That Vampire Survivors would make such a success as it did, it was probably not what any of the developers expected when they created the game inspired by the mobile game Magic Survival. When it was released in early 2022, it took the gaming world by storm and not long after, players began to crave a mobile version of the game and it wasn’t long before copies of the game were released illegally. They stole codes and data to give others the opportunity to play the vampire game and for obvious reasons this was not very popular with the developers of Vampire Survivors and they wanted to release their own version of the game as soon as possible but it was not without setbacks. Poncle was interviewed recently about how the experience was for them.
First they tried to find a business partner to develop it with but they couldn’t find anyone willing to develop a mobile game without advertising and the requirement to pay money to play. Most free games are filled with ads that pop up every second and urge players to spend money to avoid seeing the ads and like a casino they want to create an addiction to it to make as much money as possible. The developers at Poncle do not want to cheat their followers with such methods and have therefore chosen to only monetize ads that are voluntary. The game lasts a maximum of 30 minutes and if you die within that time, you can see an ad to get a second chance where you died or see it to earn gold coins for in-game purchases that don’t cost real money. This is a business method that has also been appreciated by those who have downloaded the mobile game.
The creators say they’re happy with the success so far and they’re getting good reviews, but can also see word of mouth spreading quickly and new users continuing to download the game. What is missing from the game is the Legacy Moonspells DLC, which costs 2 dollars, or about 20 kroner on PC. Their biggest challenge is that they want the game to be free as far as possible on mobile but at the same time do it justice between the different platforms.
Have you played Vampire Survivors on mobile or PC? What do you think about their solution to monetize the mobile game?
