The Whale Economy Explained
JESUSCHRIST
Member Posts: 155 ★
Q1. Why is Kabam so focused on newer players? Thronebreakers lumped together with Valiants for the SBC
Game developer company like Kabam relies on spending players and the jackpots are big spending players aka Whales
Acquiring Whales is a number game, it means constantly getting new players joining the game, industry statistics indicates that about 20% of the playing population spend money in the game and the top 10% of the spenders can be considered as Whales. In order to get more Whales playing, you need to get new players joining ALL THE TIME, then hope that 2% turn out to be Whales. Game companies relies on putting out ads to attract new players all the time, ads cost money. Say 100 new players start playing, maybe 0 will turn out to be Whales, 1 if you are lucky. That is why game companies always tell existing players to be friendly to new players who can be potentially Whales. In order to onboard these Whales quicker into the game, Kabam has given away free Thronebreaker to those who meet the Champions requirements. So that is why Thronebreakers are lumped together with Valiant for SBC so Kabam can sell more units and SBC to more Whales. This is necessary bcos Kabam as a company needs to pay salaries and operating costs like servers and electricity to keep the game going.
Q2. Where do these Whales get their money?
Whales can be further classified into different Whales. I personally heard of crypto bros Whales who gotten rich from the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. To them, the money spent on buying tonnes of units and crystals is just small change.
There is also the finance bros Whales who invest in the stock market and the stock market has risen quite a lot, they spend lots of money in game bcos it makes them happy playing the game they like.
There is also Tech bros Whales, who holds a job in the tech industry, they are well paid and are able to afford spending money in game
Q3. Are Whales causing the in game economy to go out of control? 300 units for a SBC that doesn't give good odds and bad rewards.
In a way the in game economy and the real world are very similar, when so much money enters a market like the housing market and you can't afford to rent or buy a house, you start to blame the rich people buying all the houses. The in game economy however does not have limited amount of crystals or resources, it's infinite so that's why the first 7* rank 4 has appeared in game bcos the whale can literally afford to buy as many SBC as necessary to get the rank up materials needed for a 7* rank 4 Onslaught. Kabam can priced SBC at 300 units bcos they know that Whales can afford that price. Kabam also has to balance the amount of resources given out in the SBC or else we will be seeing an army of 7* rank 4 champions in battlegrounds, it's a delicate balancing act. Other non whales players with 7* rank 3 will be outclassed immediately by a full deck of 7* rank 4 champions and that won't be great either.
I would like to state that Kabam is a company, not a charity, they have to make money or else close down so I do wish that Kabam can make the money needed to keep the game and the company going. Whales are actually a necessary part of the in game economy, they keep the servers going by spending money in game. Without Whales, free to play games can never sustain without substantial revenue coming in.
Game developer company like Kabam relies on spending players and the jackpots are big spending players aka Whales
Acquiring Whales is a number game, it means constantly getting new players joining the game, industry statistics indicates that about 20% of the playing population spend money in the game and the top 10% of the spenders can be considered as Whales. In order to get more Whales playing, you need to get new players joining ALL THE TIME, then hope that 2% turn out to be Whales. Game companies relies on putting out ads to attract new players all the time, ads cost money. Say 100 new players start playing, maybe 0 will turn out to be Whales, 1 if you are lucky. That is why game companies always tell existing players to be friendly to new players who can be potentially Whales. In order to onboard these Whales quicker into the game, Kabam has given away free Thronebreaker to those who meet the Champions requirements. So that is why Thronebreakers are lumped together with Valiant for SBC so Kabam can sell more units and SBC to more Whales. This is necessary bcos Kabam as a company needs to pay salaries and operating costs like servers and electricity to keep the game going.
Q2. Where do these Whales get their money?
Whales can be further classified into different Whales. I personally heard of crypto bros Whales who gotten rich from the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. To them, the money spent on buying tonnes of units and crystals is just small change.
There is also the finance bros Whales who invest in the stock market and the stock market has risen quite a lot, they spend lots of money in game bcos it makes them happy playing the game they like.
There is also Tech bros Whales, who holds a job in the tech industry, they are well paid and are able to afford spending money in game
Q3. Are Whales causing the in game economy to go out of control? 300 units for a SBC that doesn't give good odds and bad rewards.
In a way the in game economy and the real world are very similar, when so much money enters a market like the housing market and you can't afford to rent or buy a house, you start to blame the rich people buying all the houses. The in game economy however does not have limited amount of crystals or resources, it's infinite so that's why the first 7* rank 4 has appeared in game bcos the whale can literally afford to buy as many SBC as necessary to get the rank up materials needed for a 7* rank 4 Onslaught. Kabam can priced SBC at 300 units bcos they know that Whales can afford that price. Kabam also has to balance the amount of resources given out in the SBC or else we will be seeing an army of 7* rank 4 champions in battlegrounds, it's a delicate balancing act. Other non whales players with 7* rank 3 will be outclassed immediately by a full deck of 7* rank 4 champions and that won't be great either.
I would like to state that Kabam is a company, not a charity, they have to make money or else close down so I do wish that Kabam can make the money needed to keep the game and the company going. Whales are actually a necessary part of the in game economy, they keep the servers going by spending money in game. Without Whales, free to play games can never sustain without substantial revenue coming in.
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Comments
On its own, the SBC is really bad for valiants. As a valiant, I spent 13,250 units buying SBC and the only lucky prize is a 7* nexus crystal, the remainder were in line with the rest of the player base.
But when looked at together with all the milestones rewards I collected, the units I spent actually gave decent value, especially the 2x 7* and 1x 7* nexus crystals really help alot to balance the disastrous SBC openings
What thought do you want to get across?
Everyone has the freedom to express themselves in the forum
I still have enough units to unlock all the stretch goals but I stopped at the solo banquet points ceiling.
I do hope that Kabam sends us something substantial in the annual holiday gift/Christmas gift whatever you want to call it.
The SBC was honestly disappointing to open and the majority of the players are indeed upset over this. I do hope that Kabam can do something about it since they already made tens of millions of dollars, I estimate
Mfs can't read 2 lines these days without resorting to insults.
I get 7 million 8 million rating opponents with a full deck of 7* rank 3 champions
I do have I believe above average battlegrounds deck
I get 50% win rates against fatter accounts but I foresee I will be outclassed real soon once 7* rank 4 becomes common among the whales players
The moment we slow down, we get overtaken by others who have more resources
It's nice to read all the forum posts recently about the banquet drama especially when I'm involved in opening some of the SBC as well
The remaining people including most valiants and paragons are more careful and weigh the right deals to have bursts in roster progression like banquet (when it is good). That is why Kabam places great prizes for the top spenders and carrot and stick for those trying to push for valiant.
I am personally fine with it and not being the target audience for Kabam. I just held onto my units this banquet season. When something good comes by and typically with such backlasgh, Kabam tends to make up for it with one of the subsequent events, i will then spend my little bit.
The 10 7*s is keeping me happy this holiday season, especially Vox.
I spent around 60 crystals worth
Ur very lucky even getting a 7* nexus lol
Recently I have a 0.5 million rating valiant who joined my alliance, imagine my mouth dropped
I added him on telegram for group chat and I asked him how much he spent to become valiant
He spent about 2k USD which I calculated to be roughly the standard required to be valiant now if you want it now and quick
That's good money for Kabam, a new player spending 2k USD