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RPG REPORT Competitive Research and Actionable Product Recommendations TABLE OF CONTENTS IMPACT DRIVER 3 Customizable Challenge Mode Trials of God in AFK Arena Product Insights TRENDS 8 Unique Apps with Quest Feature Releases Quest Feature Revenue Quest Features by App AFK Arena Feature Investment NOVEMBER REVENUE MOVEMENT 13 RPG Revenue Growth NEW CONTENT 15 Content Releases MARKET WATCH 19 2020 Soft-Launch & Breakout Apps Notable Releases APPENDIX 24 AFK Arena Release Schedule Premium Partnerships RPG Mechanics Taxonomy IMPACT DRIVER Features and events that boost revenue, retention, or downloads 3 RPG > FEATURES > QUESTS Customizable Challenge Mode Trials of God in AFK Arena 4 REVENUE ANALYSIS AFK Arena's revenue was +72% and downloads were -19% MoM for the month after the release of Trials of God. This release follows a large download spike. See the Appendix for a full release schedule. AFK Arena $300K Revenue Downloads 30K Trials of God $200K 20K Revenue per Day Revenue $100K 10K Downloads per Day 7/9/20 7/23/20 8/6/20 8/20/20 9/3/20 9/17/20 10/1/20 10/15/20 10/29/20 11/12/20 MoM = Month over month. 5 Graph data is iOS, U.S. only. FEATURE TEARDOWN Players replay past levels with new, customizable challenges. Levels reward players based on the number and difficulty of challenges completed in a single attempt. Details 1 2 3 • Within this feature, all heroes are temporarily set to max level. • Players choose challenges called "trials" to apply to trimmed down versions of previously released levels (1 and video). • Trials have different effects that increase difficulty, like temporarily disabling heroes or increasing enemy attack power. • Levels award points based on the chosen trials. • More difficult trials award more points (2). • Trials can be removed during the level but will no longer award points. • A meter rewards players for their highest score in a single attempt (3 and 4). • Players only earn additional rewards for surpassing their high score. • Global, server, and friend leaderboards rank the highest-scoring players (5). • Players receive purchase offers once they reach a certain level (6). 4 5 6 Additional Information • See the Trials of God: The Depths of Time library for more images and videos. Giving all players max level heroes focuses gameplay on skill and strategy instead of XP levels. At the same time, experienced players still gain an advantage from their deeper equipment and hero rosters, ensuring that they don't feel undervalued. 6 We interviewed three AFK Arena players who spend PRODUCT INSIGHTS $25–$120 per month. Challenge modes generate feelings of mastery and may drive spend. 1 Completing multiple goals within a single context creates a sense of mastery, like the two medium-spenders who said Trials of God made them feel "like a badass" who was "great at this game."1 This increases players' self-efficacy, which has been found to lead to more ambitious goals.2 And players who want to achieve more will likely be more willing to make purchases. As one high-spender said, "I will be spending money in Trials of God because I want to get further."3 Other popular RPGs use similar mechanics. World of Warcraft's mythic raids offer more difficult versions of past missions for greater rewards.4 Empires & Puzzles' Knights of Avalon let players replay levels at three difficulty tiers to improve their scores, contributing to a +162% WoW revenue increase (1). Like Trials of God, both of these also add leaderboards for even more replayability. Opt-in challenges facilitate flow and maximize accessibility. Player-chosen challenges enable flow—the pleasurable, focused state that occurs when a task is neither too hard nor too easy.5 They also generate intrinsic motivation by rewarding players for performance without forcing them to do anything they don't want to.6 A medium- spender reflected, "It wasn't about points. It was about how far I could go with the most challenges."7 Guild Fest in Lords Mobile: War Kingdom, which increased revenue +16% WoW, took another approach by letting players claim challenges from a club-wide board. 2 To make challenges more interesting, allow players to take bigger risks in exchange for greater rewards. For example, Dead Cells' cursed chests award powerful gear and upgrades but reduce players' health to a single hit for the next 10 enemies.8 These kinds of optional trade-offs ensure that gameplay remains accessible while giving even the most experienced players challenges worthy of their skills.9 A secondary, cumulative reward system would encourage low-level players to try more challenges. Trials of God's single-attempt score system is great for players who can tackle many challenges at once (2). But it may have less to offer for less-skilled players, since they don't gain anything for beating different challenges unless they can exceed their high score. Adding rewards for each individual challenge would drive engagement for these players and give them an incremental way to progress. So while the best players can go big in a single attempt, others can slowly acquire upgrades to make things easier.10 1 Subject A; Age 28 female, $25–$50/month spend, 8 hours/week playtime 4 World of Warcraft Mythic Keystone Dungeon Leaderboards Subject B; Age 24 male, $70/month spend, 15–20 hours/week playtime 5 Cognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design 8 How Dead Cells Exploits Your Indecision | Psych of Play, 0:45 2 6 9 How Spelunky 2 Fixes Difficulty Levels, 2:45 Cognitive behavioral game design: a unified model for designing serious games The Gamer's Brain, Part 3, 24:55 7 3 Subject C; Age 34 male, $120/month spend, 50 hours/week playtime 7 Subject B ($70/month) 10 Roguelikes, Persistency, and Progression | Game Maker's Toolkit, 3:15 TRENDS Investment trends for event and feature releases Tracked RPG Apps: AFK Arena, BLEACH Brave Souls, Dragon Ball Legends, Empires & Puzzles, Epic Seven, Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, Fire Emblem Heroes, Guns of Glory, King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare, Last Shelter: Survival, Lords Mobile: War Kingdom, MARVEL Strike Force, RAID: Shadow Legends, Rise of Kingdoms, Star Trek Fleet Command, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Summoners War 8 MORE APPS INVEST IN QUEST FEATURES The past six months saw a significant increase in the number of different apps releasing quest features. Four of the preceding six months had no quest feature releases from tracked apps. Unique Apps with Quest Feature Releases 3 2 Number ofApps 1 Nov '19 Dec Jan '20 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct 9 AFK ARENA BENEFITS MOST FROM QUEST FEATURES Among tracked RPGs, AFK Arena saw the greatest revenue impact from quest feature releases during the past six months, averaging +16% revenue MoM per release. The genre-wide average for this period was -3% revenue MoM. Quest Feature Revenue (Past 6 Months) 50% 25% 0% -25% Average MoM Revenue per Release MoM Revenue Average -50% AFK Arena Dragon Ball Legends Epic Seven Guns of Glory Rise of Kingdoms MoM = Month over month. 10 Graph data is iOS, U.S. only. AFK ARENA DOMINATES QUEST FEATURES AFK Arena was responsible for 60% of all quest features released by tracked apps in the past year. All but one of AFK Arena's quest features were released in the past six months. Quest Features by App (Past 12 Months) AFK Arena Epic Seven Dragon Ball Legends Guns of Glory MARVEL Strike Force Rise of Kingdoms 3 6 9 12 15 Number of Releases 11 AFK ARENA FAVORS QUESTS OVER CONTENT FEATURES Quest features were AFK Arena's most significant investment in the past three months, even outpacing content features like heroes, equipment, and abilities. This is highly unusual for the RPG genre. AFK Arena Feature Investment (Past 3 Months) 10 8 6 4 Number of Releases 2 Clubs Flows Quests Heroes Profiles Abilities Missions Conflicts Rewards Purchases Equipment Expansions Challenges Accelerators Interactions 12 REVENUE MOVEMENT Revenue changes within apps and across genres 13 MORE APPS SEE REVENUE GROWTH IN OCTOBER Monthly revenue grew in 65% of tracked RPGs in October. The period from June to September saw an average of just 28% of RPGs with monthly revenue increases. RPG Revenue Growth Positive Negative 100% 75% 50% Percentage ofApps Percentage 25% Nov '19 Dec Jan '20 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Graph data is iOS, U.S. only. 14 NEW CONTENT New heroes, equipment, and abilities 15 CONTENT RELEASES I RPG > Content > Abilities, Equipment, and Heroes 1 2 10/20 Class Exclusive Artifacts — AFK Arena equipment (1) 10/20 Tango D'Anima Skin — AFK Arena equipment (2) 10/20 The Barricade — AFK Arena equipment 10/22 Bountiful Bolero Skin — AFK Arena equipment 10/28 Ainz Ooal Gown — AFK Arena hero (3) 10/28 Albedo — AFK Arena hero 10/13 New Resurrection Characters — BLEACH Brave Souls abilities 10/16 Burn the Witch Collaboration — BLEACH Brave Souls heroes (4) 3 4 10/23 3 New Accessories! — BLEACH Brave Souls equipment 10/28 New Resurrection Characters — BLEACH Brave Souls abilities 10/31 Thousand-Year Blood War Round 12 — BLEACH Brave Souls heroes 10/7 Super Saiyan Bardock Zenkai Awakening — Dragon Ball Legends abilities 10/14 Awakened Here I come! No. 1 — Dragon Ball Legends equipment 10/14 Legends All Star Vol. 2 — Dragon Ball Legends heroes (5) 10/14 You'll Pay for That — Dragon Ball Legends equipment 10/21 Super Saiyan 3 Goku Zenkai Awakening — Dragon Ball Legends abilities 10/28 Awakened What a surprise. No. 1 — Dragon Ball Legends equipment 10/28 Legends the 6th Universe — Dragon Ball Legends heroes 5 6 10/1 Zulag — Empires & Puzzles hero (6) 10/7 Hero Balance Changes — Empires &