Bundling is a concept which is becoming a useful tool when it comes to games industry innovations. During the recent Casual Connect Europe conference, Andrew Sheppard, CEO of GREE Interactive Entertainment, discussed the upcoming innovations we can expect to see in 2017. In a talk entitled Bundling – Mobile & Social Innovation for 2017, Andrew described the importance of developers staying ahead of the curve, “One to two years on mobile is an entire generation of hardware turning over so you can’t aim at what’s in the market place today and hope to have a good product in the future.” Join Andrew in an in depth explanation of what is coming up next in the full session below.
DOWNLOAD SLIDES
Andrew Sheppard is the CEO of GREE Interactive Entertainment. Before that, Andrew spent five years helping to bring Kabam from a 30-person start up to what is now a leader in free-to-play mobile games.
“I had the fortune to work on 50-plus projects at Kabam (five of which were Top 10 grossing games on Facebook and on mobile) and over the cross of my career have worked on five different gaming platforms. That’s a lot of learning,” noted Andrew. “These experiences helped me cultivate a unique ability to see patterns within the industry and across projects oftentimes ahead of my peers or the competitive set. I think this is one of my superpowers and it is something I apply every day in my role at GREE.”
Prior to this, Andrew spent five years helping to bring Kabam from a 30 person start-up to a leader in free-to-play mobile games, having just recently sold their top game and studio for what is rumored to be $855 million USD.
“In many ways, I view the time I spent at EA as being a window into the future of what a ‘mature’ version of free-to-play gaming would become,” detailed Andrew. “The physics of industry are immutable and EA at maturity represents one way to survive and win within the category. Activision represents another. We all have a lot to learn from both companies.”
Making Connections and Stand Out
Andrew said their path to this career started when working as a consultant at Accenture after finishing up at Pomona College. Andrew had an assignment at Microsoft, where he worked in the building next to the one where the original Xbox was being designed.
“The job was hard and whenever I had to stay late I used to sneak over to the Lab to see how things were coming along,” said Andrew. “What a privilege! Those late night excursions helped me get onto the project team and later helped coalesce my desire to work in the industry.”
Because of the way things have evolved, Andrew acknowledged that people would have to take a different route to the game industry, but there are still routes in. “We’re back at a state in the industry where all the platforms have matured, and it is more about being an industry veteran or functional expert. On top of that, you have to bring passion, enthusiasm and conviction to the job if you even hope to be successful. In this context, I recommend anyone looking to get into the industry to focus on making connections and building deep functional experience. There are hundreds of people competing around the world for the same roles; do anything you can to stand out.”
Just as how entering the video gaming business has changed, so too has the mobile/social gaming category evolved. “It used to be that you could throw anything against the wall and it would make decent money and/or become a hit, but those days are far behind us,” said Andrew. “While free-to-play is now an accepted ‘mass market’ concept, the hard reality is that digital distribution coupled with gaming-as-a-service translates over time into there being too many good games in the market. This presents a challenge for us all.”
Four For 2017
For 2017, Andrew sees the free-to-play and mobile gaming industry evolving in four major ways. Those four ways are creative exits, vertical partnerships, the rise of international markets and bundling.
“King and Supercell are great examples of companies that mastered the art of the creative exit in mobile games,” said Andrew. “King went public in March 2014, and was acquired less than two years later by Activision Blizzard for a cool $5.9 billion. Tencent, the world’s biggest games company, purchased SoftBank’s investment in Supercell for $8.6 billion in June 2016, and is now Supercell’s strategic partner. This transaction took place just three years after SoftBank’s initial $1.5 billion investment. Both are incredible stories which reinforce just how important it is to have multi-platform competitive advantage in today’s market.
“As companies struggle to find growth and profitability in a market that is largely consolidating, we expect to see more specialization and by extension vertical partnerships across the industry. For example, many developers will choose to distribute their development efforts across multiple locations in order to manage costs. Vertical partnerships can come in the form of moving older games to low cost developers, IP partnerships or ‘For Hire’ development. The framework benefits new projects as well as live games.”
“In parallel, we believe the gaming industry will see the rise of international markets in 2017,” Andrew continued. “As San Francisco falls further and further away from the epicenter of the Western mobile gaming industry, we’re going to see companies like Supercell and King increase their ownership of the mid core and casual categories, respectively. We’re also going to see specific regions of the world specialize around and take ownership of entire genres of games — for example, Korean developers and MMORPGs.
“Lastly - and most importantly, is this concept of bundling or the ability to take one game and market it to multiple, non-overlapping audiences. We’re laser-focused on this concept and are excited to show you more later this year.”
Dream Game in Progress
For Andrew, the people are definitely the best part of their job at GREE. Andrew describes the company as a wonderful group of passionate workers, able to produce high class games.
“The most challenging part of game development is without a doubt getting the 100+ people that work to bring a game to life and to market to agree on what will truly surprise and delight gamers,” said Andrew. “The most rewarding part of game development is seeing all your hard work come to life. Both elements are alive and well in the context of our next game.”
“Whereas the creative process in most companies usually begins with a creative director or passionate designer, for me it starts with the customer,” Andrew continues. “What will surprise and delight our fans? What point of innovation are they waiting to see next? In this context, we see the player as our creative director, a strategy that you will see implemented into GIE’s next big launch coming this summer.”
When asked what their staff thought of them, Andrew responded, “My staff might say that I can be too hard on myself and others and at times get too in the details. On the flip side, I am pretty good at monitoring myself and only really jump in these days when help is needed.”
As for what Andrew looks for in staff members, Andrew said, “At the heart of it all, we look for people who are intrinsically motivated to be excellent at whatever they pursue — and are happy doing it. If that describes you then we’d love to chat!”
When asked to conclude with what their dream project would be, Andrew said, “I’m fortunate enough to say that we’re currently developing just that game. The project we’re working on is near and dear to me, and I can’t wait to share it with the world this summer!”
Comments
