How to Optimize an In-Game Store

What the talk is about

Vasily Sabirov of devtodev argues that, without changing the game itself, tuning the in-game store alone can add a few percent to revenue. Using examples from well-known mobile games, he covers how to present the store visually and where to place its entry point, how many price points to offer (usually 5–7), and why too much choice hurts conversion. He shows how the cheapest pack drives a first purchase while the top one should please whales, how to lower the virtual currency rate across packs, and how to derive prices from budget and target ARPPU. He also covers categories, LiveOps promotions, ads, regional differences, and results of his own experiment with cognitive biases such as the decoy effect and anchoring. Useful for game designers, producers and analysts working on free-to-play games.