With the social casino business expected to grow from a $2.7 billion industry in 2014 to a $3.3 billion industry this year, Jaim Friesen, mobile games director at GSN Games, gave insights and ways to discover the leading-edge innovations that are taking this genre to the next level. In his lecture called Innovations Shaping the Social Casino Genre, which was given at the recent Casual Connect USA, he reflected that, “more sophistication around in-app purchasing, bespoke metagame features and more immersive experiences are areas where social casino games are evolving and innovating.”
Jaim Friesen leads production on GSN Grand Casino, GSN Games’ new mobile social casino app. He brings more than fifteen years of experience in casual games to this work, including director of product for Origin, Electronic Arts digital delivery platform. and director of product at Pogo.com. Recently he shared his thoughts about his work with Casual Connect.
Casual Connect: Tell us about the work you do at GSN. How did you come to work there?
Jaim: I lead the product and creative teams at GSN’s Palo Alto studio, where we make GSN Grand Casino and Solitaire Tripeaks by GSN. I wear many hats, but ultimately my job is to ensure the studio and everyone across GSN Games that contributes to our games has everything they need to make the games fun, successful and addictive.
CC: How have your past career experiences been helpful to you in your current position?
Jaim: Pogo was a great proving ground. It was this awesome mix of games from many genres and an array of fun social and metagame features that basically amounted to a big virtual amusement park. Working on most aspects of the service really prepped me for social casino and what we’re doing there with Solitaire Tripeaks and GSN Grand Casino.
CC: What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?
Jaim: I have a golf addiction that I hope I never recover from, so most weekends you’ll find me ruining a perfectly good walk (and losing a few golf balls along the way). I’m also a big book reader, one of those who has five or six in progress at a time. I’m also an avid baseball fan, so I go to lots of Giants games! Most of my “recreational” video gaming time is spent on either the latest Forza game, playing a Mario game on the Wii U with my wife or building some elaborate new home base in Minecraft just for fun.
CC: What is your favorite thing about your job?
Jaim: The two biggest things that get me fired up to go to work every day are the people I get to work with every day and the opportunity to bring some fun into our players’ days. It sounds cliché, but it’s really true.
CC: What inspired you to pursue this career?
Jaim: I – like many people in this industry – grew up playing video games and I got so much enjoyment out of them. When I had the chance to get my foot in the door, I didn’t let it get away! I didn’t necessarily know it would be my career for so long, but I’m glad it turned out that way! I’ve stayed in the game industry because there just aren’t many other fields where you can create things that are a source of fun and enjoyment for so many people. That’s really what keeps me going.
CC: Do you have any advice for someone interested in pursuing the same career?
Jaim: Just remember that you’re making games for humans, so learn about what makes humans tick. What makes them happy, fulfilled, challenged and intrigued. Learn about your players and you’ll get better at making games and experiences they enjoy (and will pay for).
CC: What are some of the challenges you have faced in your current career? How have you overcome these challenges?
Jaim: One challenge I faced in coming over to GSN Games was just how little I knew about the world of casinos (both online and offline!) and how they tick. I had to get a crash course in what players who like casino-like experiences really enjoy, and now I value all of the different ways casinos of all types scratch those itches. Fortunately, I work with a lot of smart people with vast experience and knowledge in this area, but I’ve also done a lot of my own homework and research.
CC: If you were not in this industry, what would you be doing?
Jaim: I would probably have maneuvered my way into some form of motor sports or worked in a baseball front office in some capacity.
CC: What was your dream job as a child?
Jaim: I didn’t have just one or two, I had five hundred. My dream job changed every five minutes. I wanted to be everything from a paleontologist to a fighter pilot to a car designer. I used to think that was a bad thing, but as I’ve gotten older I realize that curiosity in a wide range of topics and fields can actually be a big strength.
CC: What has been the proudest moment during your career so far? What led to this moment happening?
Jaim: Very hard to choose. If I had to pick one I’d say it’s when Pogo Gems took off not long after their launch, and we saw the player response was so positive. That was a huge bet for us with a lot of risk and a lot of tangled obstacles for the team to overcome. Seeing players really take to the things you could do with Pogo Gems was a very proud moment for everyone who worked on it, including myself. This was in 2006, so microtransactions were still really new in our market and success was far from certain.
CC: How did you become involved in the game industry? How did you make your start? What do you find to be the most fun part?
Jaim: I started at the company called TEN, which eventually become Pogo.com. I officiated online NASCAR races that were run on TEN as part of an online competition by players all over the country. I had originally planned to race in the series but learned through a fellow online racer that they were hiring for officials in my area. I applied and, to my surprise, got the job! I did that for a year before TEN rebranded to Pogo and shifted to focusing exclusively to casual web games. I got a kick out of being part of making games my mom could enjoy, and stuck with it.
CC: What do you think will be the next big trend in the industry in the next three to five years? How are you incorporating this trend into your future plans?
Jaim: I think social casino game makers, like a lot of free-to-play genres, are going to make a major shift from making games that try to get players to do what the game wants, to making games that respond intelligently to what the players want. This has been the promise of date-driven design for a long time, but as an industry we’re only beginning to learn to do it well. GSN Grand Casino is built around the fundamental concept that the game should respond to you and what you like. We’ve only scratched the surface, but I really believe this will be one of the keys to success in the next three to five years.
CC: Do you see the Apple Watch or Oculus as future platforms for social casino?
Jaim: Assuming they can achieve some scale, yes! Although I think they are pretty different from each other. One is extremely accessible but not likely to be very immersive, and the other is the exact opposite. I’m most excited by the potential they unlock for finding new ways for players to interact with the games they love, and I definitely believe the social casino genre can benefit from those.
CC: A lot of attention is paid to skill-based casino gaming; do you see opportunities there?
Jaim: I do think there are meaningful opportunities here, but there are significant challenges as well, so it won’t be easy for anyone trying to tackle this one.
CC: For social casino, is there still such a thing as an emerging market?
Jaim: Certain geographical markets may be challenging, but I think you can always introduce people to a new kind of fun, so I strongly believe the answer is “Yes.” They might just be playing other kinds or genres of games, rather than playing in another country. There’s a reason why casino games thrive and endure through the years; they scratch an itch we almost all have, so there are a lot of players out there who, I believe, just haven’t found the right flavor of casino experience yet.
CC: Other than your own … what is your favorite social casino app?
Jaim: It is probably Big Fish Casino. It has a lot of my favorite elements from Pogo, like fun communal play and a great variety of games to explore, so I feel a little nostalgic every time I play it. I also admire their efforts to overcome the steep learning curves of traditional casino games like Craps and Roulette.
CC: Are there any social casino blogs/Podcasts worth following?
Jaim: I think there are valuable lessons to be learned from all areas of the gaming industry – and even outside the gaming industry – so I tend to bounce around a lot between gaming blogs and don’t focus exclusively on social casino. If I had to pick a favorite must read from the world of gaming, it’d be Tahdg Kelly. I don’t always agree with him, but he always has an insightful point of view on the industry.
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