Is my game/monetization strategy flawed? No revenue, looking for feedback

Hello!

A few months ago I advertised my game for about 3k robux, and compared to the experiences of other developers advertising I was pleased that I was able to keep up to 40 concurrent players (averaging around 25 to 30) over the advertising period. I’ve been told by multiple friends and random players that they like my game, and it’s concept is fun. The only problem is… I made nothing from it! I have a few ideas as to why it failed in making any revenue:

  • There are no GUIs to purchase gamepasses available, only shown on the other side of the lobby with a buy button on parts
  • There are no developer products for stuff like currency
  • The gamepasses are not valuable
  • The game lacks progression

While I could solve adding the gamepasses onto GUIs, I’m uncertain the issue with my game is that it lacks progression and the gamepasses aren’t desireable, so players wouldn’t want the gamepasses either way.

Is there something I’m missing that I could’ve done better, or is my game simply not made well enough to have a good monetization strategy?

The game: The Game Master [ALPHA] - Roblox

Quick explanation of the game:

One player is chosen as “The Game Master”. The rest of the players spawn into a map. The players objective is to survive as long as possible. The Game Master’s objective is to kill all players with events, such as creating a black hole, setting players on fire etc. They have a maximum of 20 events to get all the players, otherwise they lose. The game is round based, and requires 3 players to start a round.

Thanks!

(also sorry if this is the wrong category, please let me know if it is)

2 Likes

It seems like you’ve identified a couple of issues with your game monetization yourself - go ahead and make those changes, and see what the result is.

When it comes to monetization, the biggest thing is visibility. Nobody is going to buy your game passes if they’re halfway across the lobby, in an area where nobody sees. Why do you think so many mobile games prompt you to purchase currency if you don’t have enough? Because it’s in your face.

I would say to include ALL available game passes into your UI shop, (and consider a currency purchase option if that’s what you want), and see if that makes a difference. Good luck!

2 Likes

I was going to put them all into a UI shop, but my funds are low and I’m worried that not only are my gamepasses hidden, but they also aren’t desirable by players? When I see other games, most of them have a lot of progression whereas my game’s progression is get levels to try get on a leaderboard, get coins for particles/trails. I’m afraid that when I use the last of my funds I’ll end up making a loss again because of this, and have been wondering if I should instead scrap the game

That’s up to you. I think that the concept of the game is fine and has the potential to bring in some revenue. I would try to see if someone is willing to help you (or if you can update the UI yourself) and see the result. Even if it doesn’t work, you’ll learn a lesson for your next game.

Not having passes shown in a menu as a Gui is probably not he biggest reason why your monetization is flawed. When you have currency, it’s best to always have dev products for it. Have 4 or 5 products for currency. Make them different amounts, and have the bigger products cost less than it would compared to the other products.

Take this for example.

  • 10 coins - 10 R$
  • 50 coins - 40 R$
  • 100 coins - 75 R$
  • 250 coins - 200 R$

It would be 1 coin for 1 R$, but the products with bigger amounts shave off a bit of R$. Do this strategy, and show the discount for all the products.


Gamepasses not worth it makes it clear that you didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about monetization. You should definitely have gamepasses that change up the gameplay, but doesn’t ruin the fun at the same time.


The game lacking progression is also what’s having players not buying stuff. They won’t come back to the game. I think you should have some kind of EXP level system that encourages players to keep playing. Also make leaderboards for most wins and such.

I’ll create the UI for it, thanks for your advice!

@GalaxyGourmet
I would make developer products for coins but it feels as if they’re kinda useless (only for cosmetic particles) and not wanted. I do have a level system with a leaderboard, but the levels don’t really give access to new content or anything. Thanks for the advice though!