EA’s Need for Speed No Limits (NFS) has been one of the top grossing mobile f2p racing titles since its launch in 2015, generating over $1M in revenue in September 2022 alone. Although the game has not been growing over the last few months, it still features a polished and well-designed in-game store worth analysing.
What do you need to know about NFS?
NFS is an arcade racing game where you race to dominate the underground. You start with one car, and gradually receive materials and blueprints to power up your current vehicles and acquire new, stronger cars.
To obtain a car, you must earn/buy X number of blueprints – this is clever as allows EA to sell parts of a car AND fuels the stickiness of the collection metagame, as you have myriad cars with a different number of blueprints collected, so you always have a goal in reach.
The game monetises through selling these blueprints. You can buy large quantities (enough for a whole car) directly via IAP/Gold (hard currency) on rotation in the shop or acquire these through the crate Gacha system.
Now let’s look at the store!
Daily Store Hook/Reward
A common tool for creating the habit of session-ing and frequent store impressions is through a daily store hook, usually in the form of a daily reward claimable in the store.
NFS has two similar systems that encourage regular visits to the ‘Black Market’, which is essentially a secondary store. Both systems revolve around the game’s loot boxes.
Upgrade Crates
Upgrade Crates are small crates, containing materials that can be used to level up your cars. The game allows you to collect 5 free Upgrade Crates daily. Collecting a crate has a cooldown of 10 mins, designed to encourage repeat session-ing throughout the day AND increase the length of your current session.
The 10-minute cooldown is about the time of an average session, which means you can open one at the beginning and the end.
Premium Crates
Premium Crates are available for 100 gold – around $4 of hard currency – and provide blueprints to help you obtain new cars and fuel the ‘stage up’ mechanic. This can be claimed once per day, fulfilling the role of a ‘daily reward’.
The free loot boxes feel generous, which is important for building a good relationship between the user and your game.
Black Market
The Black Market is the game’s in-game item shop, selling crates, blueprints, and materials. The shop is unlocked quite early in the campaign.
Blueprints
The Blueprints section quite appropriately sells blueprints. Stock refreshes each day, giving more seasoned users an additional reason to log in each day.
Most blueprints are purchasable via hard currency, but one slot seems to be reserved for soft currency to help make the game feel more accessible.
Two slots are reserved for ‘Special Event Cars’, pairing with the LiveOps events to drive spend and participation.
If you do not own any of the blueprints, you are given the option to ‘Buy Car’. This big yellow button is unmissable.
Materials
The Materials section sells materials used to power up your garage. One material of each rarity is available in the shop, with stock refreshing daily once more.
You can ‘Switch Material’ by watching an ad or spending 5 gold (~$0.10), which is a pretty nice ad placement!
Crates
The last section is for crates, which features the Upgrade Crate and Premium crate, but also some limited-themed crates. These themed crates have stronger and more exciting animations which create a premium feel.
Store
The store is very easy to find, with a big green button on the far right of the screen. The right side of the device, is, of course, the most natural part to press.
My first impression of the store was quite empty! Initially, offers were the only thing for sale in the store. Only after around 20 minutes did offers/packs hit the store!
NFS sacrifices the higher initial revenue by including offers earlier in the funnel. In exchange, the app creates a strong positive first impression on the user. The game feels neither greedy nor money-grabbing.
Packs
The pack’s section consists of bundles of blueprints, materials and currencies. Packs are purchasable primarily through direct IAP.
This is where the first conversion will be made but is probably not NFS’s strongest revenue stream – the biggest slice of the pie will be the consumable, hard currency IAPs.
Starter Offer
The ‘Ignition Pack’ is the closest thing NFS has to a starter offer – this is priced at $4.99, down from $12.50. $4.99 is a pretty standard price point for a starter offer! Notably, the starter offer was not available for the first 20 mins or so of gameplay!
The product marketing uses strikethroughs and ‘% Off!’ stickers to help new users clearly understand its high value.
The early game offers need to be highly accessible, as new users are not yet familiar with many mechanics in the game. The Starter Offer sells a car, $8 worth of gold, soft currency, and an exclusive car skin. The contents are exactly what an early game user wants.
There is a cheaper offer, priced at $1.99, available for the user’s first 12 hours. This bundle is of worse value and has lower priority in the store. So is clearly not what NFS is pushing as a first purchase!
Art/Animations
Overall, NFS’s use of art and animations make for an exciting browsing experience! The art is focused on the key selling point of each pack, the car. The animations draw your attention to the highest value information for each product by adding shimmers to price ribbons and explosions behind cars.
Time Limitation
NFS uses primarily time-limited offers to add FOMO and sync with the LiveOps event schedule.
Value Indicators
Effective communication of offer discounts is crucial; humans are lazy and need information to be as easily digestible as possible. Offers use a consistent value indicator formula: gold ‘X% OFF!’ ribbons and price strikethroughs.
Varying Price Points
The pack’s section features IAPs at price points between $2-$30, but the highest priority offers sit at $5-$8!
Currencies
The only currency available to purchase through IAP is gold, which can be bought immediately or through a subscription service for better value for money.
First Time Bonus
The first time you purchase any gold IAP bundle you get a ‘one-time bonus’, giving you an additional 50% of value!
This is a common technique, designed to increase conversion at all price points and frame the game in a generous light.
Value Indicators
It’s not clear that higher price point IAPs provide higher returns. The ‘one-time bonus’ replaces the usual ‘X% extra’ for higher-priced IAPs.
Subscription Service
The ‘Daily Gold Delivery’ is the first impression in the currencies section, showcasing a whopping ‘5400 gold’. This placement encourages value comparison against the lowest value IAP in the store, framing the subscription service as incredible value.
The system is structured such that you get your money’s worth within 30% of the subscription’s duration.
The service is clever and designed to improve payer retention. Drip feeding gold to users likely does not cannibalise too much, as users will still need to top up balances in the interim. It may actually increase spend, as gold will feel easier to come by.
Earn Gold for Free
The game uses a system where users can complete external surveys or purchase products from other companies for gold.
VIP System
Now one thing that I failed to mention in the rest of the blog is the ‘VIP Points’ or VIP system. The VIP system is essentially paying ranks for NFS’s spenders.
Users get VIP Points with each purchase, denoted by the + X VIP Points on the offer contents screen or under hard currency panels. These points accumulate, giving you access to different levels of VIP. Each level brings benefits, including increasing your total fuel (energy mechanic), providing additional gold from purchases, increasing your event tickets and more.
Your first purchase provides enough points to reach level 1, quickly integrating you into the system.
Initial VIP levels are temporary but can be made permanent by advancing beyond level 4 – approx.. $20 of spend. The highest VIP tier is level 10, requiring about $1,500 of lifetime spend to reach.
This system continues the theming of generosity, rewarding you for spending. Every purchase you make feels meaningful, helping you reach that next tier of rewards and benefitting your future spend.
Further Reading
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