Recently, "Marvel Snap", a strategy card game published by Zhaoxiguangnian , has performed well in rankings in many regions around the world. In the first week of its launch, its revenue exceeded 10 million US dollars. In less than 3 months since its launch, it defeated three other powerful nominated games such as " Fantasy Tower ", "Apex" and " Diablo " on December 9, and also won the TGA Award for "Best Mobile Game of the Year".
What makes Marvel Snap so popular? How does it perform in terms of buying volume?
Prior to this, Riot Game (Riot Game) also had a "world concept" strategy IP card game "Legends of Runeterra" (referred to as LoR in the article). Next, we will find out from the perspective of a strategy card game, starting from the US market, and comparing it.
一. Market performance in the first week of launch
(1) First week ranking & first week downloads, revenue
Based on the above data, it can be seen that the amount paid per download by players of "Marvel Snap" (RPD = revenue/download) is higher than that of "LoR". But overall, both games are "low krypton". What is the reason why the revenue of "Marvel Snap" is about three times that of "LoR" even though it has low krypton prices?
The core reason is: the diversity of "ways to become stronger/collection methods"
"Marvel Snap" : "Tire yourself to death" by playing hard or buying enhancement packs to upgrade cards and unlock them.
Players cannot purchase card drawing packs by recharging. The way to obtain new cards is "collection level". Only by continuously upgrading your existing cards and increasing the collection level can you unlock new cards (and obtain new cards randomly). There will be no changes in functional values after the upgrade, only some differences in art effects, such as 3D effects, etc. The Krypton Gold method currently includes a pass mechanism and enhancement packs to enhance cards.
Want to win? Want new cards? Either keep playing and playing, or upgrade your cards by recharging card enhancement packs to unlock new cards. Moreover, the new card (No. 1) you get after upgrading the old card is still at the initial level. When you want a new card (No. 2), should you choose "Liver" or "Krypton" for the new card (No. 1) you just obtained? (No. 1 and No. 2 are only convenient for distinguishing and understanding, and have no further meaning)
"LoR" : Diversified ways to obtain cards
Flexible and diverse card acquisition mechanism to ensure that players can flexibly try different strategies to show their wisdom. Players can earn experience by completing game tasks. After accumulating experience to a certain stage, they will automatically obtain cards. Players can also unlock treasure chests of different levels from the weekly "Treasure House" and obtain free cards and other game content. In addition, players can also directly unlock single cards through the "universal wild cards" obtained through hard-earned fragments, games, and purchases, and create the player's favorite deck as they wish.
(2) Observation
With the "IP world system" as the overall overall view of the game, and the starting time of "IP" is close, why is the mobile game market data of "Marvel Snap" more prominent in all aspects?
The reason is: differences in game positioning
"Marvel Snap": 3-minute quick game (more casual)
In view of the concentration of mobile game players on the game, "Marvel Snap" The core gameplay of "Snap" is fast, fixed mechanism, and easy to get started, allowing novices who have never played card games to get started quickly. This also inherits the time frame of about 10 minutes for a game of "Hearthstone". Players will fully understand the victory conditions and gameplay mechanics of the game after playing a trial game, breaking the "stereotype" that strategy card games require complex mathematical calculation processes.Although simple, the game’s “Snap mechanism” (doubling the bet as a reward/punishment), the additional effects of specific card combinations, and the randomness of the battle area ensure the game is interesting.
"LoR": 20-50 minutes of highly random decision-making games (moderate to severe)
focuses on player interaction, and the real-time dynamic turn mechanism brings a high sense of immersion. Players need to constantly interact with their opponents in real-time games, interpret their opponents' strategic intentions, and make immediate response decisions. Every action is crucial to the outcome of the game. This results in extended gaming time.
In addition, what are the differences between the two games? Next, let’s look at buying volume.
2. buying volume performance
(1) Amount of investment:
Overall, compared to "LoR", "Marvel Snap" chose to increase its volume significantly, hoping to occupy the strategic card buying volume market share .
The total launch volume in the first week: "Marvel Snap" is about 6 times that of "LoR".
Average delivery volume on the first week: "Marvel Snap" surged on Day3-Day4, and fell back to Day3 volume on Day5-Day7. The overall amplitude of "LoR" has changed significantly, reaching a peak on Day5-Day6.
"LoR" will stop buying in early 2022.
(2) The distribution of eye-catching points in the first 3 seconds of the Top 20 high-efficiency materials
The two "world concept" products have a very single eye-catching part. Their long-term interests are the well-known Marvel universe characters and LOL universe characters. About 15-25% of the attention is focused on major events, such as "crisis is coming."
"Marvel Snap" efficient material
"LoR" efficient material
(3) Top 20 efficient material conversion point distribution
Overall, both games use multiple conversion points. It mainly arouses players' curiosity by showing the card battle screen.
The difference between the conversion points used in the two games is that "LoR" uses 33% of emotional appeal to highlight some of the critical effects that characters bring to the game to awaken players' "LOL world memory". However, "Marvel Snap" not only displays battle scenes, but also appropriately displays some elements such as tutorials and producer recommendations to hint at the quality of the game to players.
"Marvel Snap" efficient material
"LoR" efficient material
(4) Creative form
In terms of creative form, both games follow a minimalist style and strong brand orientation.
"Marvel Snap" uses a small amount of real-life footage. There is currently no live-action plot material, and only game team members are used to appear. The content is also in the form of interviews, emphasizing the care and quality of game production, and expressing "love" to Marvel fans.
There are even fewer types of materials in "LoR", which basically only emphasizes the gameplay of the game itself and the three-dimensional drawing skills of character cards.
(5) Distribution Channels
The release style of "LoR" is conservative, with 97% of the purchase budget placed on Google and Meta.
"Marvel Snap" increased small media placement by about 14%, and Meta still accounted for about 64% of the placement share. The diversification of distribution channels allows "Marvel Snap" to occupy a certain market share of the card market and increase the market penetration of and .
三. Summary
"LoR" is like a "hardcore" game operated for senior users, with a relatively narrow audience; while the success of "Marvel Snap" benefits from its clear positioning, low threshold and high immersion.
(1) Optimization of game time
Second Dinner Studio has the blood of Ben Brode, the father of Hearthstone, and naturally knows the mechanics of strategy card games well.The game positioning of "Marvel Snap" as a three-minute quick game allows people with no extra time to experience the fun of strategic card games in fragmented time, without time pressure and burden. It is in line with today's fast-paced lifestyle, greatly lowers the understanding threshold for new users, and provides players with easy-to-use and deep enough card gameplay. Among them, the "six rounds and three minutes per round" mode is more in line with the fast-paced gaming needs of most users, and many players call it addictive.
(2) IP blessing
In addition to the mechanical advantages, the world view of the Marvel universe is also an important factor that cannot be ignored. The Marvel Universe began with comics in 1939, and later developed into movies, music, etc. Marvel fans have a huge number of fans in various regions around the world. Thanks to the design team's high-level restoration of the character card image, and the fact that fans have a natural affinity for the characters in the Marvel universe, the IP feelings are ready to come out. Moreover, the way different heroes are teamed up in the battle mode will allow players to feel the team strength emphasized in the Marvel universe and full of IP feelings.
from metacritc player comment: I love the artwork and the way each hero card relates to the power of the hero it depicts. I also like the synergy concept of the cards, which gives you the feeling of heroes teaming up to win a position, which is a core element of Marvel's combat concept.
(3) The continuous expansion of the hero pool brings freshness and extends the life of the game.
The diversity of Marvel heroes and the highly restored character skills make the entire game full of excitement brought by strategic combinations. Currently, there are more than 150 character cards in the game, and the Marvel IP has more than 8,000 comic characters. There is no need to worry about the expansion of the hero pool. It can be original or make some skill innovations on the characters, allowing players to have enough expectations to play their favorite characters, thereby creating their favorite team and meeting the collection needs of collecting cards.
(4) "Buddhist" payment mechanism, high favorability among players.
The game has no advertising access, giving players a high sense of experience and good immersion. The card payment mechanism is also very Buddhist, and you can play it without spending money. The game is less commercialized, the monetization mechanism is not obvious, and it is more friendly to novice players. Spending money can only slightly speed up the card collection process, but cannot increase the strength of the cards. Product revenue relies more on long-term player retention. The game quickly developed a high reputation. The reason for many players to spend money is just for the fun of collecting, and there is no obsession with using money to become stronger.
△Google play Player comments△
Four. Thoughts
"Marvel Snap" is extremely player-friendly, and many players have even become die-hard fans. This is also the goal that manufacturers want to achieve by "taking a long-term view to catch the big fish". However, the current restrained monetization method, coupled with the difficulty in obtaining cards, will affect the player's gaming experience, and the revenue of "Marvel Snap" slowed down in December. Whether
can continue to gain the "favor" of die-hard players and become a truly evergreen game in the future will also take time to test.
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