Paradise Bay, holiday spendings
Studio: King
Type: Simulation
Competition: FarmVille (Zynga), Hay Day (Supercell)
Downloads: 10 000 000 on the Play Store
Price: free
Paradise Bay is a simulation game that was developed by Z2 then published after its acquisition by King in early August 2015. In this game, the player is a trademaster in charge of the management of a tropical island populated by little more than a few palm trees and has to trade with the islanders to get the resources needed to develop the activity of his village and explore the island.
If you wish to see my complete review of the game, not only the monetization aspect of it, here it is.
The game economy
The game features two different currencies:
The gold coins are the soft currency in Paradise Bay and can be earned by trading, selling items or bought with gems via the first in-app store. Gold is fairly easy to acquire during the game, however, clearing areas or building extra mills can prove to be very expensive from a certain level. This store is for people who need more gold in order to expand quicker and are ready to exchange their gems for it rather than use them to rush construction. However, it is of little use for the players who didn’t spend money on buying gems first.
Gold Store at level 1
Gold Store at level 15
Gold Store at level 35
At a chosen level, the amount of gold per gem is roughly the same whichever pack you decide to get: from 9,14 gold coins a gem for the smallest pack to 9,39 gold coins for the biggest at level 15 for example. But every few level the value of gold per gem increases to make it more interesting for the player to purchase one of the item and solve their need in gold. So at level 1, a gem is worth 5 golds in average, at level 15 a gem is worth 9 golds and at level 35, a gem will get you 16 golds.
The gems are the hard currency in Paradise bay and can be found in chests, by completing achievements or bought using real money via the second in-app store. They are a lot harder to obtain without paying. Gems are harder to come by in the game but they can be used for almost everything, from rushing a construction, to buying gold, to clearing an area.
Cost in gems per minute if the player wants to rush one of the features of the game.
This currency is for the players that prefer to pay to avoid spending too much waiting time in the game.
Unlike gold coins, buying a more expensive gem pack will give your up to 44% more gems per euro spent but the amount of gem per euro spend doesn't increase with the level of the player which means that a paying player will have to spend more and more money on gems as she/he levels up.
In addition to gems, players are also periodicly offered some limited time bundles like this starter pack that is only available for 3 days at low level and costs 2, 99€ for 210 gems and a king crab pet.
It is a good deal and a way to incite players to spend money early in the game and increase conversion .
Why do players pay?
The main reason why people would spend money in the game is because after some time, the resources take longer to be produced, building and clearing land becomes more expensive and it takes a lot more time and effort to trade and level up. Buying gems allows the player to have an easier access to the most fun part of the game which is discovering all the different parts of the island, which you can have a preview off to keep you hungry for more.
Who wouldn’t want to see what there is to sell in this bazaar
or what is hidden in that cave?
Discovering and building is not the only reason why a player would want to spend her/his money, stocking space quickly becomes an issue and you find yourself to have to juggle in-between the fields and the shops to be able to collect all your resources, nothing that can’t be solved with a few hundred gems.
I think a smaller part of the player population also spend money to make sure that they have the most beautiful island for them to enjoy and for their friends to visit. Almost a fourth of the building menu is filled with decorations that won’t help you in term of leveling up or advancing in the game, but they look nice and allow you to customize your island as desired. Unfortunately, King didn’t spend enough time on the social mechanics to make this feature useful, indeed there is no way of communicating or even exchanging resources directly with them.
What to Improve?
As mentionned before, Paradise Bay does not offer any interesting social economy to the player and as a consequence there is no social monetization of the game. A good thing to implement would be the possibility to buy gift to other players for special events like christmas or valentine's day, who wouldn't enjoy receiving a nice love message as they open their favorite game or an invitation to go to another player's village and find a present waiting under the christmas tree.
Conclusions
Pros: a balanced monetization system that evolves with the level of the player while inciting her/him to spend more money as the need for gems increases, early and very attractive bundles.
Cons: lack of a social economy/the possibility to spend money on friends
Retention:
Conversion:
Ads vs game:
In-App Store Content:
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