Case review | Difference in daily activity? Is it difficult to promote vitality? Learn user operations from Onmyoji

Onmyoji is a phenomenal mobile game with over 10 million daily active users in 45 days after its launch . It has long dominated the top 5 of the App Store's best-selling game list since September 2016, and was selected as one of the App Store's top ten games of the year at the end of 2016.

The topic #陰陽師手遊遊# has also been read 7.89 billion times on Weibo. Now it has been a year since Onmyoji was launched. According to the data from ThinkingGame as of June 3, Onmyoji ranks 4th on the App store's best-selling game list.

Acquiring new users is only one step in the entire process. If you cannot improve the retention and activation of these users, all the previous work will be in vain.

From the perspective of user operation, this article analyzes how Onmyoji retains and activates users. The following is the main text:

1. Define churn: You need to build a user model to define the churn interval window.

Users with level ≥15 who have been away from the game for more than 7 days (including 7 days) are counted as lost users.
For games, user churn may be caused by the game becoming less fun, a lack of sense of purpose, a loss of novelty, or a lack of social interaction.

2. Prevent user churn: For users who have already churned, data analysis and classification need to be conducted , and vulnerability models and data statistics of different dimensions of new players, active players, and paying players for 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days should be prepared to find early warning indicators for user churn and take measures to prevent churn.

Onmyoji prevents user churn in the following ways (game features & mechanism analysis):

(1) The first impression given to players is very important. If the product is not well made, users will naturally be lost . My first impression after downloading and opening Onmyoji is that the sound effects and voice actors are great, and the graphics are very delicate. It is a conscientious work for a mobile game to achieve this level.

Onmyoji’s entry point is young people who love the two-dimensional world, and its slogan is “A masterpiece with Japanese style that starts a beautiful and magical journey.”

(2) Well-known Japanese voice actors were invited to dub the game, and the game art, player COS, fan fiction & illustrations, and figurine culture also fit the game's target audience very well.

(3) The tasks in the game also have story plots and are well-made like short animations. At the same time, players can post comments, allowing players to participate in the interaction, which is one of the characteristics of the game. After each task is completed, corresponding rewards will be obtained to encourage players to continue playing the game.

(4) The card-drawing system for summoning shikigami is also a highlight of this game. Because the probability of obtaining an SSR card is very small, it has also spawned game-specific terms such as "African" (a nickname for those who cannot draw high-level SSR cards, and vice versa, they are Europeans with good luck), "Europeans", and "absorbing European energy" (forwarding SSR cards drawn by Europeans, hoping to get some of the good luck of Europeans).

Often, you can also see some players posting screenshots of themselves drawing SSRs on social media platforms such as WeChat Moments or Weibo, thereby forming self-propagation among users. This year, we also combined AR technology (in simple terms, it is a technology that superimposes virtual images on real life to create a virtual-reality interactive visual experience), added a gameplay of summoning Shikigami in the present world, and created another special interactive method.

(5) Onmyoji is a turn-based RPG game. The core of the game is to cultivate Shikigami, accumulate Shikigami fragments, play awakening copies, play Onmyoji souls, upgrade Shikigami stars, etc., which all require a lot of player time. From this perspective, it also reduces user loss.

After defining the churned users, you need to classify them according to different user life cycles, set up tracking points for different users’ behaviors in the product, analyze which game level has the most churn, whether the churned people have any commonalities, and which type of user life cycle has the most churn. Finally, think about solutions to prevent churn and track optimization results.

3. Recall loss: It is necessary to confirm user demands based on product characteristics, build a recall system in multiple ways, and provide guidance after the recall.

Onmyoji mainly recalls users through message push and recall activities. Players can participate in the returning player rewards (New Year Festival) by logging in again, and are encouraged to share the game to recall friends. Players can be given corresponding rewards after successfully recalling friends.

APP message push is currently a common means of recalling and activating users. To improve the recall effect, it is necessary to analyze the reasons for user churn and make differentiated message push for different reasons and groups. Another way to recall users is to use attractive activities.

The following are some common ways to be active in Onmyoji:

1. Daily sign-in: The daily sign-in in Onmyoji will tell you the best rewards and attract users to sign in. After signing in, you will see the cumulative sign-in rewards. The longer the cumulative sign-in time, the richer the rewards.

2. Daily task rewards: Set the player’s daily behavior in the game as tasks and give corresponding rewards to encourage users to continue to log in to complete tasks and obtain rewards.

3. Online activities: In order to stimulate players to log in, some copies will be opened at fixed times, where players can get double rewards or experience drops, and there will be corresponding push information.

At the same time, there will be corresponding game announcement prompts before entering the game to remind players to pay attention to and participate in the activities.

4. Social interaction: Having a social system can help players avoid playing the game alone and establish social connections with other players, which can effectively increase player activity.

(1) Onmyoji encourages players to interact with their friends. Players can give each other friendship points. When the players reach a certain bond value with their friends, they can unlock the family and friends function. When they become family and friends, they can start fighting with family and friends, and enjoy additional team bonuses, double hearts, online reminders and other benefits.

(2) Invite a friend to participate in the "One Hundred Demons Night Parade" event. Both of you can get Shikigami fragments, which can be used to synthesize and summon Shikigami.

(3) The game guild "Onmyoji" can build its own barrier based on LBS (which has two meanings: first, determining the geographic location of a mobile device or user; second, providing various location-related information services). The map mode can also see nearby Onmyoji and players, making it easier for players to establish social relationships. By linking players with geographical locations, players can save time in socializing, and they don’t necessarily have to add friends only through game battles. There is also a hidden entrance to game live streaming in Onmyoji, which is also a step towards creating a social mobile game.

The social nature of mobile games is the biggest difference from stand-alone games. It can enable originally independent players to establish connections, increase user stickiness, and now games have also become a daily topic of conversation.

So what is the final effect of the above measures? At the beginning of October 2016, the maximum number of concurrent users (PCU) successfully exceeded 1 million. Although "Onmyoji" has topped the best-selling list at this time, which means that its ranking on the best-selling list has reached the theoretical ceiling, its DAU has not stopped its growth momentum. On October 24, NetEase once again announced that the DAU of "Onmyoji" has exceeded 10 million.

Onmyoji's DAU has begun to decline, including the Baidu Index comparison with Honor of Kings in the past six months, which has also been in a downward trend.

(Note: Baidu Index can show the search volume of a certain keyword in Baidu, the rise and fall trend over a period of time, and the changes in related news and public opinion. The above data is a comparison of the Baidu Index of Onmyoji and King of Glory in the past six months. King of Glory is green and Onmyoji is blue)

After observing some players' complaints about the game, we found that the following are the main reasons for user loss :

1. The game is too time-consuming and hard-core (ACG term, meaning it takes time and energy) and is very tiring to play. After the initial novelty of the game has passed, completing tasks and brushing materials every day is very time-consuming.

2. It is very difficult to draw SSR, and the probability setting is unreasonable. Even recharged players may not be able to escape.

3. The gameplay is simple. After completing the main quest, you just need to play dungeons. Only when you are farming for the souls do you feel like you are fighting a BOSS. 80% of your online time is spent on farming.

Accordingly, I also gave some of my own suggestions :

1. The combat experience can be richer, allowing the Shikigami to give full play to their skill advantages and improve strategic gameplay. Design more modes based on the existing advantages of the game. Some modes can be completed in a short time to avoid over-grinding.

2. Use user characteristics to produce more high-quality content . Currently, it is mainly ordinary players who output content. We need to combine more communication channels and KOLs to produce professional content. For example, cooperate with comic exhibitions or other types of brands in different industries to develop more communication channels and high-quality content, and form IP incubation.

3. The social system is relatively weak . Unlike Tencent games which have the advantage of a social foundation, it is still worth thinking about how to connect players' social interactions. For example, whether NetEase's mobile games can be shared among friends is still worth thinking about.

In October last year, Onmyoji entered multiple overseas markets and achieved good results in Canada, Australia and the United States. In February of this year, Onmyoji took advantage of the victory and entered the Japanese market, fully entering the overseas market. On December 15, 2016, Kung Fu Pictures, Huayi Brothers Films and NetEase Pictures announced that they would join forces to create the "Onmyoji" movie and TV series.

Finally, I hope that Onmyoji can improve its product optimization and game planning, and rely on its own advantages such as strong IP to overtake others. I also believe that this game can be more successful and achieve the miracle of sweeping the screen again.