david mccarthy 'practical advice - small changes make a big difference in korea and japan'...

© 2014 Metaps Inc. All Rights Reserved. CONFIDENTIAL

Practical Advice: Small

Changes Can Make a Big

Difference in Korea and

Japan

2014 年 6 月 17 日



We only have 10 minutes!

So let me cut to the chase…

•5 Tips for succeeding in Japan

•5 Tips for succeeding in Korea

•That’s it.

•Oh, plus one bonus tip: launch on Android


5 Tips for succeeding in Japan


Five top tips for Japan

• Release a new APK

• Keep it simple

• Create a buzz

• Keep adding content

• Give it a boost


Release a new APK

• Decreases cost of user acquisition– Organic uplift is much higher on the Top New Free ranking– You are more likely to get featured on the Google Play store

• Allows you to improve your monetization – Makes it easier to tailor your in-game economy to the local

market. • Japanese users are much more likely to spend money, and are much

more forgiving of what western users might consider to be harsh monetization schemes

• Feel free to make your monetization more strict


Keep it simple

• You’re never going to get culturalization completely right– So stop worrying about it

• Worry about making a great game – Make the UI/UX easy to understand, make it fast, responsive, and fun

Jan. 6, 2014Top Grossing #8

Nov. 29, 2013Top Grossing #6

Mar. 21, 2014Top Grossing #24

Sept 28, 2013Top Grossing #17

Aug 19, 2013Top Grossing #20

May 13, 2014Top Grossing #59


Create a buzz

• Start with a pre-registration campaign– So you can start with a bang

• Advertise on telly – If you’ve got the money

• Stick to social networks and court the press– If you don’t have money


Keep adding content

In-game promotions and events keep players playing for longer

Daily Login Bonus

Limited-time Events

Sales and special offers


Give it a boost

• Carefully managed boost campaigns are still the most effective way of reaching a high volume of quality users in Japan

– So don’t believe the hype

• Boost campaigns are most effective during the 30-day Top New Free window

– So don’t mess around with a soft launch

• And you can time them around in-game events and campaigns


5 Tips for succeeding in Korea


Five top tips for Korea

• Start with a bang

• Support your users

• Go non-mobile

• Launch on Kakao (or don’t)

• Make a high-end game


Start with a bang

• Marketing efforts need to be geared around launch – There is a ton of games coming out all the time in Korea –

about 40 a month– Korean gamers are fickle: they’ll find your app, have fun with

it, and forget about it

• So do everything you can to keep them happy – Daily login bonuses, in-game events right from the start

• And be prepared for them to leave– If you can’t beat them, join them; make sure you have plans to

keep acquiring new users


Support your users

• Like I just said, do everything you can to keep Korean users happy

• Make sure your game is technically robust from the start and ready to scale

• Be prepared for a near-realtime rate of response– In Korean, obviously


Go non-mobile

• Pre-registration campaigns are essential

• Cultivate community sites and fan the flames on fan forums

• Court the press

• Get a spokesperson– A celebrity, obviously

• Use them on social networks, billboards, and telly


Launch on Kakao (or don’t)

• Do: Because it still dominates the charts– Usually at least 7 of the top 10 Grossing– RPGs and Strategy games are very popular– Kakao = tremendous traffic

• Do not: Because it still dominates the charts– Games are released twice a week so standing out is increasingly difficult– It costs 21% of your revenues

4th week of April 2014. Top Free Game. Rank 1 ~ 12

4th week of April 2014. Gross Game. Rank 1~ 12


Make it high-end

• Korean users are very demanding

• Your game needs to be cutting-edge, technically, with minimal lag

• RPGs and Strategy games still dominant on Kakao


Oh yeah, one other thing


Oh yeah, one more thing…

Find a great partner•Because 5 Tips is never enough


Silicon

Valley

South Korea

Shanghai

Singapore

Taiwan

Hong Kong

Tokyo

London

HQ: Tokyo, Japan

Offices: San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, UK

Contact: [email protected][email protected]

Thanks!

david mccarthy 'practical advice - small changes make a big difference in korea and japan'...

Presentations & Public Speaking