How to keep making money from games after release

After reading the book “Blood, Sweat and Pixels”, I like probably everyone who has read it was ignited with a wild desire to make my own game!

Of course, I did not go anywhere beyond the idea. After all, everyone must do their job, and my job is to play (and also lie around and loiter), but certainly not to create games.

Despite that, I still managed to talk to a couple of developers. All as one vying with each other told me that perhaps the key criterion for success of your game is not only its ratings at the start, and how the project passes the test of time, and how much gold it will fill the coffers of developers in the history of its existence.

At first, I did not fully understand how the project can continue to bring money, even after its official release and tens of thousands of sold-out digital copies. Then it hit me - monetization!

If anyone doesn't know what monetization means, I advise you to put the primer in your school bag and go to bed, because there's still school tomorrow. For the rest, it is probably even senseless to give a detailed definition of this phenomenon.

Project monetization is a ubiquitous practice, which sometimes allows developers to stay afloat with one release for many years.

But what ways of monetization are prevailing in the game industry nowadays?

Let's find out!

THE MAIN WAYS TO MONETIZE

1) In-game purchases

Quality Loot, custom skins, Battle pass, the opportunity to feel like the God on the Anubis map in the cult CS:GO.

Not only is this inherently new content for your players, it's also a real goldmine for all developers. The main thing is not to overdo it, the high-profile failure of Star Wars: Battlefront II is still fresh in our minds.

2) In-app advertising

Perhaps, it is not the most beloved by players, but still quite effective way.

Short videos that, after watching them, give players an extra attempt to run a level. It's all simple, but it all works. This is coming from me, the man who watched dozens of hours of commercials in the mobile game "Soccer Super Star" to get another chance to pass the level!

3) Selling extra content

Perhaps not the most common, but one of the most promising monetization models.

Just imagine, how much players would be willing to pay for a chance to get behind the scenes of making their favourite game. Uncharted concept art, first drafts, uncharted material: - all this is not only a great opportunity for further edition of the art book on their game (which is also actively used), but also a good way to monetize.

4) Subscriptions

It's simple. You need to specify what profit the players will receive from a paid subscription. The main thing to remember is that if you want the player to prolong the subscription, you have to surprise him!

The game industry is not standing still, continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, and is already the most lucrative industry in entertainment content.

As of 2020, the game industry has surpassed $163 billion in revenues, and is predicted to reach $300 billion per calendar year in the coming years.

In-game monetization has made a huge contribution to this impressive sum.

The same Battle Passes are the most popular way of monetization in F2P games.

However, if everything looks so rosy on paper, why do many releases barely make ends meet, continuing to function only on the moral will?

Unfortunately, not all games on release turn out to be ready for proper monetization.

This can be affected by a dozen factors, from misjudging the target audience to the wrong method of monetization (for example, offering a subscription model for a game when there are no gaming resources to implement it). At release, few publishers are able to address the revealed problem in a timely manner, which can end up sinking the game before the broad mass of players even know about it.

In order to prevent this from happening to you, Beyond Industries offers a service solution that will allow you to quickly and conveniently test monetization methods without rewriting the game code of your product!

That's because Beyond Industries has the tools to instantly test monetization methods in games without disrupting User Flow. On top of that, you will have the ability to quickly test monetization hypotheses.

With all that being said, this procedure will not be time consuming or attention-grabbing for the player. All that will change for the player - there will be a Battle Pass button on the screen, after buying it, the money will come directly to the creators of the game.

Beyond Industries offers a convenient solution for both the creators and the target audience of the product. It is simple and convenient!