In his talk, delivered at Casual Connect USA, Jon Radoff discussed how the landscape for mass-market games has evolved in recent years and how the intersection of social, mobile and community has impacted our industry. Disruptor Beam has found that success can come from recognizing the power of people, communities and fandom. Jon spoke on both Game of Thrones Ascent and Star Trek Timelines and how other game companies can also harness the power of community to succeed, as well as how to grow and enhance these communities through connected game experiences. In reference to rentention, Jon pointed out, “Are your users really sticking around? In my view, returning only 24 hours later is not retention. That’s a misnomer. Real retention is a week, two weeks, a month, even a year later.”
Jon Radoff, an entrepreneur who focuses on the intersection of the internet, entertainment and social communities, is the founder and CEO of Disrupter Beam. Jon founded Disruptor Beam in 2011 because he wanted to disrupt the games industry by doing things differently and to get back to his roots of making games.
Jon’s interest in games began early, and by age seven he was already making his own games. But beyond his personal love of games, he is inspired by the potential for creating a game experience that may impact millions of people’s lives. He reveals, “Envisioning the creations of a product that can connect people through a shared game experience – that is powerful and is what inspires me most today.”
He hasn’t always been involved in the games industry. His first company was a game company, but he followed that with two internet-related companies before starting Disruptor Beam. Through all his work, his goal has been to impact millions of people through technology and the internet,and he insists, “I’ll always be involved in tech, as long as I am able.”
As a lifelong entrepreneur, Jon has discovered there is no template to success. He emphasizes the need to frequently transform and adapt based on current needs of the company and the market. And, while what he has learned from past experiences is helpful, it is even more important to look ahead to the needs of the market.
Authentic Games that Impact Millions
At Disruptor Beam, the focus is on creating “story-driven, social and authentic games for communities of passionate fans.” They bring the worlds of such popular properties as Game of Thrones and Star Trek to life with game experiences that span social networks, mobile devices and tablets. In the two years since they released Game of Thrones Ascent, this game has gained millions of players. Their next release, Star Trek Timelines, will be available later this year.
Disruptor Beam has always been a free-to-play company, and Jon is committed to the belief that a game should prove itself to players without requiring any upfront payment. He sees it as a huge opportunity when people try a game before buying anything and points out that the free-to-play model allows the company to continue adding content, which will extend the life of the games. For example, even though Game of Thrones Ascent launched thirty months ago, many, many people are still playing it. Jon believes if it had been released as a premium game it would have had a shelf life of only a few weeks before players moved on to other things.
An Amazing Team
The greatest enjoyment, the greatest challenge and the greatest pride Jon feels in his work all center around the Disruptor Beam team. He describes them as an all-star team currently consisting of forty-five talented gaming experts, engineers, data scientists, scalability experts, artists and marketers from six different countries.
Jon emphasizes that greatest challenge for every startup is building the right team to address a need in the market and then constantly raising the bar for them. During his carrier, he has seen the right team accomplish nearly anything. Other challenges in the games industry, such as acquiring customers or financing the operation can only be met by using your people.
For these team members he looks for people who are authentic, that are dedicated to continuous improvement and that are highly effective in their work. The most difficult people to find are those who are able to look beyond their core competencies to see the bigger picture of the company and identify how they can have the biggest long-term impact. But he insists his favorite thing about his work is “being able to assemble amazing teams of talented people who accomplish amazing things.”
Play the Game and Test Early
Game testing starts in the very early stages of game development at Disruptor Beam. Jon feels it is essential that developers become avid players of the game, “Otherwise they are just cranking out code without an understanding of the bigger picture.” It is important to him to have the entire team involved in testing so, for example, an engineer will also be thinking like a game designer. This type of game testing has been very effective for them.
One of the most satisfying reactions they have had while game testing came when they debuted Star Trek Timelines at the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. As Jon describes, “So many of the people looked at it and just said, “Wow!” When they see the 3D graphics and realize they are playing the game on a tablet, that reaction has been great to see.” One of the goals with Star Trek Timelines was to raise the visual bar for a mobile game, and these reactions indicate they are well on the way to succeeding.
Painful experiences also accompany the development process. An example was the process of porting Game of Thrones Ascent from web-only to mobile devices. Jon recognizes that poor technology decisions early in the process of development had painful effects later in the project, but this also provided a learning experience; for Star Trek Timelines. They have switched their technology platform so that porting to multiple devices is more seamless and less time consuming.
Multiple Billions of Mobile Gamers
What’s coming next? Jon points out that today there are seven billion mobile carrier subscriptions around the world and nearly 100% market penetration for mobile phones in certain markets. He expects the nearly one billion mobile gamers will soon increase to multiple billions. In anticipation of this movement, Disruptor Beam will continue its focus on the mobile game market. Production values, depth of game experiences and social capabilities in-game will become ever more sophisticated, so the company is planning for its part in this evolution of the games industry.
Jon’s passion for games extends into his free time; whenever he has a spare minute he is playing on his tablet or computer. But as a CEO and a father of four-year-old twins, he has seen these moments and becoming more and more rare.
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