Hello, I searched with Google but couldn't find anything related to this (not only on this forum). I'd like to know if some developer or publisher released some sales stats about DLC, especially if they do comparison between small DLC and big DLC (which were called "Extensions" back in the days ). Basically, I wonder if it's financially more interesting to release tons of small DLC with only very few things (example : DLC for ubber new sword, DLC for 733t new mount, DLC for special quest, etc...) than to release a big DLC, more like the kind of extensions we had in the past, with a good bunch of new contents that made sense together. Me, I'd rather buy a more expensive extension than many little cheaper stuff, but I might not be representative of the average gamer, as some games on Steam are crawling under tons of minimalist DLC...
For indies, it is more easy, cheaper and more $$$ efficient to launch a new version rather a "big DLC". And for the rest of "DLC" features, the common way to do it is to use "coins", for example Kongregate's Kreds
I haven't seen much on small vs large DLC specifically but Gamesbrief often has some general stats on DLC and the freemium model. In general, small DLC has the advantage of being cheaper and therefore less friction when it comes to persuading people to pay for stuff. For example, €0.79 x10 seems cheaper than paying €7.90 for a single item On the other hand, it depends on how much content you can afford to put in to €0.79 and whether you think your customers (the players) will pay for it
Nutter2000, I did a search of "DLC" tag on Gamesbrief and found nothing related to DLC sales. (although, it's a nice blog, I read it sometimes ) I'd still like to find some hard data on this, but I guess big publishers must keep them secret... :-/ It's mainly curiosity driven though, but it can't hurt to learn this kind of things nowadays even when we have Indie business.
ManuTOO, I would ask my users. This is a perfect opportunity for you to interact with your user base and build community - why ask us, ask the people who would be opening their wallets what they want!
This is an interesting article about in app purchase (specifically) http://www.macstories.net/stories/g...onflict-between-developer-economics-goodwill/ The journo apparently did a poll of various people (presumably readers) about their feelings on in app purchases. So although it's focused on iap I think you can make reasonable assumptions about people's feelings about paying for extra content.
lennard, in my current case, I can't ask my users, coz if I ask them "would you buy DLC for my tennis games ?", most of them would answer "Why would I ? I can already get a ton for free in the Modding Forum" ..! I'm thinking more about the general case, and maybe, really maybe, about my future RPG. If I were to earn 10x more by releasing some small DLC, I guess I'd consider the option, but I'd rather avoid to do that : I don't like companies who think I'm a cow waiting to be milked, and I don't want to become a company like that if it's not a question of survival. Nutter2000, interesting article..! At least, I can see that the majority feels the same way than me : it's kinda ok to pay for new big stuff, it's not for small stuff. But I'm afraid there's not a big correlation about like/dislike and pay/not pay, as exposed in that point : So some sales stats would be still interesting to get.
Nutter, that is actually a very interesting link. I'd like to point out a 'in context' issue with the article on this front. Super awesome and sad I missed it when it was originally posted. Anyway, the context is this: Nobody was surveyed as a control group, which is to say: Nobody did a survey along the following lines: "How do you feel about paying for apps?" or something to test the elasticity of the price its self (1.99 is the right price for an app, 0.99 is the right price ect). The reason I bring this up is simple: I'd be willing to make a bet that 50% or more of the replies dislike / despise paying for apps as a whole, which means that the 'increase' in hatred you get for an IAP of levels or game modes is actually zero. Basically there's a group of people who simply dislike paying anything for anything, especially prevalent in games and music of course. So, just remember to take into context this article has no control group or, perhaps, that you should not make the assumption that someone who dislikes IAP LIKES non-IAP. The majority of those who dislike one are going to dislike the other as well. A second business takeaway, and fairly obvious based on the article as a whole, is just because someone dislikes something doesn't mean they aren't willing to pay for it. I am not saying you should sacrifice your game on the altar of IAP, but just because someone grumbles about having to make an IAP doesn't necessitate that they dislike your game or company. In fact, it is likely a sign that they like it quite a bit... they'll just grumble because it is our nature to want more for less and this makes them feel like they aren't getting it. (Ignoring the fact that a few years ago these games would have cost 20 dollars, because customers have very short memories for these kinds of things).
Hey Joe Yes good points but I did point out it was journalist with a reader poll not some scientific blind test case study. If you can point one out to me then I'll happily bow to your superior googling skills I think the elasticity of app pricing is probably highly subjective and best tested in a private split test which itself is not easy to pull off although market forces will play a strong force towards a preferred price point. My personal feeling from reading that article is that a) consider the source: it's a journalists article written for game players including a poll of macstories readers who are presumable more of a core gamer by virtue of simply being regular readers of such a site so as you say take it with a pinch of salt but more importantly b) His data seems to suggest a preference for paying for large amounts of extra content rather than lots of small DLC perhaps because of more of a perceived value of a large amount of content. So I certainly wouldn't take it as the definitive Higgs Bosun research into the subject but it shows some interesting trends worth investigating.
Oh I wasn't calling you out Nutter, so no worries. NPD probably DOES have a scientific study on this you could pay 10k for... But anyway, my post was merely to point out some of the 'between the lines' items of that article, which on the whole was an excellent find!
Thats ok Joe, sorry if my reply came over a bit caustic! Yeah you're right, if you're able to pay the big money someone will have a study or you can hire your own! Yeah I agree as always with anything found on the internet, even scientific, consider the source, ymmv, read between the lines, etc etc
Hey Nutter, I think the responses here cover most of what you're asking about. I can add two things though: first, some data, and second, a good example of DLC in a freemium mobile game 1) Data Rough numbers around DLC downloads for a mobile, freemium game are that 40% of DAUs will download the first DLC, then about 60% of those first-DLC-buying users that are still active buy the second DLC, and then 50% of the first-and-second-DLC-buying-and-still-active-users buy the third DLC. So in a game with 1000 DAUs, it'd look something like: 1000 DAUs 400 buy first DLC 240 buy second DLC 120 buy third DLC Note that these numbers are rough estimates based on the two companies I've talked to about this stuff. Also, 40% of DAUs for the first DLC is considered somewhat low, depending on game type and the DLC content 2) Example Go download Hero Academy for iOS. These guys nailed the DLC model. It's a chess-style turn based strategy game with cartoon armies. You get the first race (the Humans) for free, and then each additional race is a DLC. Pretty much everyone I knew that actively played the game bought the DLCs immediately Good luck!
Thanks Tyler, good figures and example. However it was ManuToo that was originally asking. I found it interesting though so thanks.
TylerBetable, thanks for sharing these data ! It's not exactly what I was wondering about in my 1st post, but it's still very valuable information about the DLC topic !