For Brian Shih, creating the best games is about being “Fun driven, data informed”. He discussed what technology will change the face of mobile gaming with representatives from Unity and Google during a panel at Casual Connect USA 2014.
Brian Shih works on the product team at Pocket Gems. He says playing and thinking about games are things he would be doing in his free time anyway, so working in mobile games is a dream come true. “It’s always great to get paid for something I’d probably do for free.”
Making An Impact
Shih has worked on a number of projects while at Pocket Gems. Currently, he is working on a new title under development, but has also run a live game and worked on their platform and infrastructure teams. Before starting at Pocket Gems, he worked at Google, where he helped build Google Reader and Google Finance. Shih then realized he wanted to work somewhere where he could have a larger impact and found the mobile games industry to be a good blend of his tech background and passion for gaming. In his present position, he has used many of the product development skills and some of the more technical skills he developed while at Google.
Big Changes Ahead
Shih emphasizes that mobile gaming is going through an exciting time of big changes. Originally, mobile gaming was about porting things from other platforms to mobile for the first time. But he believes we are now on the cusp of a new phase of games that will be about native mobile games with longer lifetimes made specifically for smartphones and tablets. A mobile game’s lifetime will be measured by years and eventually decades, not days and months. These games will need fresh content delivered constantly to users. Players will expect something new every time they open a game.
Passionate About Games
Pocket Gems plans to work through this new phase by getting the best people and creating an atmosphere where they can be creative. Shih asserts, “We trust our individual games teams to build games they are passionate about and love playing. Creating something that you yourself are excited to play everyday is crucial to making the best mobile games.”
During the next few years, there are several trends in the games industry that he expects to become increasingly important. Games and entertainment will continue to be rapidly disrupted by technology. Synchronous multiplayer and 3D graphics will only increase in importance as the mobile market matures. To address this challenge, Pocket Gems has been building native mobile technologies that will allow them to rethink what is possible in gaming.
“At Pocket Gems, we realized our greatest successes have come when we created something entirely new,” he said. “This necessitates building your own tech stack from the ground up.”
Shih prefers using a PC for his personal gaming and is still playing Team Fortress 2 and League of Legends. Recently, he has been trying out WildStar. He does own a PS3, but has never been a big console gamer, especially since many of the big titles are also available on PC. He will get a PS4 or an Xbox One only when an exclusive game that is attractive enough comes out.
In his free time, besides gaming, Shih enjoys playing the guitar, DJ-ing, and reading. Usually with a Dr. Pepper nearby.
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