One of the top-grossing mobile gaming apps in the world right now is undeniably Clash of Clans.
In case you haven’t heard about Clash Of Clans, it’s a simple real time strategy (RTS) gaming app which revolves around base-building and a lot of army training. Like popular PC RTS games such as Red Alert and StarCraft, Clash Of Clans has exploded in popularity on the back of the mobile age. Users develop their armies with build times that often last for hours or even days, rather than merely seconds or minutes. The bigger your army, the better equipped you are to battle with other clans and win resources, which you can then use to further grow your army.
Does a free app profit?
How does Clash Of Clans make money, and how did it become one of the top-grossing gaming apps when it’s a free app?
Based on a freemium model, players can use real world cash to speed up their build time, or buy more virtual resources to be used for more constructions. Those who pay usually have bigger bases and stronger armies, and level up much faster than those who don’t. As Paul from Forbes puts it, this is not necessarily a scam: if you have a smaller base and army, you will be matched with other players with similar levels. The downside is that you level up much slower.
The appeal of Clash of Clans
The draw of Clash Of Clans for players lies in the way different players can form their own clan alliances, where they can collectively gang up on other clans in their quest to dethrone the number 1 clan in the Clash Of Clan gaming community. It is also said that the former #1 Clash of Clans player in the world, George Yao, used to play the game on a plastic bag-wrapped iPad when he was showering, in order to avoid being attacked by other players. During his run as Clash of Clans’ number 1 player, “my day job was a means to an end, paying the bills, and my real life was the game.” This is what it takes to “win”.
Liam Neeson threatens to come after gamer BigBuffetBoy85 with barbarians and dragons.
In Singapore and Malaysia, the game has been growing in popularity among casual mobile gamers. 21-year-old avid Clash Of Clan player, Clement, shared with Vulcan Post that he has been playing the game non-stop since he found out about it through the Apple app store. Most of the time he spends on the app is dedicated to training up his virtual troops so that he can win raids.
“Raids are important because if you win a battle, you will get these trophies which let you rank higher on the rankings. If you lose, your trophies are taken away,” shared Clement. At higher levels, you risk losing more of your trophies to newcomers, so it is essential to spend time bulking up your armies and clan defences.
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Example of a raid (Image Credit: Business Insider)
On top of that, players can also spend time working on the best and most optimized layout, and at the same time, have fun doing it:
Clan Formation In Singapore
Clement shared that the best part about Clash Of Clans is when you can form clans and alliances with your friends. Clans allow you to request troops from your fellow clansmen, though whatever they provide you with is what you get. For first-time gamers, he shared that there are various Facebook groups available in Singapore if one is looking to join forces with other clans. True enough, a simple search on Facebook revealed that there are multiple groups available:
Outside of Facebook, single players are also rallying other players from all corners of Singapore to form alliances through forums such as Hardwarezone. One of the earliest threads that can be seen on the forum dates back to September 2012 — some two to three years ago.
Clash of Clans has undeniably been quite successful in attracting loyal gamers since its inception, even in Singapore. It is beautifully animated, with various iconic characters (barbarians, giants, and dragons — no cats, though) specially designed to suit mobile players. Even some of my female friends are playing Clash of Clans on their smartphones, and when that happens, you know that the game is doing definitely something right to attract everyone.
