Freemium Mobile Games: Design & Monetization

Freemium Mobile Games: Design & Monetization reveals the essence of what freemium games are and provides a framework of best practices and in-depth game design schematics for developers to follow. Although the interaction of brilliant game design and monetization mechanisms based on scientific psychological research has successfully stormed the top grossing mobile charts, the roadmap to success remains elusive… until now. Freemium Mobile Games: Design & Monetization is a detailed guide for the new wave of gaming industry professionals that have to embrace the overwhelming trend of games as a service. The free games that already dominate the billion mobile market, have stolen a lot of the industry's brightest away from console and desktop game production, but this new mobile playground also has new base rules. The book frames this ongoing industry shift as the substitution of AAA publishing with HHH polishing and outlines for developers the new path to success. Freemium Mobile Games: Design & Monetization is also suitable for casual gamers who enjoy playing Clash of Clans in the mornings, Puzzle & Dragons in the evenings and Candy Crush Saga in-between. Examples from these and many more iOS and Android games are employed, to illustrate both best practices and poor game design decisions that can make or break the user experience. Many of the psychological mechanisms exploited by freemium game design to keep casual gamers playing and spending are demystified, which allows users to identify and counteract exploitative biases such as priming, loss aversion, anchoring, sunk cost fallacy, and many others.