Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: drag mud money

The operating strategy of "Sprattle 3" is a useful attempt for Nintendo, and there may be more buyout games without micro-trading that can operate for a long time in the future.

On September 9 last year, Spratt 3 went on sale. Compared with the previous two generations of the series, the main way of playing this game has not changed much, and it continues to use the core method of Tudou, but the game content and play mode are much richer than the previous one. In addition, there have been huge changes in the mode of operation. A directory system that is a bit like "Fortnite" and "Battle pass" (Battle Pass) has joined the game, where players accumulate points from the catalog in exchange for rewards; the season model is also introduced, and the catalogue and player ranking levels are updated and changed with the season. The battle pass-like catalogue matches the season model, making Sprattle 3 an online PvP game run by Nintendo officials, and Nintendo's first attempt to run a first-party game in a "more modern" way.

In recent years, many buyout games, including pure online games, have used similar designs to increase income or boost popularity. For large games, passes and long-term operations give officials more room to play and more appropriate means to operate games than the shopkeeper model, which used to provide only online platforms.

The battle pass carried forward by "Fortnite" pulled modern games out of the controversial quagmire of "drawing cards" and "Pay to Win". Most combat passes are purchased periodically, giving players more rewards. Compared with Pay to Win, the battle pass is more balanced in terms of "liver" and "class". At the same time, the payment threshold is lower than that of drawing cards, and the income is higher than that of drawing cards, which is easier for ordinary players to accept.

Thanks to the battle pass, "Fortnite" became the "cash cow" of Epic Games, giving Epic the strength to deliver it in the game store.

The payment mode of battle pass has quickly appeared in a variety of large PvP games, especially in a variety of shooting-related PvP games. Most of the combat passes do not affect the absolute victory or defeat of the PvP shooting game, but also can improve the player's activity, which is very suitable for the PvP shooting game which requires a large number of players. The cyclical design of passes has also prompted game operators to take long-term operations more seriously, and the reward of passes has made the season model more attractive.

Excellent game quality and modern means of operation, so that "Spratt 3" has achieved good sales. After its release, "Spratter3" topped Japan's Fami physical game sales list for 10 consecutive weeks, and it was not until the release of "Bao Ke Meng: Zhu Zi" that it was squeezed into second place. According to Nintendo's financial report, Spratt 3 sold 7.9 million copies worldwide in three months, with cumulative sales reaching 10.13 million by the end of 2022.

There is no extra charge for the pass (or catalog) in Spratt 3, which is the biggest difference from many other long-term operating games designed with passes. At a time when players feel that the game is becoming more and more expensive and the content of the game is unattractive, the catalogue design and operation methods of "Spratter3" are worth analyzing-to see how Nintendo designs passes and plans long-term operations in buyout games.

Different reward system and play tempo in Spratter3, the points for upgrading the directory level are mainly earned by PvP (occupation mode and decadent mode) and PvE (part-time). The catalog connects many modes of the game through rewards, and the "seasonality" of the catalog introduces the concept of season to the game. The catalog is not conspicuous in the game, but it is a very important link.

If you want to view the catalog, you have to enter through the in-game menu, and the rewards in the first-level catalog allow players to decorate themselves, such as clothes, name tags, titles, stickers and various "things" for the newly added locker system in the game. This is a very "dynamic" new module, players have their own locker, can be decorated with stickers, you can put a variety of items into the locker. Good friends, the lockers of players who have played together and popular lockers that have been liked will all appear in the player's hall. You can open the cabinet door to see what's in other people's cabinets and give likes to other people's cabinets. Compared with other shooting games, the locker system greatly expands the range of reward items, providing players with a better way to show their personality than simply changing their skin.

Players who have played "moving Sen" must have a familiar feeling when they see this locker system and all kinds of things in it.

The catalog connects the main games (PvP, PvE), rewards (decorations, items) and personalization (lockers, player styling). Catalog rewards encourage players to engage in the process of "fighting, working-getting rewards-dressing up individualized". But Nintendo does not want players to "liver" the directory, so the directory reward is not particularly strong. There is only one category level bonus per level, and those "expensive rewards" that need to be purchased in more in-game currencies in the store alternate with small items (beverage coupons) readily available to players.

On the other hand, except for the daily reward for the first win and 20% more for special activities (ceremonies), the daily income is not high. The low reward design to some extent prevents players from turning "playing the game" into "working for the game" in order to play the catalog. Compared with a pass full of rewards and temptations, a catalog associated with all the games in the game is more like a long-term novice guide with rewards, allowing players to familiarize themselves with and participate in the game as much as possible.

Catalogue prizes in terms of operational activities, "Spratt 3" has launched four large-scale ceremonies within six months of its launch, and there is also a time-limited "large-scale run" at the beginning of each season. In terms of activity richness and freshness, Spratt 3 achieves the average level of this kind of games.

Compared with many works of the same kind that are free to play, the rhythm of "Spratt 3" is different. There are almost no common daily, weekly and other periodic tasks; time-limited activities such as ceremonies and large-scale runs almost alternate with monthly cycles; and there is no strong correlation in terms of benefits among tasks, activities and seasons.

"Spratt 3" is full of ambience, there are a lot of limited content during the event, but the reward is actually very small, the reward gap between different levels of players is also very small, many free games have endless tasks, and the activity cycle is much more intensive. The purpose of this design is mostly to tempt players to invest time through rewards and punishments, and finally to increase the possibility of players' payment through long-term play. Specific to different games will have different implementation paths, but for all free games, the ultimate goal of similar design must be to get more revenue. In many games where activities are very intensive, missing activities or not playing tasks will have a significant impact on the outcome or core experience of the game. This kind of design can easily become a whip to spur players to "liver" or carrots to induce class money. If there is no "liver" or "class", it is hard to avoid a feeling of displeasure in the throat.

It is believed that many players have been tortured by this endless and meaningless task. "Spratter3" is a $60 buyout game. From another point of view, it can be understood that every player has paid a six-month card or four passes, so Sprudun 3 can design the game system to put the player experience first, rather than the willingness to pay. So we can see that the operation means such as activities and tasks in "Spratter3" have little impact on the revenue in the game, and the degree of correlation is not high. This makes it easier for players to choose the right length and rhythm of the game, rather than being kidnapped by game revenue. Compared with other free games run by long-term operators, Sprudun 3 has the courage to focus more on the player's long-term experience.

Without micro-trading, Spratt 3 has successfully transplanted the more attractive game system of in-purchase games. The model and operating system that used to serve willingness to pay has been transformed by Nintendo into a new model to enhance the player experience. Through "Spratt 3", Nintendo has proved that it is not only good at designing better games, but also can construct a better business model.

A new possibility ranges from the buyout system of stand-alone games to the point cards and season cards of online games, from the internal purchase and drawing of mobile games to the most popular battle pass. Each change in the payment model can raise the income level of the game to a higher level, as well as the way the game is played and its content. With the rising cost of the development of large-scale commercial games, the payment model has a greater and greater impact on the way the game is played, the income pressure of manufacturers becomes greater, and the experience of players decreases, and no one gets a positive effect from higher prices. In my opinion, "Spratt 3" uses the design idea of the pay point to attract players to play the core game, and focuses on the player experience for a long time. It may provide a new balance model for large games in terms of revenue and player experience.

Compared with free games, the biggest advantage of many buyout games is that they have solid gameplay designs that have been tested by the market, time and countless players. When free games urge players to pay in a variety of ways, the long-term operation idea of buyout games can be turned into attracting players to continue to return to the core of the game through a variety of in-game systems and long-term activities.

In Spratt 3, the game of Tudou is the most attractive, and the catalogue (battle pass) and cabinet system (personalized display of players) are all designed to retain players or to ensure that players play regularly. With a reliable way of playing, through the addition of new content, activities and other ways to create a more comfortable long-term play rhythm for players. If nothing big goes wrong, I'm sure many players will have a better long-term experience than in free games.

Various battle modes based on Tudi have been verified in the first two works, and they have been very mature in the past, and many buyout games will continue to add new content within a few years after release, but most of these games do not have a long-term operating system built in. no matter from the cultivation of play habits or the setting of various reward systems in the game, the new content has failed to give full play to the mission of recalling players. For example, in the last two works of Monster Hunter, the task of updating the game ontology is not good enough, and the player's willingness to play over and over again is eroded by the lack of a well-designed task system, so they have to wait for a large expansion of attractive enough quality to return. In response to this situation, players may praise a large expansion of the game "conscience", but such a game is really not a "long-term operation".

Of course, long-term operation still has certain requirements for game playing, and different playing methods have different attractions to players' long-term willingness to play. In terms of game design, how to make the surrounding play method that "brings quantity" to the core play is a test of the manufacturer's ability. The follow-up updates should also take into account the development cost and marketing ability, which will have higher requirements for manufacturers in the development process, finance and market. As far as the game is concerned, these requirements are certainly not achieved overnight, but at least "Spratt 3" is off to a good start and provides an example for reference.

Now the competitor of buyout games is no longer free games, but a variety of entertainment, including free games, short videos and social media are seizing a person's limited entertainment time-what people lack is not entertainment, but entertainment time. In the revenue model, buyout games do lose to free games, but if managed properly, buyout games are likely to gain an advantage in the future competition for users' time with interesting ways of playing. After several years of hot sales, the last generation and this generation of consoles have provided hundreds of millions of player base, coupled with a large number of PC gamers with the habit of paying for them cultivated by platforms such as Epic and Steam, and there are not necessarily fewer potential users to buy out games than free gamers. In addition, the main problem facing mainframe games is that the production cost is rising and the price has to be raised, which leads to higher user expectations and more likely to produce disparities. The long-term operation of buyout games may be able to alleviate such difficulties in some games.

Many of the specific designs for buyout games in "Spratter3" are not new, and you can see the shadow of a lot of games, but developers obviously have a set of general ideas to integrate it, hoping it will play a role. This is worth observing. It will take longer to test whether "Spratt 3", which has been released for more than half a year, will work, but I am very optimistic about this buyout game built around a long-term operating philosophy. Games like "made by Malio", "Nintendo Battle" or "Mario Racing" seem to be suitable for this mode and make the life cycle of the game longer. " Players of the "Monster Hunter" or "FIFA" series already have similar things in their games, but players should not be satisfied with these things, and they also expect to see a more reasonable operating model and a more restrained version.

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