MONETIZING AN AUTO-BATTLER Retention and Monetization breakdown of a new game genre Léo Nantermoz – January 2020 Table of contents Disclaimer This document is still a Work • What is an Auto-battler game ? in progress, and as such is not complete. • Focus on 2 auto-battlers and their economic systems I’ve tried to be as correct as • Teamfight Tactics possible with all the • Hearthstone Battlegrounds information and numbers contained in the document, • Retention and monetization of a generic auto-battler but as these games are • Teamfight Tactics breakdown subject to quick changes, parts of it might become • New monetization strategies for Teamfight Tactics outdated quickly. Last update : 11/01/2020 Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 WHAT IS AN AUTO- BATTLER ? An auto-battler game is a turn-based strategy game, in which players fight each other one on one, using AI- controlled units. Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Unique aspects of auto-battlers • The player • Unit recruitment and synergies • Itemization • Economy management DotA Underlords Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 The player In auto-battlers, the player controls a team of units. He will have to manage several variables in order to gain a competitive advantage against his opponents. The first and most important variable is The player has an experience level. This gold. At each round, the player earns gold, level can be increased using gold. It impact the amount depending on a few factors. the game in several ways : This gold can be used to purchase units - Higher levels allow to place more units on and to level up. Factors that impact gold the board at the same time earnings are : - Higher levels increase the chance to find - Win and lose streaks rarer units to recruit - Interest gold generated from unspent gold already owned by the player Finally, the player has a health bar, that depletes whenever he loses a round. When No matter the result, the player earns a set the health bar is empty, the player loses. amount of gold after each round The last player standing wins the game. Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Unit recruitment and synergies In order to fight, each player needs to recruit a team of units. Each unit has statistics, unique abilities, a rarity, a price, a level and will be part of several synergies. Each unit has one or more abilities, giving them unique powers to defeat their opponents. Each unit has a rarity and a price. Stronger units are more expensive and of a higher rarity. When purchasing several units of the same level, they can be combined together to create a stronger version of the unit. Depending on the game, this can be done once or twice usually. By placing on the board several units with the same synergy names, the player unlocks bonus powers for his units. Depending on the game and the units, this can range from bonus resistances against damage, to bonus damage, faster attack rates, or new mobility mechanics (jumping to enemies in the back for example)… Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Itemization In auto-battlers, items are a way to fine-tune units beyond synergies and positioning. Acquired in a variety of ways depending on the game, each item usually gives stat boosts to a specific unit, along with a unique effect. Economy management In auto-battler games, managing the amount of gold that you have at any moment in time is key. Gold earned at the end of each round increases with the amount of unspent gold of the player. Therefore, choosing when to spend and when to hold on to gold allows the player to maximize gold earnings, leading to more gold to level up or buy more units. Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 FOCUS ON 2 AUTO- BATTLERS Teamfight Tactics and Dota Underlords Teamfight Tactics – Design • Teamfight Tactics (TFT) is Riot Games’ take on auto-battlers. Available on PC now and mobile later. • Relying on the League of Legends universe, the game differentiates itself through a few key mechanics, focusing on making the game more accessible to its players : • A carrousel system giving players items at specific points in the game • High-impact synergies, changing the units behavior significantly (new mobility options, new ways to deal The interface of Teamfight Tactics, with synergies on damage… the left, the shop at the bottom of the screen, and the health in the right corner. The Carrousel, where players can get items and units Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Teamfight Tactics – Retention To bring players back daily and weekly into Teamfight Tactics, Riot Games use a few mechanics : - Weekly missions granting XP - A seasonal Free Battle Pass, with rewards at each tier - Both Ranked and Unranked matches - A daily XP reward, increasing with the amount of matches played Weekly missions The Free season pass, granting emotes, icons and arena maps Daily orb Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Teamfight Tactics – Monetization To monetize the game, Riot relies on several ways, all done with their own hard currency, Riot Points (RP) : - Cosmetic modifications for the player arena - Emotes that can be used during gameplay Arena appearances and their price - Player icons, seen in the loading screen – 250RP per icon - Cosmetic skins (view next page) The conversion from Euros to Riot Points is not simple, as varying prices give out various amounts of RP, with higher spending giving higher amount of RP per euro spent. Emotes. Animated emotes are more expensive Amount 2.5€ 5€ 10€ 20€ 35€ 50€ spent RP Amount 310 650 1380 2800 5000 7200 RP/€ 124 130 138 140 ~143 144 Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Teamfight Tactics – Monetization - Cosmetics for the player avatar, with a custom model, texture, sounds and animations - These function with a gacha system, where the player gets a random skin Level 1 within a set. If the player receives a skin that he already owns, it « levels up », granting slight tweaks to the appearance and the animations. - Some appearances can also be purchased directly, at a steeper price. Level 2 Level 3 Single box with a Bundle of boxes (10 + 1), Single cosmetic random appearance, around 35€ appearance, around 4€ around 6€ Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Hearthstone Battlegrounds – Design • Hearthstone Battlegrounds is Blizzard’s first dive into the auto-battler genre. Based on cards from Hearthstone, the game is faster-paced than other auto- battlers. • Hearthstone Battlegrounds is quite different from the typical auto-battler : • Units are placed in a single line, and attack one at a time • Each player chooses a hero, with Hearthstone Battlegrounds interface, with 2 players facing one another impactful effects • Units can only be upgraded once, and the combined unit retains all boosts gained by the original units Several heroes in Battlegrounds • Units cannot freely move between the bench and the board, a unit placed can only be sold Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Hearthstone Battlegrounds – Retention and monetization Hearthstone Battlegrounds is embed in the Hearthstone client. It serves mainly as an advertising system for Hearthstone, to attract new players to the game or to bring previous players back. There are only 2 visible elements of progression in the game : - Each player has a rating that increases or decreases based on each match result - When opening a certain amount of card packs from the latest expansion, players unlock minor Bonuses earned by opening Hearthstone packs of the latest expansion bonuses for Hearthstone Battlegrounds. This caps at 30 packs opened. Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 RETENTION AND MONETIZATION OF A GENERIC AUTO-BATTLER Battle Pass The Battle Pass is an efficient system to drive retention by rewarding players for frequent gameplay. The key elements for a battle pass system are : • An easy progression through the levels • Appealing rewards spread throughout the battle pass • Allowing the user to view the remaining rewards, to incentivize them to play • In the case of a premium battle pass : • Giving several rewards at the start, to reward the player for acquiring the premium pass Fortnite’s Battle Pass is a good example of a • Showing the rewards that free users are missing well implemented Battle Pass system, with without the pass. From time to time, remind the incentives throughout the pass, exclusive cumulative rewards they would unlock by content and high overall value for the price purchasing the pass • If using a hard currency and a store, including a small currency reward with some tiers can convert users from the battle pass to the store. Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Lootboxes Lootboxes are a mean to deliver content to players using randomness. It requires a large amount of content in the lootbox, to allow some content to be hard to unlock Some ways to create lootboxes that help make them perceived as fair by players: - Provide meaningful rewards when receiving a duplicate of an already-unlocked document - Disclose the odds of the lootbox (This is mandatory on iOS and Android) Brawlstar lootboxes are obtainable both through playing and with hard currency. They - Provide a way for free users to open the lootbox a few contain gameplay improvements, a soft times, to give a taste of what can be unlocked and currency reward and an occasional small hard not lock all the content behind a paywall currency reward Monetizing an auto-battler - Léo NANTERMOZ - January 2020 Cosmetics Cosmetics can be of many types, depending on the Teamfight Tactics player avatar skins on specific mechanics of the game : release - Arena maps - Avatar skins - Unit appearances - Badges, Icons, Player name colors or symbols These cosmetics could also be accompanied by interface changes on the user side or, if possible, optional effects for all the players in the game.