While traditional models of selling games online is alive and well with veterans of the B2C sector, we have also witnessed the rise of alternative, social approaches to online marketing strategies.
In this post, we take a look at the online video game industry and analyze two different marketing strategies utilized by B2C companies. Our goal is to see how these different strategies can be applied to other e-commerce verticals.
When I think about the major social video game companies producing massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, I think about Electronic Arts, Activsion Blizzard, and wunderkind Zynga. These are the corporations structuring our play on the Internet.
It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), that the way we play and pay for video games today is different than it was 25 years ago. Back then, I had an Atari 7800 with 4KB of RAM. I could buy a cartridge of Joust from Toys “R” Us, put the game in the console and I was ready to be interactively entertained. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under conversion optimization, Customer Engagement, Landing Pages, SaaS payment models, zynga ea ecommerce
Over the past 10 years the video game industry has experienced tremendous growth. A large part of this growth can be attributed to the increase of affordable high-speed connectivity, which creates an environment where independent game publishers can develop games and unleash them to the masses.
By far the most popular distribution channel in digital gaming is Valve’s Steam platform, which now controls more than 50% share of the digital distribution market for video games. Due to Steam’s size, many developers think that Steam is the only viable option for digital distribution, but there are alternatives.
Before we discuss other options it’s important to understand the pros and cons of Steam, as it may be in important component in your overall e-commerce strategy.
Pros:
- With 30 million users, Steam gives your game a lot of potential exposure.
- Your hosting and bandwidth costs are taken care of by Steam.
- Steam offers non-exclusive contracts, which is key as it allows you to widen your distribution channel.
Cons:
- Valve has final say over what appears on Steam, meaning your creativity will be subject to Valve’s approval process.
- Valve doesn’t publish commission rates, but chances are you’ll be paying at least 30% royalties to steam for each transaction.
- Steam currently only supports 3 transaction currencies (USD, EUR, GBP). With a world-wide audience, many of your customers may be forced to pay currency conversion fees to buy your product.
- The Steam client is a required download in order to purchase and play your product. Many users may not want to download the Steam client and this is may be additional barrier to purchase.
Using A Direct E-commerce Partner
An option that is often overlooked by game publishers is pushing customers to a direct e-commerce partner instead of a distribution channel like Steam. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under cloud gaming usa, digital distribution, ecommerce strategies
