泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌_Building a good business model (Part 1)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Building a good business model (Part 1)

 

Writing a series of columns, I've talked about game characters, the elements of the video game, game balance, smaller game developers, and the future of the gaming industry, etc. However, I barely mentioned a video game as a product from a commercial perspective. I'd like to deal with the game as a commercial product.

 

I want to talk about a video game business model (BM). What is BM then? Simply speaking, it is a monetization strategy that a developer uses to drive profit for its app. The video game is a product and developers have to succeed in making revenue because their goal is to pursue a profit. Therefore, the business model is an essential aim of making a video game.

 

First of all, there is a selling package, the most common method, by the types of the BM. Even a decade ago, it was the most important BM for the games. I still vividly remember that my heart pounded with excitement because of a newly-launched packaged game walking through the entire Yongsan Electronics Market. This kind of BM is straightforward. Profits come from the finished product. Developers just need to consider how to make a game fun. The rest depends on the matter of a form of promotion in the distribution.

 

Secondly, there is pay-to-play, sometimes pay-for-play, which was widely used by classic arcade games in an amusement arcade—it's rare to find them these days. Players need to insert coins to play a game and have to put other ones to continue the game. Game developers need to consider a couple of details for this type of BM, unlike packaged games. One is about a promotional video-like in-game advertising. Images on arcade screens during players' absence have to catch a passing potential user's eyes. To do that, developers should regard it as the most important element because its game has to be survived beating many other games in the arcade. The other is a game balance. Unlike packaged games, the owner of pay-for-play gaming machines could suffer losses if a user plays a game for hours. He/She needs to enhance profitability leading as many as users to insert coins in a short period of time. However, if it's impossible for the players to reach the objective and win, they won't enjoy the game again because the game doesn't provide a continuing motivation to play. Still, a fighting game is the exception. In the close-combat based game, players fight each other with their game characters until they defeat their actual opponents and they don't blame the machine—game balance—even if they lose. Accordingly, it was the most popular genre in the arcade for quite a while. The fight game was a profitable product that contributed greatly to the arcade business because players rarely complained about putting coins many times in such a short time. Summing up, proper balance, well-made promotional video clips, and fun factors are the core elements of the pay-to-play game business model.

 

I will talk about how to build a secure business model in Part 2. Let me finish Part 1 with the most famous line "To be continued" of the fighting game; a player being knocked down by the opponent could able to continue the fight within a ten-second count if the player inserted an extra coin in.

 

To be continued in Part 2

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui