Industry legends Pete Hawley and Alexander Seropian discuss their experiences with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite platform, covering marketing strategies, player engagement, technical limitations, and opportunities. They delve into challenges and opportunities with UEFN, ROI in development, monetization strategies, and marketing tactics. Insights on game development challenges, player engagement, and the future of UEFN are also shared.
Monetization in UEFN is driven by high engagement and ROI potential, targeting Fortnite for low acquisition costs.
Challenges in UEFN development include content size limitations, toolset constraints, and persistence issues, requiring adaptation to player preferences.
Success in UEFN game development hinges on understanding the younger audience, leveraging community feedback, and balancing creativity with market research.
Deep dives
Monetization and Market Reach in UEFN
Monetization in UEFN is driven by engagement, where successful islands yield a high return on investment. Operating costs are low, and acquisition costs are minimized due to targeting through Fortnite. With CPI below 30 cents, the ROI potential is high for engaging experiences, though success is crucial for profitability.
Challenges in UEFN Development
Developers face limitations in content size, toolset capabilities, and lack of persistent features. The evolving tools and roadmap require adapting to engagement-based monetization and building experiences aligned with player tastes. Challenges in persistence, data accessibility, and connecting islands hinder design and audience retention.
Diverse Approaches to Game Development
Game development in UEFN requires understanding player preferences unique to the platform's younger audience. Leveraging community feedback, adapting content scope to tools' constraints, and partnering with creators enhance game design. Balancing creativity with market research, the platform offers opportunities for creative experimentation and interaction-driven content.
Engagement and Monetization Strategies on the UFN Platform
Monetizing games on the UFN platform relies heavily on player engagement metrics like CCU and average time spent on an island. Successfully monetized islands receive payouts based on these factors, rather than a fixed rate. Strategic decisions on investments and game releases are influenced by community engagement, rather than traditional user acquisition metrics. Despite challenges in attribution and marketing effectiveness measurement, strategic investments in community-driven activations and content creators have shown positive impacts on player retention and engagement.
Lessons Learned and Community Collaboration on UAFN
Creating successful games on UAFN requires developers to embrace platform constraints and design with community engagement in mind. Winning designs often emerge from community interactions and unique, player-driven experiences. The platform's rapid development cycle allows for quick iterations and learnings, emphasizing the need for experimentation and continuous improvement. Collaborating with the UAFN community, leaving ego aside, and adapting to the new platform's dynamics are essential for sustained success and impactful game development.
Pete Hawley (former executive at 100 Thieves, EA, Zynga, Lionhead, Sony, Telltale, and Mythical Games) and Alexander Seropian (founder of Bungie, Industrial Toys, Wideload, and Look North Games) unpack their experiences with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) platform, discussing marketing strategies, player engagement, technical limitations, and opportunities.
00:00 Introduction to Heroic Labs
01:01 Meet the Legends: Pete Hawley and Alex Seropian
01:43 Pete’s Journey and Insights
03:27 Exploring UEFN: Challenges and Opportunities
08:19 Alex's Perspective on UEFN
11:33 The Future of UEFN
23:11 ROI in UEFN Development
35:42 Challenges in Game Development
44:14 Monetization Strategies
49:53 Marketing and Launching
01:02:52 Lessons Learned
01:12:54 Final Thoughts
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