5 Best Approaches to Monetize a Board Game Idea

In order to monetize your board game idea successfully, you must first understand what your gamers expect from your games and how much they are willing to spend. By understanding the players’ behavior and preferences, you can tailor your monetization strategy to meet their needs. In this blog post, we will explore the five best approaches to monetizing your board game idea, enabling you to optimize the potential of your app and achieve financial success.

What is game monetization? 

Game monetization is the process of making money from games. It involves various ways that game developers employ to generate revenue from their games. 

Developing a high-quality game takes significant time, expertise, and resources. So, you have to ensure the game is profitable enough to cover your game development cost.  Your main goal then? To generate revenue through the game. Some games turn out to be highly profitable from the moment they are launched, whereas others take years to bloom. Some also fail right after launch. 

All this depends not just on the quality of the game but also on how game app developers handle monetization from the start. There are many methods to monetize board game ideas, and it’s essential to find the most effective one in order to sustain your business and maximize profits. 

How to Monetize Your Board Game Idea?

In-App Ads 

In-app ads are one of the most popular ways to make money. This model has proven to be quite effective for developers. While users enjoy the game for free, the developers generate revenue from the mobile ads that show up in the game. 

Whenever a player views an ad, you make money. And when they interact with an ad, you make even more! Developers at our game development company select the most appropriate ads that smoothly integrate with the flow of a game. 

There are various types of ads, like rewarded, playable, banner and interstitial ads. Each type has its distinct advantages that enable you to strike a balance between visibility as well as user experience. Our developers carefully consider where to place ads within your game, making sure the players don’t feel bombarded by them and ensuring good user engagement and retention rates.  

In-app purchases 

The rise of in-app purchases is a significant trend in the gaming industry in the past few years. This monetization approach generates more revenue than all other models. This model allows players to download and play the game for free but charges for additional game features or content. These can be one-time purchases, like a new character skin or unlocking new levels, or they can be recurring subscriptions that unlock premium features or exclusive content.  

The in-app purchase approach lets publishers generate income from a larger audience, including those who are not willing to pay for the game upfront. This provides a wide range of content and experiences, providing players with more reasons to keep coming back. 

In order to successfully implement this model, our board game development team strategizes the pricing carefully. Generally, it is most effective to offer both expensive and inexpensive items. Time-limited offers and bundles are other great options. 

Paid games 

Paid games are the traditional game monetization model. In this model, players pay once to install an app and use all its features. There is no additional cost or in-app purchase. You earn revenue from the sale of your board game app. This model appeals to players willing to pay once for the complete experience. Since there is only one way to monetize, our developers employ effective game marketing strategies and focus on store conversions. 

This approach to monetizing board game ideas is a tricky one, as the game can only be monetized if it offers something special and has little or no competition. A large number of players are used to ‘engagement first, purchase later’ behavior. However, when the brand is well-established and associated with high standards, this model is great for games with a strong brand following or a substantial marketing budget.

Subscription

The subscription model is another successful monetization board game idea that every game development company utilizes to increase revenue. We all know Netflix, Amazon Prime and Spotify have one thing in common: a subscription model. To continue using their service, you must pay a monthly fee. The same goes for video games. In games, subscriptions are similar to in-app purchases. This model allows players to make regular payments to access exclusive content, features, or ad-free experiences during predetermined subscription periods. 

One of the popular subscription models is the battle pass. Here, players have the opportunity to take part in exclusive game levels that are available for a limited time.

Hybrid model

Players have varied interests, so relying on a single approach will yield less effective results. For example, some gamers generate revenue through in-app purchases; another group drives revenue by paying for ads, while others pay for a subscription. 

The mixed monetization model is a method where multiple monetization methods are combined to maximize revenue. The most common combinations include in-app purchases and advertisements, subscriptions with in-app purchases and combinations of all three. 

This model provides flexibility, diversifies revenue streams and caters to different user segments. When implementing this approach, a seamless integration of different models is essential to avoid any negative influence on the user experience.

These are some of the ways of monetizing your custom board game idea successfully. If you want to pick the best model, collaborate with a game development company that has the experience and expertise to guide you. As a top game development company, Logic Simplified has extensive experience in creating games of various genres for different budgets according to the client’s requirements and needs. Partner with us to build your dream game with lucrative game monetization models. For any suggestions or queries, contact us or drop us an email at enquiry@logicsimplified.com.