USA 2015Video Coverage

Steve Meretzky: What’s Happening With Casino Games | Casual Connect Video

October 20, 2015 — by Catherine Quinton

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USA 2015Video Coverage

Steve Meretzky: What’s Happening With Casino Games | Casual Connect Video

October 20, 2015 — by Catherine Quinton

Don’t be a jerk. Nobody wants to hire a jerk.Click To Tweet

During Casual Connect USA, Steve Meretzky was a part of a roundtable discussion where they brought their highly-respected and long-running analysis of the free-to-play game industry to a brand new format. This session focused on level-based puzzle games (for example, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Gummy Drop).







SteveinTuxSteve Meretzky, Vice-President of Creative at GSN Games for the past two years, came to this position with thirty-two years of experience in the games industry. Even though he did not plan for this career, he originally intended to be an architect but says the program at MIT quickly cured him of that inclination. So, he graduated in construction project management and two years later he made the leap to the games industry, inspired by “a deep desire to do anything other than construction project management.”

Making Games and More Games

Steve’s first step into the industry was as a tester for Infocom. Then just one year later he transitioned to designer and has been designing games ever since. While at this adventure game company, his titles included Planetfall, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (with Douglas Adams), Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Zork Zero. Since then he has co-founded Boffo Games and held senior creative positions at Blue Fang, Floodgate Entertainment and WorldWinner.com. Before coming to GSN Games he was VP of game design at the Disney company, Playdom.

PlanetfallIn his career, Steve remembers that the greatest satisfaction occurred while he was making games to be sold in retail stores. The games were generally sold in a box containing a map or another printed piece necessary for the gameplay, as a way to discourage piracy. One of the games Steve developed included such a map, but when the game said to refer to the map it also included this parenthetical note: “(If you have pirated the game and don’t have the map, you can print out a copy by going to your system prompt and typing >FORMAT C:)” Later he found out that someone who had pirated the game actually did it. (The actual number of users who used this advice remains a mystery.)

The super casual players are the ones Steve sees gravitating to the social casino world of GSN. Luckily though, his experience with free-to-play gaming and casual audiences at WorldWinner.com and Playdom prepared him for GSN players. WorldWinner, where he worked from 2000 to 2005, is the company that evolved into GSN, so in many ways moving to GSN was like coming home for him. Even many of the people he knew were still working there. Perhaps it is no surprise that what he enjoys most about his current position is the people, calling them a great team and a great culture.

The Future of Casino

steve-casinoIn the four years since the wire act was repealed, non-regulated social casino apps have remained predominant over online gambling. Steve notes that the states which have legalized online gambling are primarily those that already have plenty of land-based gambling, such as Nevada and New Jersey. So online gambling does not really offer much more. Not until states without access to land-based gambling legalize online gambling will it be possible to assess the kind of impact it can have.




He does see opportunities for social casino, particularly in the emerging markets outside North America and in genres other than slots, bingo and poker that are less crowded. On the other hand though, opportunities in new platforms like the Apple Watch or Oculus are still limited by low penetration in traditional demographics, namely female demographics. He believes there may be possibilities in the future for Apple Watch or less expensive competitors, but considers it more difficult to predict what may happen with virtual reality headsets.










Interestingly, Steve does not see much competition coming from skill-based casino gaming because competitive skill players and casino players are very different personality types.

Steve has a number of interests of outside his work. His enjoyment of games is very evident; he plays many of them, especially board games. He also reads a lot, particularly science fiction. He enjoys watching baseball and movies and describes himself as a “political junkie.”

Steve’s Advice

He offers this advice to anyone interested in a career developing games. “Don’t major in construction project management!” He insists it is necessary to develop curiosity about everything and to learn good research skills. As well, play many games and deconstruct them. Finally, “Don’t be a jerk. Nobody wants to hire a jerk.”

 




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Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton is a staff writer for www.gamesauce.org. Catherine loves her hobby farm, long walks in the country and reading great novels.

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