Case Study | Bouncy Ball
RAON GAMES TRUSTS ADMOB TO TAKE CARE OF ITS APP MONETIZATION, ENABLING IT TO FOCUS ON MAKING GREAT GAMES. Raon Games is a one-man company founded in 2012 by Park Yong-ok in South Korea, with the aim of making great games that everyone can enjoy. He released Bouncy Ball, a skills-based game where the player guides a ball through a series of obstacles in a level. Park had faith in an advertising revenue model, so he released Bouncy Ball for free and began monetizing with AdMob, which enables him to put all of his energy into building a good game with great user experience.
AT A GLANCE
Park’s plan turned out as he had hoped; Bouncy Ball gained a strong user base and became the number two app in the top free chart on the Google Play Store. A strong revenue stream followed, as well. We asked Park to share details of Bouncy Ball’s story.
Goals • To create a globally popular mobile game • Build a successful app business Approach • Reacted to user suggestions by adding improvements to the game • Used banner ads and CPC interstitals to monetize their game Results • Bouncy Ball exceeded 10 million downloads • CPC interstitals led to a 30% increase in revenue
Raon Games’ first successful game Bouncy Ball is a simple puzzle game, where all users have to do is eat stars with a bouncy ball.
Key Ingredients to Success User Reviews Played a Key Role in Improving Bouncy Ball Believing that “Users are always right”, Park read all of the reviews he received for Bouncy Ball. Although Park often received lackluster or even angry reviews by users, he did not get discouraged and instead concentrated on updating the game based on the feedback. Reflecting all of the users’ suggestions and complaints, Park made major changes to the app. A few weeks after this makeover, Park was surprised to find out that Bouncy Ball rose up the charts. One user even left feedback saying, “I have a feeling that this company reads all of the user reviews.” Consistent Updates Kept Users from Leaving Bouncy Ball Even after Bouncy Ball exceeded 10 million downloads, Park made sure he updated the app constantly. “I know that when there is no more new content, users will go elsewhere,” Park says. Park uploaded 20 new maps every two weeks, and the app now has over 900 maps.
Case Study | Bouncy Ball
‘Map Store’ Helps Both Users and Bouncy Ball Bouncy Ball has a unique feature called Map Store, which allows users to create their own maps and share them with other users around the world. This feature not only increases users’ engagement with Bouncy Ball but also reduces Park’s pressure to constantly provide new contents to the game. Currently, Map Store has over five million maps created by users, which Raon Games could never have been able to make alone. Raon Games optimizes ad revenue with AdMob CPC Interstitial Ads Raon Games was hesitant to implement interstitial ads at first, worrying that it might harm the user experience. However, after consultation with AdMob, Park changed his mind to implement CPC interstitial in a smart way. Park showed interstitial ads only when users completed ten stages of the game. Even with limited use of CPC interstitials, Bouncy Ball’s revenue grew 30%.
Looking Ahead Raon Games’s major goal now is to go global. With AdMob’s reporting by region, Park saw Bouncy Ball’s user base growing from all over the world. This has encouraged Park to prepare for Raon Games’ global expansion. Park assures that he will not stop updating Bouncy Ball; in fact, he plans to make another major change to the app. He also plans to continue making game apps that will contain the distinctive touch of Raon Games.
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