The Chinese mobile games that have already flooded the domestic market are now moving towards the international market. However, they have encountered bottlenecks in the mid-to-high-end game sector. Factors such as high development difficulty, high promotion costs, and difficulty in capturing localization demands have made it difficult for mid-to-high-end games to adapt to the international market. So is there a way to grow differently? Compared to the "high cost" of mid-to-high-end games, the threshold for entry into the small game market is not high, and various innovative small games with different gameplay mechanics are continuously attracting funds in overseas markets. Match-three puzzle games, chess games, and other types of casual games have become the first choice for small and medium-sized companies to enter the international market. Methodologies and articles on running advertisements have been seen numerous times, but today we want to talk about pitfalls. Misconception one: blindly pursuing like products. Misconception two: rushing to monetize, neglecting innovative and attractive gameplay.
1. It is challenging to make like products, and small and medium-sized companies need to focus on differentiation strategies
First, let's raise a question: Do large companies with strong financial and technological backgrounds and large user bases have a better understanding of users? If so, then there wouldn't be so many small and medium-sized companies making money in the casual game market. Although this is the case, generally speaking: within 7 days of launch, you might think that there is still room for expansion, but what about after 7 days, or 14 days? You will regretfully find that new competitors keep emerging and large companies continue massive spends, making it difficult for smaller companies with limited funds to compete. This is all because of the excessive pursuit of like products. In crowded market segments, companies without strong financial backing are eliminated faster. The way out is to seek differentiation. Small and medium-sized companies should focus on specialties in small-scale market segments and integrate innovative and fun elements into basic gameplay to maintain a certain degree of uniqueness compared to competitors. This is the key to the iteration and operation of casual products. As for advertising costs, as long as the casual game has basic gameplay and adapts well to the subject matter, the cost of acquisition within one or two years will not fluctuate significantly. Running the best performing ad campaigns can yield favorable results without much variation. For example, the smash hit game "Happy Sheep" in the domestic market, a leisure game with a simple match-3 mechanic, became immensely popular on the internet due to its innovative elements like "vegetable chips," catchy music, etc. Given that the product is profitable, companies should focus on innovative gameplay, artistic design, creative material, efficient marketing spends, and data analysis. Besides creating differentiation in development and art styles, they should also consider more attractive marketing and distribution methods to ensure stable monetization and market recognition that align with user preferences.
2. Casual games must focus on IAA monetization
The types of advertisements in casual games include reward ads, banner ads, interstitial ads, native ads, etc., with reward ad videos being the most popular amongst advertisers. This is because they allow players to obtain short-term rewards to overcome obstacles, leading to high and expected levels of advertisement engagement throughout the process. By controlling "when to reward" and "what rewards to give," players can achieve the desired profit. Because casual games are simplistic in gameplay, it is challenging to motivate users to make in-app purchases. If the same type of ads are pushed continuously, users will likely not convert. Therefore, it is recommended for casual game developers to research new additional gameplay mechanics to increase the playability and richness of the game, avoiding overexposure to a single advertising monetization model. NetMarvel has worked on various casual games and successfully increased their revenue through IAA monetization. An example is the match-three game "Candy Crack," where the IAA method was the primary revenue strategy. After a period of time, in order to reach more high-value users, the Candy Crack team increased their ad budget but did not meet the expected ROAS. This is when they turned to NetMarvel. NetMarvel selected channels with better ECPM performance and higher user impact for increased ad spends, ultimately achieving a 30% daily increase in user numbers, a 10% reduction in customer acquisition costs, and a 60%+ increase in first-day returns through data feedback from Candy Crack and NetMarvel's comprehensive marketing services.
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