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5 Ways To Convert Players To Subscribers: The Benefits of Subscription Payment Processing
May 10, 2022•6 min
It used to be that monetizing a video game was as straightforward as choosing a price point for retail release. Now developers and publishers have countless options at their disposal, everything from direct digital sales to premium releases and free-to-play titles monetized through in-game purchases.
Subscription payment processing is emerging as one of the most effective ways to build a strong revenue stream. Successful models increase user loyalty, boost revenue through in-game purchases, provide added value for customers, and increase both loyalty and customer long-term value (LTV).
You don’t have to be an enterprise-level developer to put subscriptions to work for your game. With a good customer-facing strategy along with the right tools and services, teams of all sizes can transform players into long-term customers to build stable revenue streams for years to come.
Benefits of Subscriptions
Businesses across industries are well-aware of the benefits offered by subscription payment processing. The gaming world is just starting to embrace the movement, but it looks promising so far. One high-profile example is when Valve launched Dota Plus. The game was ranked as the ninth highest-grossing PC title at the time. Shortly after Plus subscriptions went live, it jumped up to number eight.
Each team will find slightly different results when launching its own subscription programs. Overall, though, developers can expect the following benefits:
4 – Give Out Freebies & Exclusives
The small perks users get when subscribing often help sell the service more than anything. Exclusive content is arguably the most important part of this. Unique skins, VIP-only quests, even unique items or maps are all fair game. As long as the exclusives are intriguing or just plain fun, players will be interested in checking them out.
Freebies can include everything from weekly virtual coin bonuses to XP boosters or random treasure drops. They’re essentially the same content non-subscribers have access to, but premium members get a little more of it without doing anything but subscribing.
Giving out free content doesn’t seem to reduce spending on in-game stores, either. Legendary: Game of Heroes developer N3TWORK experimented with a VIP subscription service built around the concepts above. The team had phenomenal results, too, earning over 30,000 subscribers with 20% retention and a 95% daily login rate. They did not experience any cannibalization of IAP offers, which essentially meant that adding subscriptions was a pure revenue booster.
5 – Make Subscription Benefits Highly Visible
One of the most effective ways of promoting the value of a subscription is to let the VIP status speak for itself. When non-subscribers can clearly see who is an active subscriber and what kind of bonuses they have access to, they’re more likely to get curious about joining themselves. How many times have you seen people relaxing in the quiet, uncrowded VIP lounges at airport terminals and wondered if you should sign up yourself?
You can nurture this self-promoting subscription status in several ways. The most universal is to plainly outline the benefits of becoming a subscriber both in the game and on your storefront. Calling subscribers “premium members” or “VIP players” seems to help, as well. Depending on the type of game in question you can also boost visibility through exclusive cosmetic items or badges/icons that appear next to subscriber account names.
Converting players to subscribers is key to establishing a stable long-term revenue stream. It builds loyalty, increases purchase amounts and frequency, and provides users with valuable extras they can enjoy on a daily basis.
Ready to enhance your games with subscription payment processing? Xsolla provides all of the payments, anti-fraud, and back-end services you need to get started.
Benefits of Subscriptions
Businesses across industries are well-aware of the benefits offered by subscription payment processing. The gaming world is just starting to embrace the movement, but it looks promising so far. One high-profile example is when Valve launched Dota Plus. The game was ranked as the ninth highest-grossing PC title at the time. Shortly after Plus subscriptions went live, it jumped up to number eight.
Each team will find slightly different results when launching its own subscription programs. Overall, though, developers can expect the following benefits:
- Boost user engagement – Mobile developer XFLAG noticed subscribers played about 20% more each day than non-subscribers, suggesting a strong increase in user engagement.
- Increase overall revenue – Subscribers tend to make more purchases (cosmetic items, DLC, etc.) than non-subscribers, giving them a high LTV.
- Reduce buyer remorse – Sometimes players regret making large or frequent purchases. Subscriptions defuse these feelings of regret, leading to a happier fan base.
- Increase player retention – Subscribers have the incentive to stick around for the long-term.
4 – Give Out Freebies & Exclusives
The small perks users get when subscribing often help sell the service more than anything. Exclusive content is arguably the most important part of this. Unique skins, VIP-only quests, even unique items or maps are all fair game. As long as the exclusives are intriguing or just plain fun, players will be interested in checking them out.
Freebies can include everything from weekly virtual coin bonuses to XP boosters or random treasure drops. They’re essentially the same content non-subscribers have access to, but premium members get a little more of it without doing anything but subscribing.
Giving out free content doesn’t seem to reduce spending on in-game stores, either. Legendary: Game of Heroes developer N3TWORK experimented with a VIP subscription service built around the concepts above. The team had phenomenal results, too, earning over 30,000 subscribers with 20% retention and a 95% daily login rate. They did not experience any cannibalization of IAP offers, which essentially meant that adding subscriptions was a pure revenue booster.
5 – Make Subscription Benefits Highly Visible
One of the most effective ways of promoting the value of a subscription is to let the VIP status speak for itself. When non-subscribers can clearly see who is an active subscriber and what kind of bonuses they have access to, they’re more likely to get curious about joining themselves. How many times have you seen people relaxing in the quiet, uncrowded VIP lounges at airport terminals and wondered if you should sign up yourself?
You can nurture this self-promoting subscription status in several ways. The most universal is to plainly outline the benefits of becoming a subscriber both in the game and on your storefront. Calling subscribers “premium members” or “VIP players” seems to help, as well. Depending on the type of game in question you can also boost visibility through exclusive cosmetic items or badges/icons that appear next to subscriber account names.
Converting players to subscribers is key to establishing a stable long-term revenue stream. It builds loyalty, increases purchase amounts and frequency, and provides users with valuable extras they can enjoy on a daily basis.
Ready to enhance your games with subscription payment processing? Xsolla provides all of the payments, anti-fraud, and back-end services you need to get started.
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