flaregames Uses Swrve to Boost Mobile Game Revenues and Retain Players

Publisher of Royal Revolt! and BraveSmart retains players, evolves gameplay and maximizes revenue in free-to-play games using Swrve’s in-app marketing platform

flaregames, a leading developer and publisher of mobile games, uses Swrve’s in-app marketing platform to power the success of six hit titles, which combined have been downloaded more than 12 million times. By partnering with Swrve from day one, the German game developer has been able to continually improve and monetize its free-to-play games.

Klaas Kersting, founder and former CEO of Gameforge, started flaregames in 2011 with the aim of building and monetizing mobile games as service rather than a one-time purchase. Within the context of a freemium model, flaregames would offer in-app purchases that enhance gameplay. To do this effectively, flaregames would have to carefully track player behavior, define user segments and target them with the right offers. This need led Kersting to Swrve, which became a foundation of all flaregames titles.

From initial development and fine-tuning to player retention and monetization, Swrve offered flaregames distinct advantages. Flaregames immediately used Swrve to identify and fix gameplay problems. Their team could monitor user behaviors, locate when and where players dropped out of gameplay, and then make changes based on observed patterns. This helped flaregames produce a line of titles with smooth and irresistible player experiences.

“The boost to player retention cannot be overestimated,” said Gunnar Lott, communications director of flaregames. “From day one, Swrve showed us where we could do better. It’s a critical tool that allows our developers to pour creativity into work that actually improves gameplay and keeps players in the games.”

Swrve’s tracking capabilities allowed flaregames to segment users into behavioral groups. The team understood what users spent per day, how long game sessions lasted and how long people remained regular players. flaregames could predict lifetime customer value and therefore ensure that the company earned a strong return on investment from external marketing.

Swrve also enabled flaregames to conduct and test in-game marketing on an unprecedented scale. The team could pick one of their user segments, test various in-app offers and decide which deals to roll out to which user groups. By personalizing all in-game marketing and messaging, Swrve helped flaregames create significant in-app revenue. In other words, Swrve was one of the keys to monetizing free-to-play games as a service, just as Klaas intended.

“Partnering with Swrve has been critical to our growth and evolution as a game publisher,” said Klaas Kersting, CEO of flaregames. “Our number one focus is always on the quality of the player experience, and Swrve’s ability to actively optimize that experience is absolutely key. The ability to talk directly to our players and help them along the path to conversion only adds to the appeal of the Swrve approach. It’s a new ‘active management’ approach that represents a quantum leap in the way we think about game development.”

After more than 12 million downloads, flaregames intends to continue its track record of success with Royal Revolt II, a hotly anticipated game that will also take advantage of Swrve’s comprehensive tracking, targeting, testing and messaging abilities.

“flaregames exemplifies what a modern, dynamic games studio should be,” said Hugh Reynolds, CEO of Swrve. “It’s great to be involved with this team who are continually delivering awesome, innovative titles and leading the charge when it comes to rethinking the way the games industry operates.”

Read more: http://www.swrve.com