The success of Fortnite and PUBG MOBILE not only makes tactical competition a new darling of the shooting mobile game track, but more importantly, for the entire game industry, it brings another monetization model in addition to free and paid, that is, the Battle Pass function that more and more successful mobile games are using.
For this model, GameLook has done many tracking, the traditional Battle Pass is more suitable for high-DAU explosions, however, more and more products have begun to try to innovate battle Pass outside the traditional model. As a feature that can not only improve monetization efficiency, but also improve user engagement, but also increase user retention, how to maximize the use of Battle Pass?
In a recent blog, overseas analytics firm GameRefinery took a deep dive into Battle Pass's uniqueness and ways of innovating specific case-specific customizations, making it a more popular feature for mobile gamers.
Here's what GameLook compiled into GameRefinery:
Since it became a popular monetization trend in 2019, Battle Pass has become more and more popular in the field of mobile games, because more categories outside of FPS have begun to use this model to monetize decorative props. When people think of Battle Pass today, the first reaction is no longer to immediately tie it to PUBG MOBILE or Fortnite. Battle Pass has been adopted in almost every category, from casual games like Project Makeover and Cartoon Farm, to moderate strategy and RPG games like Awakening and Protos, to a large number of best-selling head sports driving and board games.
When it comes to mobile best-seller lists, Battle Pass quickly became one of the most differentiated features and can almost be seen as one of the core elements of a successful free mobile game.
The popularity and key advantages of Battle Pass
As you can see in the chart above, 64% of the products in the TOP 100 of the U.S. mobile game bestseller list use the Battle Pass feature, which is popular mainly because it can give the game a lot of advantages, not only to drive monetization growth, but also to bring about increased retention and engagement, including:
Higher paid conversion rates, especially for players who pay slower, because they can get high-value rewards at a relatively low price through this paid reward trajectory.
Higher player retention rates, with limited-time and exclusive rewards, plus battle passes that show players subsequent rewards in advance, make it easy to motivate players to keep playing.
Higher player engagement, which adds a system that brings progress to the game every time the game is played.
With greater adaptability, Battle Pass can be used in almost any category, regardless of how the game monetizes, such as item economy (shooting, moba, etc.), energy progression (RPG, strategy), and consumable value-added items (casual puzzle solving).
More and more games are starting to innovate outside of the common form of Battle Pass, mainly by iterating on multiple features or making innovative adjustments to it. When developers adjust right, it can not only make the game stand out, but also bring a significant increase in the number of daily active users and revenue levels to the game.
In order to find those developers who are trying to innovate outside of the basic Battle Pass and how to innovate, we may wish to analyze some excellent examples of head games.
The head game is an innovative implant of Battle Pass
While Most Battle Passes are still designed around decorative item rewards, value-added items, and in-game coins, this feature has since begun to incorporate more elements, and in some cases even unlock new features in the game.
From subscription-based Battle Passes and ad monetization Battle Passes to Battle Passes that integrate with other in-game features, you'll find plenty of examples that can inspire you to use Battle Pass features in your own games.
1. Subscription-based Battle Pass: CODM
Since its release in 2019, Battle Pass has become one of CODM's most important monetization features. In terms of monetization mechanisms, CODM takes a more basic approach, with free and paid rewards, the latter of which requires the purchase of more advanced passes through paid currency to unlock. Rewards in the game include cosmetic items (such as gun skins) and operator characters, expendable xp bonuses, and paid currency.
While the game's Battle Pass system is very standardized, the CODM version adds a unique element to a single free and paid reward, and recently added the option to purchase a paid Battle Pass with Ground Forces, a subscription plan that automatically updates monthly.
In addition to giving players paid rewards for Battle Pass, their Ground subscriptions also offer a number of other benefits, including a unique operator character, weapons and backpack skins that update every subscription month, a permanent 10% weapon and player XP bonus, and a 50% discount coupon when purchasing crate items. If players cancel the set, they will lose the xp bonus and discount coupon after the end of the existing Battle Pass season, but the character, weapon, and backpack skins they have already earned will be permanent.
Recently, such a subscription system Battle Pass has begun to become more and more common, but the way to automatically update subscriptions is definitely more peculiar, because only Zooba and CODM are used by two head mobile games, and the automatically updated subscription is one of the ways to incentivize players to buy Battle Pass paid rewards more frequently, especially if it can offset the sharp decline in revenue after the peak in revenue.
2. Multiple unique Battle Passes: Endless Showdown
In addition to becoming the highest-paid MOBA mobile game in the United States, "Endless Showdown" has become far more than a MOBA mobile game. It adds a large selection of game activity modes, including Battle Royale, Arena Tactical Battle Mode, and even Magic Chess, which quickly became one of the most popular modes in the game, and has a unique season and character collection and decorative items.
As with games that usually focus on the monetization of decorative items, one of the main monetization and progression mechanisms of Endless Showdown is Battle Pass, but this game has two main game modes: MOBA and Self-Propelled Chess, so two Battle Passes have also been added, namely Starlight Pass in MOBA mode and Magic Chess Pass in Self-Propelled Chess mode.
Both the Starlight and Magic Chess Passes reward players with exclusive cosmetic items, special materials, regular in-game coins, and Starlight coins that can be purchased in the Starlight Store. Both Passes have their own subscription rewards, with Starlight Pass including weekly free heroes/skins, exclusive character boxes, weekly rewards, and battle rewards such as increased player experience, and additional rank protection points that can offset the star-dropping penalty after failure. Magic Chess Pass's rewards include a hero pool privilege and 5 additional storage slots, both of which can be used in bootstrap PvP matches.
The coexistence of two Battle Pass modes is perfect for the game, especially if the difference between the two modes is particularly large, which also means that no matter which mode players prefer, they can buy their favorite Battle Pass.
3. Design a special Battle Pass for different player types: Dragon Ball Legends
Dragon Ball Legends is an American head fighting RPG that provides players with a rich gameplay element, and covers single-player story modes, cooperative PvE activities, to qualifying competitive PvP.
Having a wide range of gameplay elements means that the game targets a large number of different player types, as some people may only like single-player battles and Dragon Ball stories, while others may only be interested in PvP mode to beat others, and diversified and different gameplay types are also taken into account in the game Battle Pass (Mission Plans).
Compared to most Battle Passes, Mission Plans has a unique implantation approach, in which players can choose the one that best suits their gameplay, single-player players can choose Takin' It Easy Solo Plan, users who like cooperative gameplay and activities can choose Jam-Packed Event Plan, and those who only like PVP mode can choose Battle Lover's Plan. Different plans focus on different game modes, and the difficulty of the mission drives the progress of the Mission Plan rewards and the number of rewards that can be earned. The duration and pricing of the different plans are the same, and once the event is over, players can choose from all three plans again.
4. Battle Pass for Social Cooperation: Top War
The SLG mobile game Pocket Wars is a very guild-focused game where guild members can develop guilds, help each other, participate in cooperative activities, and fight to control the world map. This means that if players want to maximize their profits from the game, they need to join an active guild, which is called an alliance in Pocket Wars. One of the many innovative features, such as the game's merged gameplay, also includes an alliance-related event, "Alliance Transportation Team", which is also a feature of the game version's Battle Pass.
Alliance Transportation Team is a Battle Pass shared by all guild members, meaning that progress in rewards is shared, each guild member can increase their Pass progress by completing their own tasks, and if a member wants to receive a paid reward, they must purchase a Battle Pass separately.
This cooperative mission approach can work well in games that value guild functionality, and players have become accustomed to working together toward a common goal. Moreover, seeing and hearing the progress of the guild and the paid rewards can make users who usually don't want to buy Battle Pass because they don't like to do too many tasks become paid players.
5. Battle Pass with Piggy Bank System: Mech Arena
As one of the highest-grossing tactical shooters, Mech Arena has been regularly adding a series of new features since its release in August 2021, including Battle Pass and a piggy bank system. It's worth noting that the game combines two features into one, with the piggy bank system as an additional reward to incentivize players to buy Battle Pass.
The Battle Pass in Mech Arena is based on a more common method, in which players can earn progress points by completing certain tasks, and they can purchase Gold Pass to get paid rewards. But in this case, buying Gold Pass also allows players to open a piggy bank called "Seasonal Credit Stash" at the end of the Battle Pass season.
Players can recharge the Seasonal Credit Stash by completing matches during the season, and the rewards it contains will increase as the season progresses.
Another unique element is that the Battle Pass adds a player xp bonus, which is one of the ways to encourage players to buy Gold Pass. Paying players can earn experience bonuses for a season, which motivates players to purchase Gold Pass at the beginning of the season in order to unlock and maximize rewards.
6. Advertising Monetization Battle Pass: "Solitaire Home Design"
Solitaire Home Design is a casual card game that brings in renovation gameplay and interactive storytelling, and is one of the latest games in the U.S. best-seller list top 200. In terms of monetization, the game has the in-app purchase mode of traditional casual puzzle games, and also adds a relatively heavy advertising monetization model. The game also takes full advantage of multiple monetization modes, one of which is the Diamond Seeking campaign, which is the game's version of Battle Pass.
Diamond Seeking is an ad monetization Battle Pass program in which players collect diamonds through the first card level to earn event reward progress. It's not hard to imagine that there are free and paid rewards for the game here, but unlocking each paid reward requires players to watch reward ads, or they can also choose to pay to unlock the reward directly. It's worth noting that this 3-day event is short compared to other Battle Passes that last 4 weeks or even months, and of course, it's important to note that the relatively simple short-term rewards, including regular in-game coins and consumable items.
7. Use Battle Pass in other activities: Cooking Diary
The free + paid reward Battle Pass mechanism has also been applied to other interactions outside of the game's own Battle Pass system, one example of which is the time management game Cooking Diary. In addition to the Battle Pass season, the game also employs a dual mechanism of free and paid rewards for the recurring Food Truck campaign.
The Food Truck event itself is a relatively common casual game event, where players complete special event levels to promote the progress of the event and receive progress rewards. What makes it unique is that in addition to the free rewards similar to Battle Pass, the game also adds paid rewards, including exclusive theme player avatar decoration item accessories, which players must purchase paid keys to unlock.
Players can complete 4 different Food Truck events during the event, each lasting a specific time in the week, and each event requires the purchase of paid keys, and the purchase of 4 different keys can bring additional rewards, that is, chests filled with value-added items and in-game currency.
How to do Battle Pass the right way
Battle Pass is one of the features to consider for all mobile game developers, regardless of which category your game belongs to. However, like all game features, success depends on how they are executed in your game.
For Battle Pass, you have to find a balance between pricing, rewards, and duration, and if One Reward given by Pass is too high, it can squeeze the revenue of other monetization elements in the game. However, if Battle Pass is executed correctly into the game, there are plenty of advantages in terms of monetization and player engagement.
One way to make sure that this feature is particularly appropriate for your game is to innovate on top of the underlying approach and take advantage of a few of the special Battle Pass mechanics we mentioned above. In general, our experience is as follows:
Want to encourage players to keep buying Battle Pass frequently? Consider the paid benefits of subscriptions or even unlock paid rewards with an auto-renewing subscription
Do you have multiple different modes in the game or have multiple different player types? Consider adding multiple Battle Passes or giving players different Pass difficulties to choose from.
Does your game already have a full guild mechanic and a co-op-focused gameplay? If so, consider adding social mechanics to your Battle Pass, such as common progression in rewards.
Other incentives for players to purchase Battle Pass are also commonly used, but the piggy bank mechanism can add more bonuses, converting non-paying players into paying users with attractive rewards.
Do games rely on ads to monetize or want to increase ad monetization? Consider Battle Pass with ad monetization.
The free and paid reward progression in Battle Pass has proven to be effective, so consider taking advantage of other events in your game.
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