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David Vogelpohl is the CMO at FastSpring, a platform that enables direct to consumer (D2C) monetisation for video games and other digital products.
Vogelpohl leverages over two decades of experience with advanced digital marketing, influencer marketing, and monetisation to help FastSpring’s gaming customers monetise and market their games direct-to-consumer.
As a 25+ year digital veteran and thought leader, Vogelpohl is an actionable-insights-style speaker who focuses on real-world tactics you can use to drive growth with your D2C strategy.
Vogelpohl is one of more than 180 expert speakers set to to appear at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd. We asked him to tell us more about his upcoming talk, entitled ‘How to Actually Succeed With D2C Web Shops for Mobile Games’, as well as get his opinions on the latest industry trends.
PocketGamer.biz: Could you tell us a bit about your talk?
David Vogelpohl: I’ll be speaking about how mobile games can be successful with D2C today. With the Digital Markets Act in the EU, court cases in the US, and legislation in countries like Japan, many studios and publishers are looking to pursue a direct to consumer monetisation strategy for their mobile games.
“As mobile publishers start to explore D2C, they underestimate the complexity involved.”
David Vogelpohl
My session will cover what it actually takes to be successful with D2C when app store rules still limit your ability to market your web shop inside your game without paying egregious fees to Apple and Google.
What’s the most common mistake you see being made in the games sector?
As mobile publishers start to explore D2C, they underestimate the complexity involved and often think to be successful, they simply need to build a web shop.
That’s actually the easy part. Driving players to your web shop is the hard part of D2C and the part that most publishers aren’t prepared for as they explore D2C. If you build it, they won’t just come.
If you could give other mobile games companies one piece of advice, what would it be?
The best mobile games are designed for the context of mobile. Be cautious of porting pc/console games to mobile (e.g. Call of Duty) and consider making a mobile optimised version of your game instead (e.g. Rocket League Sideswipe).
Also, experiment more with pay to download, paid DLC, and in-game currency and less with ad-only supported games.
Where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?
D2C. Moving 50% of your mobile game revenue to a D2C channel will increase profits by nearly 18% without increasing revenue and provide you a long lasting and direct relationship with your players.
What’s the most important key performance indicator (KPI) for you – and why?
Profit is the ultimate KPI, but profit doesn’t come without players loving your game. Daily active users is a great KPI to represent the virality and player love for your games.
“Moving 50% of your mobile game revenue to a D2C channel will increase profits by nearly 18% without increasing revenue.”
David Vogelpohl
What is your biggest aspiration/goal in mobile gaming?
Help game publishers make more profit and establish direct and long lasting relationships with their players.
What do you think the next big disruptor in mobile games will be?
AR, but that’s a long way off. Changes in screen size and device type are often the biggest disruptors in gaming, and when the phone in my pocket is augmented by AR eyeglasses that don’t make me look like a dork, mobile games will drastically change.
What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?
Profitability and the fact very few mobile titles are hitting it big.
Is there a console or PC trend that you think has potential within the mobile space?
Installing any game you want on your computer. Despite Google allowing side loading, players don’t really use it outside of Asia.
Apple is being forced to allow side loading in some contexts, but if players don’t use it, it doesn’t matter. This just reinforces the gatekeeper dynamic that Apple and Google benefit from.
Tell us your thoughts on one of the following: the metaverse, cloud gaming, cross-platform games, play-to-earn games
The metaverse is the most likely place where game publishers could be freed from gatekeepers. XR experiences can be loaded from a link (open web).
Gatekeepers (particularly headset makers) will try to prevent this, but at this point in time XR represents the best chance for publishers to win the “eyeballs vs. content” battle that has defined their relationships with hardware manufacturers.
