Game monetisation: a fair and transparent business model
Game monetisation is the way a game generates revenue: sales, subscriptions, in-app purchases, additional content or licensing. From Bastia, Corsica, we help you choose a business model that fits your game and your audience, then implement it clearly and fairly, taking the applicable rules into account.
The main business models for a video game
No model is good or bad in itself: each one creates a different relationship with players.
- 01
Premium
The player buys the game once and gets access to all of it. Easy to understand, this model means convincing people before they buy.
- 02
Free-to-play
The game is free and funded by in-app purchases, meaning purchases made inside the game. It lowers the barrier to entry, but requires a steady flow of content and close ethical attention.
- 03
Subscription
A recurring payment gives access to the game or to extra benefits. It suits games that evolve constantly and whose service has an ongoing cost, such as an online world.
- 04
Downloadable content
DLC, or downloadable content, refers to paid expansions released after launch: new stories, new levels, new characters.
- 05
Cosmetic items
Outfits, decorations or effects that change appearance without giving any advantage in the game. This is one of the forms of in-app purchase that best preserves fairness between players.
- 06
Licensing
The game is licensed to a business, local authority or institution that uses it for its own audiences, for instance a serious game or an event activity.
How to choose the right business model for your game
Whether you are a creator in Haute-Corse or a studio based elsewhere, the model should be chosen at the design stage, not at release, because it shapes the game design: the design of the rules, progression and pace. A game meant to be bought once is not built like a free game that has to make people want to come back.
Several questions guide the choice. Who are your players, and are there minors among them? How long will someone play: one evening, a few weeks, several years? Does the game have permanent running costs, such as servers, that call for regular revenue? Will it be distributed on the web, where you choose your payment provider, or through app stores, which take a commission and impose their own rules for digital purchases?
Finally, a game intended for a business or an institution is usually a matter of licensing or a service contract, rather than purchases made by the players themselves.
In-app purchases: transparency, minors and loot boxes
In-app purchases can fund a game in a healthy way, or destroy players' trust. We recommend and apply a few simple principles.
- 01
Clear prices
The real price, in the player’s own currency, is shown before any purchase, even when a virtual currency is used. Digital credits can be used only within the game, and what they are worth is easy to understand.
- 02
No pay-to-win
We advise against pay-to-win, a model in which paying gives a decisive advantage over other players. Purchases should preferably relate to appearance, convenience or new content.
- 03
No artificial pressure
No fake countdowns, no insistent reminders and no journeys designed to push people into impulse buying.
- 04
Protecting minors
Parental controls, spending caps, purchases that can be switched off: a game likely to attract children must be designed with extra safeguards.
- 05
Caution with loot boxes
Paid randomised rewards, or loot boxes, raise regulatory and ethical issues: several countries regulate them, or even treat them as akin to gambling. We advise against them, particularly for a young audience, and any mechanic of this kind should be reviewed with a lawyer.
- 06
Consumer law
Pre-purchase information, terms of sale, refunds, personal data: these obligations are built in from the design stage, and we recommend having them checked by your legal adviser.
Building reliable in-app purchases and payments
- 01
The offer catalogue
Items, bundles, subscriptions and additional content, clearly described and editable without touching the code.
- 02
Payment
Through the stores' own systems for a published app, or through an online payment provider for a web game, in line with each channel's rules.
- 03
Server-side verification
Every purchase is confirmed by the server before it is granted, to prevent fraud and items obtained without payment.
- 04
Accounts and restoring purchases
A player who changes phone must get back what they bought; that requires an account and careful data handling.
- 05
Player support
Purchase history, handling of refund requests and complaints.
Our approach, from business model to post-launch follow-up
We make no revenue promises: a game's success depends on its quality, its audience and its promotion. Our role is to build a model that is coherent, measurable and honest with players.
- 01
Understand
Your game, your audience, your goals and your distribution constraints.
- 02
Design
The business model is built into the game design and the prototype; the purchase journey is mocked up and approved with you before development.
- 03
Build
Integration of payments, the catalogue and admin tools, with thorough testing of purchases, refunds and error cases.
- 04
Launch and support
Tracking indicators such as retention, meaning the share of players who come back, the share of players who buy, or refund requests, followed by adjustments agreed together.
What drives the cost of monetising a game
The cost depends less on the model chosen than on how it is implemented. We set it out in a clear quote after a first conversation, in Bastia or remotely.
- 01
Complexity of the model
A one-off purchase is simpler to set up than an item catalogue, a subscription and seasonal offers.
- 02
Sales channels
Web, App Store, Google Play: each channel adds its own integrations, testing and rules.
- 03
Admin tools
Managing prices, offers and player support.
- 04
Running costs
Producing new content, tracking indicators and maintaining payments over time.
Technologies and methods
- In-app purchases
- Subscriptions
- Online payments
- Server-side verification
- Player accounts
- Analytics
Frequently asked questions
What is the best business model for a game?
There is no universal answer. A narrative game played once lends itself to a one-off sale, a permanent online world to a subscription or cosmetic purchases, a serious game to licensing. We start from your game and your audience to recommend a reasoned option.
Does free-to-play earn more than a paid game?
Not necessarily. A free model attracts players more easily, but it only pays its way if some of them choose to buy, and it demands regular content. We make no revenue promises: we help you assess the costs and assumptions behind each model.
Do we have to go through the App Store and Google Play to sell?
Only if your game is published in those stores: their rules then generally require their own payment system for digital content. A web game can use an online payment provider. These rules change, so we check them at the time of the project.
Can we include loot boxes in our game?
We advise against it. Paid randomised rewards are regulated or under debate in several countries and raise ethical questions, especially where minors are concerned. If you want an element of chance, we favour transparent alternatives, such as items sold individually whose contents are known in advance.
Our game is also aimed at children: what should we plan for?
Purchases that can be switched off or require a parent's approval, no incentives to buy, data collection kept to the strict minimum and a legal review of the terms of sale, all planned from the design stage.