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How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

shoestring.com.au

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Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#11

Post by 6ren »

RyanZAG wrote: post #3

I don't believe this kind of in-app pay-to-win style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually. I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount…

Arms dealing has a long and profitable history.

Is the dynamic different, for the consumer, in an artificial world? Even cyclists happily pay top dollar for fancy components - and though they may appreciate the engineering, advantage and prestige are the key motivation. (note: prestige is also zero-sum).

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#13

Post by robryan »

robotmay wrote: post #4
RyanZAG wrote: post #3

I don't believe this kind of in-app pay-to-win style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually. I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount…

I'm not too sure. I see a lot of people these days, and unfortunately even kids, becoming hooked on quick fixes; pay-to-win games, AAA games with 10-hour single-player campaigns, and pretty much all mobile games. I gave a copy of Pokemon Black to a friend's kids (same age as when my brother and I, and all of our friends, were obsessed with them), and they couldn't get more than 15 minutes in without getting bored. Ob…

What is wrong with 10 hour single player AAA games? These generally offer the most refined interactive story type experiences. I much prefer one of these to most movies.

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#14

Post by alcari »

I don't like this article because it lacks a source for the revenue figure, has a tenuous grasp of the English language, and doesn't really add anything to the discussion of the business model (it reads like the author's never heard of "free to play" games before).

As for the business model itself: I prefer Valve's take on it, where paying doesn't give any competitive advantage (all the Team Fortress 2 items that aren't purely cosmetic are random drops for non-paying players, and Dota 2 is all cosmetic items).

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#15

Post by abhimir »

marcamillion wrote: post #5

I would love to see more evidence. "A report suggests..." doesn't quite cut it for me. Not saying the author is lying, but his maths could be off or maybe he could have misread something somewhere (e.g. maybe it is $3.8M/year vs /day).

The numbers are correct. These numbers have been reported by GungHo (the company that has made Puzzles&Dragons). They have to report their revenue numbers as they are traded in the Osaka Stock Exchange. [1] Also these are April numbers, recent revenue estimates will be even higher as the game is now climbing up the top grossing charts (iTunes) in US too.

[1]http://www.gameskinny.com/bdbci/gungho-made-376-million-a-da...

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#16

Post by fhd2 »

robotmay wrote: post #4
RyanZAG wrote: post #3

I don't believe this kind of in-app pay-to-win style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually. I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount…

I'm not too sure. I see a lot of people these days, and unfortunately even kids, becoming hooked on quick fixes; pay-to-win games, AAA games with 10-hour single-player campaigns, and pretty much all mobile games. I gave a copy of Pokemon Black to a friend's kids (same age as when my brother and I, and all of our friends, were obsessed with them), and they couldn't get more than 15 minutes in without getting bored. Ob…

I'm also not quite as optimistic as the parent. However, I do wonder if legislators will step in at some point. Both the gambling and weapon industries, to which this has been compared below, are being regulated. Well, in Europe at least. Just anecdotal evidence, but there seem to be very few weapon owners or people with gambling problems here in Germany.

Edit: Just noticed this comment below, it's already being regulated in Germany: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6088903

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#17

Post by patio11 »

abhimir wrote: post #15
marcamillion wrote: post #5

I would love to see more evidence. "A report suggests..." doesn't quite cut it for me. Not saying the author is lying, but his maths could be off or maybe he could have misread something somewhere (e.g. maybe it is $3.8M/year vs /day).

The numbers are correct. These numbers have been reported by GungHo (the company that has made Puzzles&Dragons). They have to report their revenue numbers as they are traded in the Osaka Stock Exchange. [1] Also these are April numbers, recent revenue estimates will be even higher as the game is now climbing up the top grossing charts (iTunes) in US too. [1] http://www.gameskinny.com/bdbci/gungho-made-376-million-a-d…

+1 for "The numbers are correct."

See, among numerous other places: http://www.gungho.co.jp/ir/uploads/irk20130509_2.pdf

If you don't understand what an audited financial statement written in Japanese says, that's cool, you can default to "Trust Patrick that Puzzle Dragons is a cultural phenomenon right now and that it is one of the first Japanese companies which has truly absorbed the spirit of Zynga with respect to monetization."

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#18

Post by koralatov »

robotmay wrote: post #4
RyanZAG wrote: post #3

I don't believe this kind of in-app pay-to-win style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually. I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount…

I'm not too sure. I see a lot of people these days, and unfortunately even kids, becoming hooked on quick fixes; pay-to-win games, AAA games with 10-hour single-player campaigns, and pretty much all mobile games. I gave a copy of Pokemon Black to a friend's kids (same age as when my brother and I, and all of our friends, were obsessed with them), and they couldn't get more than 15 minutes in without getting bored. Ob…

I really miss the days where I'd buy a complete game on release, rather than only getting half the experience.

Having just played through Mass Effect 2 and 3, I couldn't agree more with you. The singleplayer `DLCs' felt like bits of the game they'd deliberately chopped out so they could sell them to me later. Nothing in those add-ons was essential, but it all felt like stuff that would have been included in the game proper ten years ago.

Re: How one Japanese gaming startup is generating $3.8 million in revenue per day

#19

Post by ig1 »

RyanZAG wrote: post #3

I don't believe this kind of in-app pay-to-win style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually. I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount…

Everything you said could be applied to pay upfront games as well.

i.e:

"I don't believe this kind of "pay before you play" style games will last much longer. It's the kind of thing someone new to games will pay for, but after paying for a bit, those same people seem to 'wise up' eventually.

I think you'll see these kind of games slowly decreasing in profitability over the next 5 years. It's similar to many other forms of short term profit in which the value provided does not equal the amount paid - eventually the market will dry up as it becomes common knowledge."

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