A Videogame Industry Exploration
State of the Industry
Where do you fit in? Really?
Games and Beyond
Pitching
Working with Publishers
What You’re Working on Now
Attract Mode
Why are we doing this and not something else?
To make money?
To innovate?
To honor our favorite games?
To entertain?
To educate?
Game Reset
Longterm & Short Term Goals
Work-for-Hire
Original IP Generation
Specialization versus Generalization
Commercial Enterprise versus Funded Hobby
VISION!!
What’s Your Game?
Founded in 2000 in Seattle, WA USA
Known for Bewjeweled, Plants Vs Zombies
Sold to EA in 2011 for $1.3B!
PopCap
Founded in 2003 in Espoo, Finland
Known for Angry Birds
2012 Revenues = $203M
Over 2X their 2011 revenue!
Rovio
Founded in Jon Burton ~1989 in Knutsford, England
Known for the LEGO video games
Sold to WBIE for $250M in 2007
Wait til you hear what Jon’s up to now
Travellers Tales
Design Approaches
Knowing Your Audience
Monetization
Pro Tips!
Game Time!!
Core Mechanic Simple & expandable
Games as Service Program it like a TV series
Original versus Adaptation The benefit of refinement
Angry Birds Candy Crush Saga Tentacles
Narrative Context Emotional Goals versus Numerical Goals
What Is It?
Identifying your audience
Something for everyone = nothing for no one
Where and when are people playing?
What are your audience’s non-game behaviors?
Game audience versus purchaser
Community building
Who Is It For?
What does it all add up to?
What will excite people?
What’s NEW?
Secret sauce!!
MAGIC!!
Why Should I Care?
App-roach
Free-to-Play
Premium
Paymium
DESIGN for monetization before you are made to!
Publisher perspectives
How Will I Make Money?
Don’t skimp on music and SFX!!
Don’t let any part of your experience be mediocre
Beware of outside influences to your game design
Engine/Middleware
Platform feature integration
Publisher bias
Prototype
Usability test FOR REAL
Pro Tips!
The power of interactive experiences
Changing the perception of the industry
Getting the industry over itself
New audiences
New forms of entertainment
Educational tools
Creating greater opportunity
No More Games
Traditional Publishers Scale Issues Fear of cannibalization Blockbuster Franchise Mentality
Mobile Publishers “Native to platform” Constantly evolving Asian flava!
Social Publisher/Developers Moving from Facebook to Mobile Increasingly license-based
Entertainment Publishers Moving from Console to Mobile Licensing has collapsed More in-house production
The Publishing Landscape
Gree Free-to-play ONLY using their methods
Tencent Chat-based play (WeChat)
Halfbrick Arcade-action, quality art production
Scopely Social games (… With Buddies)
SuperCell Zynga of Mobile
Mobile Publishers
Funtactix Primarily licensed Hunger Games, Mission Impossible Starting to work with external developers
Kabam Broader portfolio, but increasing licensed IP
Lord of the Rings, Fast & Furious
Pushing into Casino Games Primarily internal development
Zynga Original IP Diverse portfolio, from social to casual to mid-core to casino Starting to work with external developers
Kixeye Host their own games Original IP Mid-core games
All are transitioning, some more painfully than others, to mobile
Social Publisher/Developers
Most chasing extending Franchises to mobile EA Sports (Electronic Arts) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega) LEGO Harry Potter (Warner Bros.) Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft)
Limited original & licensed Smurfs’ Village (Capcom) Hasbro Board Games (Electronic Arts) Addicting Games (Nickelodeon) Nutty Fluffies Rollercoaster (Ubisoft)
Platforms (i.e. MS, Sony, Nintendo) Second-screen focus
Xbox SmartGlass Wii U Gamepad PS Vita
Traditional Publishers
Usually a Mix of licensed and internal production World War Z
Paramount Digital Entertainment
Iron Man 3 Gameloft (licensed from Paramount)
A LOT of reskinning of popular mobile titles Angry Birds Rio Temple Run: Brave Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots
More deal flexibility Low MGs Rev share deals Co-Productions
Internal Production budgets high But quality expectations are high, near console level Most Studios expect free-to-play and history of monetization success
Digital Entertainment Divisions
Banks
Schools
Advertising agencies
EVERYONE!!
Who Else Needs Games?
Flavors of Potential Partners in Hollywood Entertainment Studios
Some have several divisions Different IP managed by different personnel i.e. Viacom = MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount & Dreamworks
Production Studios Control their own IP
Waterman (Alvin & the Chipmunks) Technicolor SD Entertainment
IP Creators Authors Animators Musicians
Hurray for Hollywood!
IP Immersion Research IP on web Watch episodes/films analytically
Including credits
See “The Matrix” of an IP What are consistent elements of each episode? What do characters NEVER do? What is its core audience?
And what is its audience for different media?
Artist adaptation Be able to reliably replicate an animated style Have POV on adaptation of a live action property Have POV on adaptation related to platform
The Wind-Up…
Presenting Yourself Clear Vision and Value Proposition
Short Presentations Answer 4 questions:
What Is It? Who is it For? Why Should I Care? How will it make money?
Other Considerations Prototype if at all possible Demonstrate your affinity for the IP Ensure pitch materials are IP and audience-appropriate Be flexible but not wishy-washy
The Pitch
Contracts They suck and take a long time Work may start before signed contract
Production Make friends with your producer! Prepare for the review process
Brand management Creators General bureaucratic gang bang
Deliver what you promise Manage your time and budgets properly!
You Got the Gig, Now What?
And Here You Are!