Conversion Rates

As some of you might have read, Team Fortress 2 saw users increase by 5x with a 20-30% conversion rate versus the typical 2-3% which is considered the norm for F2P. 

See http://www.geekwire.com/2011/experiments-video-game-economics-valves-gabe-newell for more information on the Valve Team Fortress 2 Experiment.

Conversion rates should be based on your target audience versus your platform.  Consider the following:


Female Oriented Games:

• Female Oriented Casual Games Downloadable Games (Bejeweled, Luxor, Diner Dash, etc.) have standard conversion rates of 1-4%
• Female Oriented or predominately Female Social Network Games (FarmVille, CityVille, Restaurant City, etc.) have standard conversion rates of 2-3%
• Young Adult or Female Oriented F2P client games had conversion rates of 2-6%

Male Oriented Games:

• Male Oriented Downloadable Games (Fate, Torchlight, etc.) have standard conversion rates of 8-20%
• Male Orient or predominately Male Social Network Games (Kingdoms of Camelot, etc.) has conversion rates of 6-12%.  Kabam noted in a GamaSutra article that they had a 10% conversion rate for one of their smaller games.
• Male Oriented F2P client games had conversion rates of 6-18%

As you can see from the above data points, the conversion rates for male oriented games are a lot higher than for female oriented games.  The main issue is that a lot of male gamers also play hardcore console and PC games so their expectations are a lot higher as they compare their gaming experience in the console world with casual games.  If you follow XBLA converge, you will always notice that XBLA sales are always impacted by large console game title releases such as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, etc... 

What is great about male oriented Facebook games and iOS/Android Games is that these games are not only free but always available to play when you cannot play hardcore games.   They also are on networks that are now ubiquitous.

 Male Oriented Facebook games are currently a small market compared too Female oriented Facebook games, but with War Commander and Maple Story games showing how the technology for Facebook games are now reaching the same level as some F2P client downloadable games.  I believe that Male Orient Facebook games will start to grow.  Pretty soon action arcade games and RPGs will be found in facebook games and this will be when the market really grows.

Mobile games can be played whenever your waiting in line or sitting in the bus.  The reason why freemium games are doing very well on iOS/Android is that players who are hesitant to pay for the game because they would rather spend their money on other items like console games.  Letting players play the game for free and spend as much as they want will maximize the monetization the game while increasing viral marketing.

As I noted before, just make sure you the costs of the games you develop match the opportunity.  If you are a male oriented game, use the lower portion of the male conversion rate and bench market MAU/DAU against male oriented games.  Do not expect to have a top 10 game.