Community Building in Free-to-Play Games: How to Turn Minnows Into Whales

Rob Winkler, CEO 5th Planet Games

Rob Winkler aka Felendis

Co-Founder (2009), CEO– Lead Game Design on All Products– Provide Company Direction– Give Moderately Entertaining Presentations

Gaming Fanatic– EQ, WoW, D3, Madden Social (I’m a whale!),

Halo, etc.

Husband and Father of 4 Little Gamers…and a fifth gamer on the way

Who am I?

Founded in 2009Launched first game, Dawn of the Dragons, in 2010

2010 = 5 people, $300k in revenue2011 = 15 people, $3m in revenue2012 = 30 people, $10M in revenue2013 = 55 people, $15M in revenue

Where we are at now:4 games live on 9 platforms (social & mobile)New Game in the works (Fall Release)

5th Planet Games

Confidential. Do not distribute.

• Get ideas for product development• Boost virality and user acquisition• Improve engagement & retention• Monetize more effectively

Why Cultivate Community?

Confidential. Do not distribute.

• There was no formula for us• We made games we would want to play• We Treat our community how we want to

be treated• We Interact with community on a daily

basis.• Run contests, giveaways, etc.• Ask for feedback and implement results

The Roots of Our Community

• Guilds represent the highest level of engagement

• Players in Guilds play more often and for longer sessions.

• Guilds systems range from 25 to 250 players, depending on the game.

• Designed to focus on reengagement

Guilds

• Data for Dawn of the Dragons: – 30% of the MAUs are in Guilds– 85% of the DAUs are in Guilds– Players in Guilds are 8.5x more likely to monetize– APRU in a Guild is 53x higher than non-Guild

Guild Monetization

• The most intense way we engage is with Councils.• Councils are different for each game and are held every 9-12 months.• Council members are asked for direct, no BS feedback. • Council members come with their own priority lists.• Two half/travel days, two days of intense work.• Council has daily contact with the dev. team via Skype.• Bottom line: They understand the game better than anyone, even us.

Councils

• Simple example in Clash of the Dragons: Drafts• Prior to our first “Clash Council,” drafts were won by

winning one battle vs. your opponent.• Draft monetization stats:

– 19% of game revenue from drafts– Draft discounts were the 4th best sale we ran– We were geniuses for having set these rules

• After the Clash Council unanimously told us we weren’t geniuses, we changed the format to the best two out of three.– 35% of game revenue from drafts– Draft discounts are the top sale now (people “camp

out” for these)– We are geniuses for listening to our players

Council Monetization

• We have over 1M forum posts• Dedicated forum moderators and community

managers for each game• EVERY post gets read and actioned if warranted• 25% of our payroll is associated with community

interaction

Forums

Forum Monetization

• 41 of our top 50 whales (players that have spent over $500) have at least 5 posts on our forums.

• 50+% of forum posters with more than 20 posts have monetized.

World Raids/Legions/PvP

• World Raids: Individal Rewards as well as cooperative community Rewards. Participation is boosted because others count on an individuals contribution.

• Legions:

• PvP:

World Raids/Legions/PvP Monetization

• Building a strong community is good for the players, the game, and company.

• Direct, intense, focused player feedback is extremely valuable.

• The better your Guild system, the better your important metrics will be.

• We are not in the gamed industry, we are games as a service.

• Deeply engaged users are much more likely to spend and at vastly higher rates.

TL;DR Version

Questions?