The Battle Pass is an effective retention system. Excitement and a sense of joy from victory reinforces the desire of the user to return to the game again and again. The mechanics of the Battle Pass is universal and allows you to change it to suit the needs of the program. The Battle Pass seamlessly supports the monetization, acquisition, and average session length metrics.
Battle Pass Benefits
In a nutshell, the Battle Pass is a limited-time feature with a low participation cost for the paying player. For the player, this is an opportunity to diversify the gameplay and get additional prizes. The simplicity of the mechanics is the basis for the success of the Battle Pass.
Examples of Battle Pass rewards:
- items
- skins
- in-game currency (for example, coins)
- experience boost
- chests
- new characters
- new levels, etc.
Participation in the Battle Pass gives the player a sense of rapid growth and easy rewards. Additionally, moral encouragement is connected, thanks to the visualization of the progress bar. The user wants to go through the entire Battle Pass in order to get the main prize and experience the pleasure of a successful completed work.
Battle Pass Balance
For the Battle Pass to work, the prizes must be valuable, and the difficulty of the passage should grow evenly from the simplest tasks to the most difficult ones. However, it is important to strike a balance so that the rewards received do not give the player too much of an advantage in the game.
As a monetization tool, the Battle Pass delivers high conversion rates. But its ARPPU potential is limited. Most income comes from pre-purchase.
Upselling strategies are influenced by:
- ensuring regular purchases
- increase in the number of passes sold
- alternative higher previous prices
If the game has low spending depth or low progression pressure, Battle Passes override other purchases. This is due to the fact that the player gets enough game resources for a relatively low price and loses the motivation to spend money on other offers. To avoid losses, you should track the total income and inventory of players, as well as the ARPPU of profiles with high costs.
The influence of the setting on the mechanics of the Battle Pass
If you compare the Battle Pass in different mobile games, the principle of operation will be the same. How then to use what has no expressive originality? The answer is a close relationship with the setting of the game. If each element of the Battle Pass is adapted to the theme of the game, the feeling of secondary does not arise.
A striking example of Makeover Merge, in which the Battle Pass is built around the beauty theme. The main view is that the user is playing as the nominees who get a makeover through their participation in the show. By participating in the event, the player receives additional resources and premium clothing. It is the inability to obtain certain items outside of the Battle Pass that makes this challenge unique.
Premium items are a powerful incentive for a player to switch to a purchase. In Makeover Merge, you need to make a one-time payment to get these things. In addition to things, the Golden Bough gives more resources and intermediate grapes. Since both branches are adjacent, the user can compare the benefits of this acquisition. This is a powerful tool to encourage the non-paying player to start spending money, and to give the player the opportunity to increase the size of the check.
It is the acquisition of unique items remaining in the game that the song at the end of the Battle Pass is the last incentive for the player. By dressing the nominee in things that cannot be found in the game, the player achieves aesthetic pleasure. This is an addition to customization that allows the user to express their creativity. Which, in turn, is a powerful incentive to keep active and make efforts to win the next Battle Pass.
The Battle Pass mechanic adds even more incentive to play. It encourages non-payers to move on to spending through its attractive buying nature. The simplicity of how the Battle Pass works makes it possible to implement it in any setting. The presence of a feature in the game increases retention, monetization and acquisition rates while maintaining a balance.
author Vaclav Yeager
