The question I got today. I always said, there is no bad traffic, only bad marketing. This is also when looking at F2P. I think it could work very well for lots of developers, but I wonder if they understand how their users move within their game(s).
Psychology is a key factor. I would say: make your gamers “hooked”. That is the only thing that I find is severely under-estimated. Only if you have users that feel the urge to pick up their mobiles to then start playing your games, you can make them decide to ramp things up and start paying.
It is that I have seen games that from a visual point of view looked realy not that nice, but through proper game design the users were taken through the first levels so easily that companies could focus on the new users/UA campaigns with the right message, but work on the monetization on users of D7+.
What I am trying to say is the following; leave your gamers in the beginning, let them learn you what makes them tick. Use these learnings and prep your monetization based on these learnings.
Bottom line you should engage and let them do the same with their friends. UA should be supporting not leading. Virality and Engagement are the things you should be focussed on. Once this works, UA will be easier for the long term.
I like to draw;
I always wanted to help the developers hence my involvement in iQU/Mobilizer, GetSocial and Creel;
iQU/Mobilizer; http://mobilizemygame.com/
Creel; http://www.slideshare.net/reinouttebrake/loyalty-programs-meets-online-games
If you are interested, just ping me on [email protected]
