The Rise, the Fall and the Future of Independent Social Game

Developers

James Jen

TipCat Interactive

It’s not me, it’s YOU…

Agenda of Talk

Background about Me

New Media Channels

The Back History

Mobile Beginnings

Mad Rush to Social

Focusing on the Web

Cross Platform F2P Future

My Background

Started with Apple

Award Winning Consumer Software

“AAA” Game Production Background

Console Platform and Community

More Games

Online Games and MMOs

What’s New is Old

“All this has happened before

and all will happen again…”

-Peter Pan

-Battlestar Galactica

Distribution is King

1920s Movies (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros)

1950s TV (ABC, NBC)

1980s Console Games (Activision, EA)

Early 2000s Feature Phone (JamDat, Gameloft)

Mid 2000s Casual Games (Bigfish, Pogo, Oberon)

Mobile, Social, Web, Future

TipCat Interactive

Digital Console Games

14

Massive Multiplayer Online RPG

15

Team Portfolio

16

Interactive Entertainment

Transmedia Platform

18

TCP / IP & html

Mobile Framework

19

20

2009

Sudoku Guru

Ranked #2 in Japan market for all games

Over 60,000+ SUDOKU puzzles with unique

solutions

5 difficulty levels from Apprentice to Guru

Relax your mind with oriental style interface

and pure natural sound

Options on marking candidates manually or

automatically

Advanced Hint System may present you the

following strategies visually, which will be your

best teacher on your way to be a sudoku guru

Cell War

Featured by Apple as “What’s Hot” and “What we are playing” on iTunes.

Ranked #56 in Top Arcade Games and #70 in Top Action Games

Received Top 10 Open Feint China Game Award from The 9

"There really is a lot to like about this game, and the production values are outstanding."

TouchArcade.com

Horizontal-scrolling shoot'em up arcade game.

2 game modes, 9 unique stages, 3 difficulty levels and more than 10 bosses.

Supports OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards.

Video of Ghost ‘n Zombies

23

Ghosts ‘n Zombies

Apple featured it for over a month as “New and Noteworthy’ and “What’s Hot” on iTunes

Ranked: #26 in US Arcade Games, #77 in Top Paid Games, over a million+ downloads

#1 for multiple countries around the world during free promotional period

#2 paid game on China Unicom WO Store

"Ghosts'n Zombies is a fun shooter with a silly premise, and worth picking up." -

TouchArcade.com

A unique western themed action shooting game.

Multiple game modes, 15+ stages.

Supports OpenFeint achievements, leaderboards, downloadable content.

Global Runner

Global Runner is a casual side-scrolling game.

TOP 10 OpenFeint China

Game Award from The 9

FEATURES:

-One finger-touch play

-Infinite map -Jump on monsters to bring

them down as Mario does -Transportations, like

Helicopter, Aircraft and UFO

-Various items for character customization

-Hand drawn art -Cute character Design

-In-game score markers

-Highscore feature by OpenFeint -Challenge friends

Lucky Shot

26

27

2010

Pool Club

Interactive PVE and PVP Pool Game

Real-Time custom physics engine

Challenge ladder and gambling system

Consumable virtual items and power-

ups

http://apps.facebook.com/poolclub

Wild West (Tech Prototype)

2D Flash MMORPG engine

Club Penguin-like Synchronous MMO Web game on Social Networks

Partner/License to North America Operator

Driving Traffic from SNS to Mobile/Game Portals

Scale Production Capability with

M&A and Licenses

Launched Wild West Alpha on RenRen

http://apps.renren.com/hahawest

Unbeatable Attraction

Unbeatable Clear World Cup Campaign

First International Branded Social Game for Omnicom/PHD China

Harem for Sale, Training and Cheerleader Mini-Games, Social Bar, and Fan Club.

Mobile support include WAP gameplay and Avatar augmented reality pictures.

The Good, The Bad, and The Candy

31

Nestle’s first Butterfinger social game for

Facebook.

Featuring Hollywood stars including

Charisma Carpenter, Erik Estrada, and Lou

Ferrigno

Tower of Defense gameplay with Powerups

and special items.

Players compete for daily and weekly prizes.

Individual as well as Team based

leaderboard gameplay

Zombie Party Video

32

Zombie Party

• Restaurant City + Plants vs. Zombies

• Decorate/Expand the yard to attract

zombies

• Hire your friends as attacker and mechanics to build weapons and kill

zombies.

• Create different light weapons, heavy weapons and traps to destroy zombies

• Capture zombies to build your personal

army to ‘visit’ other players houses

Games

34

International Partners

35

36

Focus

Greed War Online

• A 3D MMO casual game for main stream PC

– Revenue from micro-transaction

– Suport UGC- by providing easy-to-use level editor

– Pirate universe , Simple control, Multiplayer ( 2-8 ）, Competitive and cooperative game play, Rich item system

– Game modes: RTS, DOTA，PK，Somali, Ghost Boat, Treasure Island

What to do?

38

Next Gen Console Games

100+ mil RMB

MMORPG Games

10+ mil RMB

Social Games

250k –> 500k+ RMB

Facebook, RenRen

Mobile Arcade Games

50k –> 200k+ RMB

iPhone, Android, MS Mobile,

39

2011

Metro City (In Dev.)

40

Social City connected with modern metro

Customize and Grow your Metropolitan City

Manage your town’s light rail system

Expand train routes with your friends to

increase the number of passengers and value

of each trip!!!

Take care of the passengers, upgrade the

trains, manage the metro routes

Build the best modern metro station

Lord of the Seas

Unity 3d Tower of Defense Ship Game

10 Levels PVE then PVP gaming begins

Upgradeable Ships, Towers, and Crystals

Cartoon Wars + League of Legends

3D Tower Defense short session web online

game

Free to Play PvP game developing capabilities

of various soldiers and heroes

Dedicated in multi-player mode

Totem King

42

Video of Totem Online

44

Future

Old Media Business Models

• Full Packaged Product

• Subscriptions

• Advertising Based

• China is Different

– Piracy

– Credit Cards

– Low CPMs and Government

Super Hero Squad

46

Under Development

47

Shanghai Studio

48

Suzhou Studio

Thanks