Youtube video of panel (unpublished link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BAMvV-WoZc
Last week at the GDC 2015, I had the pleasure of holding a panel with three gaming executives to discuss what happens beyond the design and development of a game. We know the big players in gaming are not guessing their way to app rank, so I decided to sit down and ask them how can one succeed in the competitive gaming market. My company and I were especially interested on behalf of indies and small teams who have a limited budget for growth.
The panelists, chosen for a level of diversity in their approach to app store success, included: Andrew Sheppard, the Chief Operating Officer of GREE, a company which has massive scale of 1.5x the size of Zynga, 3x the revenue of Kabam, and 4.5x the revenue of Glu. We also spoke with Bryan Davis of Big Blue Bubble, the largest independent games developer in Canada, with a suite of children’s games in excess of 100 million users to date. Lastly, we had the pleasure of chatting with Stuart Westphal of Hitcents, the company that brought us the HanxWriter App, in collaboration with Tom Hanks, which held the #1 spot in the app store when launched and is a winner of multiple Webby Awards for various games.
Certainly, these three would have something to add on the topic of driving gaming growth. Here were the top 5 takeaways from our conversation last week:
1. Paid Beta Tests for Indie Devs
Rather than spending money on user acquisition, which all three panelists discouraged for the up and coming developer, focus on paid beta tests instead. This way, the developer will get to know what is working in the game by receiving direct feedback rather than worrying about acquiring users who may not be happy (or addicted) to the game mechanics.
2. Consider partnering with a brand
We’re seeing this trend for the larger publishers and it’s creating a desirable cycle of downloads and press. Westphal strongly encouraged partnering with brands and celebrities, both small and large, however, cautioned developers on the aspect of listening. The brand and/or celebrity is bringing serious value to your game and the developer should be prepared to cater to their needs both pre and post-launch.
3. High Value Users
If you know your high value user, you will never be short on revenue. It’s one of the simplest equations in customer service, and one Big Blue Bubble has perfected, with a steady increase of 1 million new active users per month on a game series launched in 2012. We’ve seen the same equation across other industries, where the top 10% make 90% of the money. This is also true of your users, and getting to know the top 10% which make your company profitable, is more advantageous than knowing the entire 100% of your user base.
4. Multiple Touch Points
The industry is a little user acquisition crazy right now, with everyone seeking the first point of contact, and not focusing enough on multiple touch points throughout game play. The key to going viral, according to Westphal of Hitcents, creator of multiple viral games, is to design a game with touchpoints in order to keep your users engaged and addicted.
5. Reach Global Scale
To reach scale, Sheppard of GREE explained his company has teams situated globally, and these teams update the game for each individual market. Sheppard emphasized the importance of localization as a key component to reach scale. Both Davis and Westphal agreed, also emphasizing the importance of culturalization, stating this would help the game resonate with a local audience.
Smaller teams, it was pointed out, can achieve global scale by focusing on one or two global markets. By first analyzing user data for the top two or three non-native markets where the app is gaining traction, the indie developer can then individualize for this market by localizing in the language and also culturalizing per the customs of the geographic region.
