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There is an endless pool of freemium games waiting for you to download and play in the App Store and in Google Play. However, for those games to stay around and make money they eventually need you to make a purchase or see one of their advertisements.
So how does a freemium game hold someone’s attention long enough for them to make an in-app purchase or to be influenced by advertising? That can be tough. This is where player engagement platform P4rc comes in.
It’s founder, Jason Seldon, is a veteran game developer. Seldon has seen the app economy move from paid games to the freemium model, and with it he has seen revenue models shift.
“When you had paid apps things were different,” said Seldon. A download ensured revenue. But with freemium “you have to invest in dramatically engaging players.”
Competing with the never-ending ocean of freemium games available makes engagement tough. Seldon said for some users the gauntlet is this: “if you don’t grab my attention in 30 seconds or less I’m moving on.”
Surprisingly, Seldon found the solution to the future of freemium gaming in an old-school arcade. While visiting with his kids, he observed the ever present ticketing-reward system. Games like Skeeball kept people coming back, again and again, with the promise of earning potential prizes. Perhaps, the same thing would work with freemium games.
A virtual ticketing system would "maybe just be enough to give the app a chance to shine,” said Seldon.
So Seldon developed a network of games where users were rewarded for their engagement. On the P4rc network, players are rewarded with points based on duration of play, effort and skill. They can cash out with gift cards from companies like Apple, Target and Starbucks.
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P4rc has over 300 games participating in what it calls its “game achievement network.” And games on the network have been downloaded more than 100 million times.
To ensure no one game is delivering easier rewards than others, P4rc balances in-app points with a set of algorithms. Because without such a benchmark “you would end up with a constantly inflating economy,” said Seldon.
On average, this reward system sees a 55 percent uplift in number of days users play. In fact, over a 30-day period, P4rc players are up to 10 times more likely to play 10 or more days.
This is huge for freemium developers because about one-fourth of apps are used only once after download. Acquiring users who never play your game is costly.
The network also enables cross-promotion opportunities, between games on the network. Using their understanding of which games players like P4rc can also use its point incentive system to entice users to try new games.
In the future, Seldon said they will be building customized reward networks for individual developers. Currently, P4rc’s rewards are broadly appealing because their audience of users is global and has diverse interests. They focus on gift cards for consumer goods, much like a widely appealing television show would carry a lot of consumer goods advertisements. However, as they begin to collect audiences into niches, they believe they will be able to offer rewards more closely linked to specific audience preferences.
“The ability to pick rewards that are highly relevant to the audience is really exciting,” said Seldon. “It’s a natural extension of what we’ve been doing.”
Potentially, Seldon said he sees fitness apps rewarding players with exercise related prizes or for a “movie app you could have autographed posters.”
P4rc plans to start releasing these new niche reward systems in April.
Ultimately, P4rc’s network has secured the company a difficult to assail market position. Other companies, such as Zynga, have tried to build in-network reward systems and floundered. What seems straightforward actually requires a lot of upkeep and expertise.
“It comes down to core competency,” said Seldon. “There is a lot of complexity under the hood.” Administrating points, dealing with point inflation and fighting fraud are just a few of the challenges. The network, it’s like a community, “you have to constantly feed it,” said Seldon.
That diligence is continuing to pay off. Launched in January 2011, P4rc has now grown to 15 employees and has a total of $2.2 million in funding. And their soon-to-be released niche rewards system is just another reason to play freemium games.
