Clash of Clans: Network Effects and Stickiness in Mobile Gaming
Clash of Clans is a freemium game that has been around for many years. Because it is a social game, network effects are present in the way the game operates. One of the main features in the game are the clans themselves. There are many benefits to being in these clans, such as troop donations, participating in events that give you more resources, and being able to compete in fun events such as clan wars and clan games. Network effects are present in these clans, as it is more beneficial for players to be in larger clans. This creates a “rich get richer” effect, where large clans are able to gain more clan members while smaller clans have trouble with getting bigger. This can lead to players from smaller clans leaving for bigger clans. I believe that if there weren’t a size limit to the clans then there would be a small number of very large clans with a majority of the player base in them. Another example of network effects comes from the relationships people have outside of the game. Speaking from experience, I recently downloaded this game again because many of my friends have the game. For me, there is an incentive to catch up to my friends who are better than me at the game, which has tempted me to almost spend money on the game. It has also incentivized me to invite other friends to play the game and join the clan. This not only strengthens my clan and therefore makes me better at the game, but also creates a new activity that my friends and I partake in. These network effects play perfectly into Supercell’s (the creator of the game) hands, as their profit is based on the in-app purchases, and the more players a game has the more potential buyers of those purchases.
Another interesting example of network effects that the article brings up is the game’s competition. Clash of Clans had the benefit of being one of the first freemium games in its style, and due to its success many other companies have tried to create similar games. The other developers make similar games that offer shorter waiting times, cheaper in-app purchases all while still having fun gameplay. The problem with these games is that they are too late. If network effects weren’t present, you would expect that if a company were to make a similar but slightly better game than Clash of Clans, they would then attract all the players of Clash of Clans to their game. However, users who have already put time and effort into Clash of Clans, along with having many of their friends being in the same clan as them will be extremely hesitant to switch over to a new game. For new games, there are no expectations that there will be players, which will cause there to be no people who play the game. Like the article says, it is extremely important to scale up quickly when network effects are present, and it is difficult to reach that critical point of users where your game starts to take off when there is a more successful version of your game already on the market.