Assignment:Pokémon’sDilemma,forProductManagement ByAmanleenPuri

Allrightsreserved©AmanleenPuri,CMUSV

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ExecutiveSummary:Thisdocumentisaproposaltoreducethechurnrateto30%.ByintroducinguserstotheconceptofPlayingforacause,openingourplatformtogamedevelopersoutsideofNianticandincreasingPokémongearsthatweofferforin-apppurchase.Introduction:InthisdocumentIwoulddiscussmystrategytoimproveuserengagementofPokémongo.Whilechalkingouta product strategy I would emphasize on one product feature. This document is based on an underlyingpremiseprovided,“DigitalcommercetrackerSliceIntelligencereportsthat,inthemonthofAugust,PokémonGopayingplayerbaseintheU.S.droppedbyawhopping79%.”[1]IntendedaudienceforthisdocumentistheexecutiveProductteamatNiantic.Glossary:DAU:DailyActiveUsersMAU:MonthlyActiveusersARPDAU:AverageRevenuePerDailyActiveUserCurrentMetrics[2]PokémonGotappedonchildhoodmemoriesofMillenials,evidentfromFigure1.Theseareourusersaswellasbuyers.FollowingchartshowsthemetricsI’veusedtomonitorprogressandgrowthofourgame.

KeyreasonsforChurn:Churnrateistheratioofnumberofuserswhohavedownloadedthegamebutarenotplaying.Wemonitorthisoveraperiodof28days.Followingarethekeyreasonsinmyopinion,fordeclineinpayingplayerbase.

Monotonous-NonewPokémoncharactersPeerpressureBugsinapp

1. Monotonous-NonewPokecharacters:• WeofferlimitedUseractions.IfyoureplacethePokémoncharactersbyhexagonslikeinIngressthe

activityofswirling,swingingandthrowingthePokeballonthescreenisprettymonotonous.• WecanfurtheruseSource,SinkandFlowmetrics[A][10]togetagranularpicture.

Downloads

• 100million(08/08/2016)

Totalrevenue

• $268(08/12/2016)

ARPDAU

• $0.25

In-GameMetrics

• 80%iOSin-app• 43mins/day

DAU

• 20+million

Retention

• Day3ismorethan60%

Ranking

• Appstore3stars• GooglePlay3,2stars

Figure1Playerprofile[3]Followingimagedescribesthediversityofourplayersintermsoftheirage,genderandincome.

Assignment:Pokémon’sDilemma,forProductManagement ByAmanleenPuri

Allrightsreserved©AmanleenPuri,CMUSV

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2. Peerpressure• ManyplayersdownloadedthegameastheirfavoriteCelebritywasplayingit.Thefactthatourgame

demanded time and dedication to ‘catch ‘em all’ it was not meant for everyone. Which lead todecreaseinDailyActiveUsers.Evidentfromfigure2.

Figure3TrendinUserEngagement(DAU/MAU)[4]

3. Bugsinapp

• Bugsinappleadtobaduserexperience.• PlayerstrickedtheysystembyearningExperiencePoints(XP)usingfakeGPSandbots.• Leadingtofallinuserengagement.

Proposedstrategy:Following is theproduct strategy I’mproposing tomitigatekey churn reasons.Weneed to strengthenourplatformbutwecannotpauseourservers todoso.Hence, let’sstartby lettingusersPlay foracause.Thiswouldimproveuserengagement;I’veexplainedthisindetailbelow.WhilemaintaininguserengagementweneedtoworkonourplatformtomakeitopentootherdeveloperssothattheycanbuildupontheArtificialReality(AR)base.WeneedtoincreasethePokémongearsthatweoffersothatplayersaremotivatedtodomorein-apppurchases.

Feature:PlayforacauseTargetAudience:Playersofallagegroups.ThisfeaturewouldattractfollowingtypesofusersascategorizedbyNirEyalinhisbook‘Hooked’.Thetype

AboutUser Variablerewardsforthem

Thetribe Playerswholookforacknowledgementfromtheircommunity

IncreaseindonationwouldranktheirTeamhigher

Thehunt Needtoacquirephysicalobjectsispartoftheirbrain'soperatingsystem

EarnmorePokeycharacters

Game

PlayforacauseMotivateplayerstoplayforacausetheypick. AP

Is

Openplatforminaregulatedwaytogamedeveloperstocomeupwithcreativewaystodesignandimplementpartsoffeatures/activities

Pokegear ImprovethevarietyofPokemon

gearsweoffer.

Figure2TrendsinDailyActiveUsers[4]

Assignment:Pokémon’sDilemma,forProductManagement ByAmanleenPuri

Allrightsreserved©AmanleenPuri,CMUSV

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Theself Theseplayersdon'tbelieveinwhatpeoplethinkormaterialisticpleasurestherehastobeabiggerreasonforthem.

Senseofachievementascharitydonationswouldshowalongwithyourtotalpoints

HookedmodelforPokémongoplayersTrigger(Internal)

Givingbacktothecommunity

Trigger(External)

Peerpressure,Pokémongoplus

Action Playercanpickacharityofhis/herchoicePlaytoearnenoughXPtodonate

Variablerewards

IncreasedpoolofPokeycharactersPlayerranking(startfromyourglobalranktoasgranularascountyrank)

Investment TimetoplaythegamePurchasein-appPokepoints

FlowofEvents:1.Usethedemandsupplymodeltobreakdownthefeature.Wewouldcreateapoolofcharitiesonsupplysideandplayersondemandside.2.Eachplayercanpickacharityandfreezeanamount(ExperiencePoints)todonate.Playercaneitherdonatefromcurrentbankorplaytoearnthem.3.EachofthesegameswouldhaveatleastonePokestoptoachievetheirtarget.4.PokestopsherewouldbebusinessespayingtobecomeaPokestopsand20%fortheamounttheypayNianticwouldbedonatedtocharity.5.This20%moneyvaluewouldbebrokendownintonumberofpointstoearn.Ratioofmoneytopointswouldbesameasin-apppurchaseofpointscurrentlyavailable.6.PaymentstocharitableinstituteswouldfollowthesamemodelasbusinessespayingtodeclarePokestopsGotomarketPilot 1.Launchitinacontrolledenvironmentofbetatestinggroup.

2.Monitorusagewithmetricstocomparetotalmarketusagetotargetgroupusagetogetatruepicture.

Rollout GraduallystartingfrombigcitieswithhigherDAUstorelativelylesserDAUsConclusion:Wehavecomealongwayrightfromturningintoreality,Google’s2014Aprilfool’sjoke.Agame,everychildwantedtoplaygrowingup.MoldingourstrengthsofIngressintoPokémon’sstoryline.Wehaveprovedtechnologycanbringpeopletogetherliterally.It’stimewechannelizeoureffortstobalancetheecosystem,introduceacultureofgivingbackthroughgames.ThiswouldbuyussometimetostrengthenourplatformandopenittodeveloperswhocouldcontributebuildingonimmortalPokémonseries.Inturn,attractingmorebusinessesonourplatform.Whichwouldhelpusspreaddeeperintogeographies.Reference:

1. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0BxYAVCMOlBBXb2hqaC1mQzBiaFk2. @artie_d."PokémonGOUsageandRevenueStatistics-AppIndustryInsights."BusinessofApps.

August16,2016.AccessedSeptember27,2016.http://www.businessofapps.com/pokemon-go-usage-revenue-statistics/.

3. Http://heavy.com/author/brendanrmorrow/."‘PokemonGo’Demographics:MoreWomenPlayGameThanMen."Heavycom.2016.AccessedSeptember28,2016.http://heavy.com/games/2016/07/pokemon-go-demographics-demographic-player-players-data-statistics-men-women-male-female-gender-majority-income-age-average-players/.

Assignment:Pokémon’sDilemma,forProductManagement ByAmanleenPuri

Allrightsreserved©AmanleenPuri,CMUSV

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4. Perez,Sarah."PokémonGo’sPayingUserBaseHasReachedAplateau."TechCrunch.July29,2016.AccessedSeptember29,2016.https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/29/pokemon-gos-paying-user-base-has-reached-a-plateau/?ncid=rss.

Appendix:A.Habitformingsteps:1. Trigger

a. Internal:Happinessbecauseofchildhoodmemories,Feelgoodfactorforbeinghealthyasucanburncalorieswhileplaying

b. External:Peerpressure:everyonearounduisplaying,Pokestopsalongwithpeopleplayingmakeithardtoresist

2. Actions:a. Peopleplayittomaketheirteamstrongerviapokeygymsb. Discoverpokeystops share locationswith their friendsorpeoplenear them thisgivesa feelingof

unity3. Variablerewards

a. Eggshatchingb. Powerplaytimes,pokycoinsc. PurchaseofpokemongearswithXP

4. Investmenta. Time:Playersinvestlotoftimeandenergyincollectingpointsb. Money:Purchasepointstoplaymore

B.Metrics:

1. DailyActiveUsers(DAUs):DAUisthenumberofuniqueusersthatstartatleastonesessioninyourapponanygivenday.

2. Sessions:EverytimeaplayeropensPokémonapp,thatcountsasasession.Thisplayerneednotbeunique.Thisdepictshowhookedtheuseristoourgame.

3. DAU/MAU:ThisratioofDailyActiveUserstoMonthlyActiveusersshowshowstickythegame.Asittellsushowwelltheappretainsusers,mostsuccessfulgamingappshaveratioscloserto20percent.

4. Retention:Measuredbyseparatingusersintocohorts.ThedayaplayerdownloadsagameisDay0thenonwardsit’sDay1,Day2andsoon.Commondaysusedforretentionare1,3,7and30.

5. ConversionRate:Theconversionratemeasuresthepercentageofuniqueusersthathavemadeapurchaseoutofthetotalnumberofusersduringthattimeperiod.

6. ARPDAU:TheAverageRevenuePerDailyActiveUser(ARPDAU),helpstounderstandhowyourgameperformsonadailybasis.It’sgoodtoknowthisbeforeacquiringusers.

7. ARPPU:AverageRevenuePerPayingUser(ARPPU)measuresonlythesubsetofuserswhohavecompletedapurchaseinagame.

8. Churn:Inlast28days,playerswhohavedownloadedandarenotplayingthegameanymore.9. In-GameMetrics:Helpsdiscovertherightpointingamewherethegamegetstougherthanusual.

Thisstateisbesttomonetizetheapp.10. Source,SinkandFlow:Thismetricsispartofthegameanalyticsdashboard,wheresourcemetricis

measureofamountofExperiencePoints(XP)earned.SinkiswhereusersspendtheirXP.BothSourceandSinkcanbehardandsoftcurrencies.FlowarebalanceXPsplayerhasearnedandspent.

11. Start,FailandComplete:Healthcheckupforuserandgameinteraction.Whichleveldoesplayerstarton,wheredoess/hefailandatwhatleveldoestheplayercompletethegame.