At Casual Connect Europe, Stephanie Llamas announced the release of several new reports that analyze the mobile game space. Last month, they launched a syndicated monthly report on the CPI or cost per install for both mobile and social games. As the mobile market matures, publishers must think about the competitive environment and allocate resources accordingly.
Stephanie Llamas is Senior Analyst for Consumer Insights at SuperData. She started at SuperData while in the middle of writing her Master’s thesis on video games and social groups. When, by chance, she discovered the posting for the job, she quickly realized it was a perfect fit for her, as she had always been enthralled with how media is evolving in a digital world. Before graduate school, she worked in digital advertising so her current specialties, the mobile and social worlds, were not new to her. She insists, “Being able to marry my academic interest in video games with my career experience has been incredibly fulfilling for me.”
She loves what she does, saying that becoming Senior Analyst with SuperData was the proudest moment of her career. And managing her team and being asked to speak at conferences as an industry expert is her dream come true.
A Video Game Fiend
Llamas is a self-described video game fiend, playing on Xbox 360, iPhone, and Facebook regularly. She grew up with consoles; they have been the primary way she connected with video games most of her life. But before she had her first console, the Nintendo 64, she watched a lot of TV. Being able to connect her love of TV, with an interactive gaming device that allows her to participate in the world inside the screen, gives her a feeling no other platform has been able to match.
Currently, she has just finished Bioshock 2 for the first time, and is replaying Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite (this is her third time each). She also dabbles in GTAV Online game play, and Mario Kart 64 is still one of her favorites. Her research focus on mobile has her playing five to ten games simultaneously on her iPhone or iPad. Her mobile list includes some great new games as well as some classics: Device 6, Strata, Cut the Rope, Amateur Surgeon 3, Ski Safari, Risk, and Papa Pear Saga.
When not immersed in gaming, Llamas is hiking and rock climbing and loves to travel. Recently, she climbed La Mojarra in the Colombian Andes, and she has more adventures planned for this year.
A Non-Traditional Take on F2P
Llamas claims the rise of colossal games like Candy Crush Saga and League of Legends completely changed her view of free-to-play games and their role in her research. Mobile games are now earning revenues that equal and surpass those of blockbuster console games. League of Legends has completely changed the landscape of computer games and the future of eSports. She believes we are seeing free-to-play emerge in all video game platforms.
SuperData is incorporating the insights they gain from free-to-play in areas that have not previously emphasized these games. Currently, they are developing products that incorporate their analysis of the free-to-play world in non-traditional places such as an eSports report and a report on console micro-transactions.
Llamas insists, “Free-to-play is a wonderful way to experience the creativity inside so many new and interesting games. It’s great to be invited to enter a new world and have the choice to hang around or leave at no cost.” She maintains that when players face no financial consequences they are free to experience the world as they choose. Because they determine which items to purchase, they also choose the aspects of the games that best fit their game play style.
However, she feels it is disheartening for players to love a game but have their game play limited because they can’t contribute a steady stream of funds to it. Some games do a great job of straddling the line between free and paid, but others strain the game with constant payment requirements and advertising interruptions.
Analyzing the Game Industry
Llamas believes the next big step for the game industry is the streaming of video games onto consoles the way Netflix and Hulu Plus stream movies to TVs. Games are already transitioning to digital; this will continue to increase as more devices support it. Playstation Now expects it to be in place in the US this summer. She says, “There is a clear demand for digitalizing game play and as more people jump on board with TV on-demand, gamers will want game play on-demand as well.”
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