣做，他們的受衆就更難找了。超休閒遊戲就能獲得很好的效果，通過廣告創意和數據主導的程序化營銷，它們的CPI能壓得非常非常低。然而，沒有IAP、付費物品或者扭蛋系統，這種模式完全依賴於用戶觀看廣告或者跟廣告互動。在極低的CPI和廣告收益最大化之間取得平衡，這就是你賺錢的關鍵。

4.跟廣告網絡平臺建立緊密的關係

作爲開發者，你必須在展示儘可能多的廣告(給你帶來安裝量)與不影響用戶享受遊戲之間把握好分寸。將對的廣告在對的時間展示，你的eCPMs（千次展示期望收入）就會升高很多。

有些遊戲的效果更好，僅僅是因爲它們中斷玩家遊戲的時機選得比較好，不會因爲插入廣告嚴重破壞玩家的樂趣。玩家對遊戲核心循環越欲罷不能，遊戲展示廣告的機會就越多，生命週期總價值自然也就隨之提高。但除了時機問題，你必須向正確的用戶展示吸引力最好的廣告，以便獲得安裝量。

Voodoo比其他公司更懂得怎麼才能達到最好的效果。龐大的規模促使他們能夠建立起更緊密的關係網絡。這意味着他們展示的廣告更有可能帶來更可觀的付費安裝，從而進一步提高LTV。移動廣告的競爭是非常殘酷的，每個人都想與最強大的公司合作。

5.使用基於數據的細分策略&擴大規模

對於規模較大的公司來說，能提供足夠利潤的機遇纔會引起他們的興趣。我認爲一款每天能夠帶來10000美元收益的遊戲就足以支持一家較小的遊戲工作室正常運轉。許多工作室在做遊戲的時都沒有考慮到收益層面，他們也常常忽略了日進10000美元所需要的用戶基數。

相比其它遊戲類型，超休閒遊戲日活躍用戶產生的平均收益會更低，一般都在0.01~0.10美元之間。Voodoo除了有龐大的遊戲資源庫，還有大量關於玩家的數據，它們能告訴你這些最活躍的玩家究竟是哪些人。利用遊戲內活動來分析玩家的行爲，幫助你瞭解哪些玩家是遊戲的忠實粉絲。Voodoo的遊戲網絡越大，公司利用有效的營銷信息來執行細分策略的效果就越好。

隨着Voodoo的涉獵類型繼續增加、有不同的玩家參與進來，創意的進一步提升可能會在單個遊戲類型上看到更明顯的效果。做好針對超休閒遊戲的細分策略，你可以得到更低的CPI和更多的廣告播放量。

而對於開發者來說，難點在於如何在正確、大規模地執行。這需要一個團隊來分析、審查、制定計劃，然後執行有效的營銷方案，而Voodoo已經深諳其道。

跟Voodoo硬碰硬？

想要打擊超休閒遊戲市場的這些開發公司，他們的致命錯誤在於認爲能夠通過遊戲設計掀起變革。Voodoo已經證明了遊戲設計的創新並沒有成本低廉、成效明顯的營銷來得重要，他們的遊戲庫規模、發行節奏一直都在不斷變大、變快，這使得他們能夠更進一步地認識、理解玩家。爲了在競爭中脫穎而出，你必須做好準備建立一個強大的數據庫，組織一支優秀的營銷團隊，根據指標和數據來確定哪些遊戲能爲你帶來可觀的收益。

儘管跟Voodoo對抗似乎是一項不可能達成的任務，但意志堅定、才華橫溢的工作室可以開闢自己的小衆市場。找到一個你非常熟悉並留存率一向很高的遊戲機制，然後填充內容或者完善meta部分。但是記住要保持機制的簡潔，不然你就失去了超休閒遊戲的吸引點。你必須對遊戲設計狠下心來，放棄任何不符合標準的東西，遵循低CPI規則。Playgendary、Lion和Super TapX都證明了這並非無稽之談。

本文由遊戲邦編譯，轉載請註明來源，或諮詢微信zhengjintiao

Mobile gaming has shifted, again. The hypercasual genre has begun to dominate the free app charts. In 2017 Ketchapp (now owned by Ubisoft) started a revolution of simplicity in game design with mobile titles such as Tower or Ballz. The games focused on clear visuals and simple mechanics and very light progression systems. Most importantly, these games removed IAP as the core monetization and replaced it with advertising revenue. The games were so simple and casual that anyone could understand them in under 10 seconds. Since then, there has been a proliferation of publishers, studios, and solo indie developers each working on similar casual titles. Today the so-called hyper-casual market is highly competitive, but there is a clear king of the app store, Voodoo, which recently received $200 million from Goldman Sachs to solidify their place on the throne.

Reviewing the estimated data on Sensor Tower for June in the Top 100 US Free Game charts, Voodoo accounted for 24.7%* of all the free downloads. Broadening the view to all hyper-casual games, approximately 57% of all free game downloads can be attributed to this space.**

Of all the genres of games released on the app store, no other genre commands the pure number of downloads that hyper-casual games do. The simplicity of the gameplay, coupled with the speed of gamers learning and mastering the challenge creates a voracious need to download the next new idea, older games are quickly discarded or deleted. This has not escaped the notice of many game developers with hundreds of studios trying to build the next mega hit. However, Voodoo has truly mastered both the sourcing and promotion of their titles making it tough for studios to compete. How has Voodoo dominated the hyper-casual space?

#1 Use Only Tried & Tested Game Design

Voodoo doesn’t care about the design of your game. As a publishing house, the majority of their releases can clearly be seen as “inspired by” reproductions of older games.

Tiny Wings > Dune

Donut Country > Hole.io

Slither.io > Paper.io

In each case, success is not down to the game mechanics or technical quality of the product, but Voodoo’s ability to market games more effectively and reach a larger audience than those original games. Bad game design still won’t make the cut, but an innovative game design is not as important as tried and tested successful mechanics.

This is very hard for the average game developer to swallow and it’s hard to think that original game design is the least important aspect to Voodoo’s success. What set’s voodoo apart is their ability to work with a large number of talented studios each working on simple, tested, game designs, and then apply industry-leading marketing and growth practices to push games to the top of the App Store. Dictating which game design is the most popular is something the market decides, not something Voodoo strives to set.

#2 Ship Fast

Making rough approximations through tracking the releases of the majority of hyper-casual publishers on both Google Play and Apple App Store, Voodoo has released 7 new titles that reached top 300 in the US Free in the last 30 days. Most of the other publishers have released between 0 and 2. This is a phenomenal pace compared with classical studios or even publishers who might schedule 1 or 2 apps per month in order to give it the support needed. This highlights a fundamental shift in business practices.

Most developers’ first start to iterate, test and soft launch titles in cheaper CPI countries such as the Philippines or New Zealand. Based on the feedback they got back from players, designers and developers optimize and iterate the first-time-user-flows (FTUE) or monetization balance to slowly improve the LTV and retention. When a studio is confident in their polished products, they would approach Apple and Google to showcase their app and hope for a feature. At the same time, they might allocate a large marketing budget and test multiple ad variants in order to be confident in having the largest splash possible. This is too slow for hyper-casual and it is not the way Voodoo approach app releases.

Voodoo may have 100-200 development studios each working frantically on new game designs. In each case, the focus is the core gameplay. The meta and even the advertising is left out for the initial soft launch release. Core loops are then tested without fanfare into key territories such as the US or China in order to see if there are good responses to the mechanic. Voodoo released a simple guide for their gameplay style (Snackable, Youtubable, Straightforward, Not punitive, Innovative) which clearly restricts multiple game designs from the table.

*download “How to make hit a hyper-casual game” for more details

Games are then measured on a brutally tough scale. Each game needs 50%+ D1 retention to even make the cut. This creates a very competitive environment where stats and data become the key to becoming picked up by these top publishers. As a developer you want to know that your game can actually reach a large audience, this is where Voodoo has developed a lot of skills.

#3 Grow Games on a Dime

In a system where CPIs are low, games can grow fast. If you’re able to spend $1 and make $1.50 back then you should just keep spending more money and grow faster. This relationship is often quoted as LTV > CPI (check out the free-to-play bible on Mobile Free-to-Play blog for details).

Different genres of free to play mobile games have different monetization profiles and can roughly be categorized by their mechanics or via their audience. Games with the highest monetization profiles (i.e Casino and Strategy games) are able to spend $50+ per user because the LTV of their titles is very high. However, their audience is usually quite much smaller.

IAP based monetization models focus on generating the most revenue per user but in doing so their audience becomes harder to find. Hypercasual as a genre works so well because they can lower the CPI to incredibly low levels through clear advertising creative and data-driven programmatic marketing. However, without clear IAPs or items or gacha systems, the model relies on users watching and engaging with advertising. Getting the balance between a very low CPI while maximizing the Advertising yield is where the profit is.

#4 Build Close-Knit Relationships with Ad Networks

As a developer, you must tread a fine line between showing as many ads as possible (that result in an install) while not breaking the user’s enjoyment of the game. Getting the right ads presented at the right time results in much higher eCPMs.

Because of this, many genres of game perform better than others simply because they create natural breaks in the gameplay where an ad can be shown without disturbing a users playtime. The better the app is at retaining players through its core loop the more opportunities there are to show ads and therefore the higher the LTV. But this isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. You must show the highest performing ad to the right user in order to efficiently display ads that will result in installs.

Voodoo is in a better position to maximize this than other studios. Due to their immense size and scale, they have more relationships at better rates than your average development studio. This means the ads they show are more likely to result in higher-paying installs, increasing the LTV further. The mobile ad networks are ruthless and competitive: everyone wants to work with the largest player. When considering the Hypercasual segment as a business strategy you must take the business development time into account.

#5 Segment and Scale

For larger businesses, opportunities must provide enough profit for them to seem interesting. I would say that any game that can drive $10,000 a day in gross revenue is enough to support a smaller gaming studio. Many studios don’t think about making games in terms of gross profit and they often neglect to think about the number of users necessary in order to make that magic $10,000 per day.

Hypercasual games tend to make lower revenue per DAU. A typical game will be anywhere between $0.01-0.10. Along with their large network of titles Voodoo also has a large volume of data on who their most active players are. Using in-game events to look into player actions, helps you to know clearly which players are playing your games the most. The larger the Voodoo game network becomes the more refined the company can segment or target individual players with effective marketing messages.

As they expand into new genres and different players engage, further refinements in their voice or creative might work better for individual game types. By doing hyper-specific segmentation you can get lower CPIs and more ad views.

What becomes hard for developers is to perform this correctly and at scale. This requires a team of people to analyze, review, create and then execute effective marketing. Voodoo has learned how to do this very well.

Going Head-to-Head Against Voodoo?

The biggest mistake most game developers make when attempting to attack the hyper-casual gaming market is to think they can innovate through game design. Voodoo has proven that innovation in game mechanics is not as important as cheap and effective marketing. Their pace of release and the scale of their network is growing all the time allowing them to learn and understand their users more and more. To have a viable shot at competing you must be prepared to invest heavily in a strong data warehouse, a talented marketing team and use metrics and data to decide which games have the strongest business case.

Even though this seems like an impossible task, strong-willed and talented studios can carve out their own niche. Find a mechanic that you know well and has strong retention metrics, then work on expanding or perfecting the metagame. Be careful to keep the mechanics pure and simple or you will lose what makes hypercasual special. You must also be ruthless with your game designs and drop anything that doesn’t make the cut, be quick, be bold and follow the low CPIs. Studios like Playgendary, Lion and Super TapX show that it can be done.

（source: deconstructoroffun ）

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