The Whale Economy Explained

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.

Comments

smdam38

Do you know what a paragraph is?

JESUSCHRIST

Q4. Is the Banquet event really that bad?

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

smdam38

You write a lot but not well.

What thought do you want to get across?

JESUSCHRIST

You write a lot but not well.

What thought do you want to get across?

Whatever you want to take out of this
Everyone has the freedom to express themselves in the forum

JESUSCHRIST

I can understand the anger and sadness that the majority of the player base is experiencing right now bcos I also opened a bunch of SBC using 13,250 units, I'm now at 20,300 points, I'm waiting for the realm to unlock the remaining milestones.

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

PT_99

Do you know what a paragraph is?

You need to yap less and read more,
Mfs can't read 2 lines these days without resorting to insults.

JESUSCHRIST

At my level, 6 million plus rating, I really feel that I'm matched against whales sometimes in battlegrounds.
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

BringPopcorn

Some should switch forum time with AA mettings...

JESUSCHRIST

Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world, the reality we live in is where capitalism is accelerating and greed is good
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

Ansh_A

I somewhat disagree. The two kinds of people spending most on the game are those that want to progress through the ranks faster and those at the top who want to stay there.

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.

Demonzfyre

Do you know what a paragraph is?
You need to yap less and read more,
Mfs can't read 2 lines these days without resorting to insults.

Nearly everything you say is an insult or negative. Take your own advice.

PT_99

Do you know what a paragraph is?
You need to yap less and read more,
Mfs can't read 2 lines these days without resorting to insults.
Nearly everything you say is an insult or negative. Take your own advice.

From your perspective everything is bad, well unless there's word Kabam attached to it, then it turns out good. 🎉

EgyptOverseer

So basically new players for Kabam are like SBCs for us, and the worse they make the SBCs the more money they wasted on advertising in 9gag, just like we wasted on SBCs. Seems fair.

Ashacekar

Since it's coming for Jesus, i can believe it. But do ensure good gift on 25th. We have been good summoners, Kabam is naughty.

Awesomep12

Do you know what a paragraph is?

Can't believe that that is what you took from all this

Buttehrs

In short, the sooner kabam gets newer players to the highest progression, the sooner they can make a new one for whales to chase.

ContestOfNoobs

Q4. Is the Banquet event really that bad?

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

I spent around 60 crystals worth

Ur very lucky even getting a 7* nexus lol

JESUSCHRIST

As an alliance leader, I have new players joining my alliance
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

peixemacaco

Someone understood this is a business...and a game

Paceman

Do you know what a paragraph is?
You need to yap less and read more,
Mfs can't read 2 lines these days without resorting to insults.
Nearly everything you say is an insult or negative. Take your own advice.

Pot kettle black; a situation in which somebody accuses someone else of a fault which the accuser shares, and therefore is an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy.