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Video Coverage

John Gargiulo: Looking at the Potential | Casual Connect Video

October 27, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

“There is no surprise that microconsoles are coming now that the mobile core technology has become a commodity,” says John Gargiulo to his audience at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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John Gargiulo, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at BlueStacks, came to this position with over a decade of work in the field. He began his career in advertising as a copywriter with Merkley & Partners, then moved to Cliff Freeman & Partners, where he created campaigns for brands that included Snapple, Quiznos and Sports Authority. Before joining Bluestack, he launched and became CEO of Switch, a restaurant company in New York, which he expanded to two locations, 44 employees, and more than $2 million in revenue.

Learning to Love the Ride

Gargiulo describes his work at BlueStacks as an incredible roller coaster of ups and downs. Fortunately, since he has been involved with a number of start-ups, he has become accustomed to the roller coaster, and claims you must develop the right temperament to cope with it, never letting yourself become too up or too down.

Mobile games will not be trapped in four-inch phones three years from now. The living room is a massive install base just waiting to be tapped.

One of the biggest “ups” in his career came shortly after he joined BlueStacks. At the time, they were working with a PR firm that just wasn’t getting them the exposure they needed. Finally, at 10 PM the night of their beta launch, he began emailing every reporter he could think of. The result of this effort was coverage in TechCrunch, GigaOM, and many other publications. The company no longer feels any need to use an outside PR firm.

Seeing Potential, Not Popularity

Gargiulo feels the most difficult aspect of his work is getting people to see the value of something when it is not already popular, to catch the vision of potential when it is not easily apparent. He says, “You have to paint a picture of the future that is practical, but also inspires.”

He sees a parallel between the console industry in the mid-1980s and the mobile industry today.

The biggest challenge in the games industry today is growth. He sees a parallel between the console industry in the mid-1980s and the mobile industry today. At that time, there was a dip in the money developers and platforms were making. People began to assume this was the end of the business, when it turned out to be only the beginning.

Risks are Crucial to Progress

He insists that the way to meet the same sort of challenge today is by taking risks and continuing to innovate rather than replicating the last thing that offered a slight improvement. He insists, “If everyone is chasing their tail, we won’t get anywhere.”

BlueStacks is an example of the risk taking that is so essential. Gargiulo reminds us that in 2011, they were the only ones who thought Android was exciting or that people would want to play mobile games on PCs or TV. Now they have 13 million users.

Mobile Games Invade the Living Room

He believes the next big trend in the games industry will be seen in our living rooms.

He believes the next big trend in the games industry will be seen in our living rooms. He insists, “Mobile games will not be trapped in four-inch phones three years from now. The living room is a massive install base just waiting to be tapped.”

BlueStacks has now built GamePop, a mobile game console intended specifically to capture this trend and promote their developer partners through this channel.

When not occupied with work, Gargiulo enjoys being involved with all sports, particularly the sailing he grew up with.

Chocolate with a Cookie Crunch 🙂

And his sense of humor is evident when he suggests Bluestacks’ next innovation will be a Kit-Kat flavored Android phone. Why? Well, shouldn’t your phone experience be delicious?

Video Coverage

David An: Kimchi and Publishing at ProSiebenSat1 | Casual Connect Video

October 27, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

While participating in a panel discussion at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013, David An says, “We are seeing casual games being mingled with hardcore elements, so there seems to be no limit to the genre of games which can go free-to-play.”

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Mmmmmm……Kimchi!

David An describes himself as Kimchi-eating. For those of us unfamiliar with this delicacy, Kimchi is fermented cabbage with garlic and hot pepper, and is a daily part of every Korean’s diet. He is also involved with Kendo in his free time and enjoys classical jazz music, as well as the music of Mozart and Bach’s partitas and sonatas.

dave_print — David An, Director of Mobile Games, ProSiebenSat1

An is Director of Mobile Games at ProSiebenSat1. His responsibility is to build their mobile games publishing business. He has always been entrepreneurial, either with his own startups or as an entrepreneur, and sees this as the leadership profile that is needed today, incorporating execution-incorporation, low fear of failure and seeking for pragmatic and quick solutions.

Heroes War

At Casual Connect Kyiv, An announced the release of Heroes War, a mobile action RPG developed by Com2Us, one of the top Korean game developers. ProSiebenSat1 will be publishing it in all the major European territories.

The Project of His Life

An’s career goal is to steadily improve and become a better entrepreneur and leader each day. The most challenging time of his career occurred when his first startup failed. The business received huge national PR, but never monetized. He learned a great deal from the experience including the importance of business-model thinking as well as attempting to see products in a holistic fashion. He also emphasizes, “There should not be, and never is, ‘The Project of My Life.’ In the end, it’s just a company.”

He also expects Google’s domination of all aspects of digital business to occupy all our minds for years to come.

Open Ecosystems Rule

He has noticed several directions in the games industry that he believes will continue through the next few years. From the time he saw the first Android prototype, he expected it to take over because of the openness of its ecosystem, creating massive network effects. He also expects Google’s domination of all aspects of digital business to occupy all our minds for years to come. On the dark side, he notes that as more transactions are entrusted to mobile devices, users will become subject to more and more cyber attacks.

Video Coverage

Roei Livneh Sets the Bar High | Casual Connect Video

October 27, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

“Think about one pipeline for cross platform development,” Roei Livneh advises his audience during Casual Connect Kyiv 2013. “Fragmentation is inevitable so plan for it.”

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Roei Livneh is Founder and CEO of Gingee Games, a new role for him. He has been in very demanding professional environments for the past nine years, creating games and products. He has also been a product manager for teams of programmers and designers. This background allowed him to understand the nature of successful teams and companies, knowledge which is valuable in his latest role.

Gameologee 101

At Casual Connect Kyiv, Livneh announced the public beta stage of their Gamologee software (IDE V2.0). He describes Gamologee as similar to Photoshop for building games and apps. Because it is completely crossplatform, it is able to build games and applications that automatically optimize themselves, depending on the hardware they run on.

Capture — He describes Gamologee as similar to Photoshop for building games and apps.

Livneh considers himself a tech-artist, who brings together these two worlds, saying, “I love art, but I especially love it when its possibilities are cracked wide open by technology. I think technology is coolest when it unleashes our creative potential.” In the little free time he has, he enjoys digital sculpting, drawing, sports and PC gaming. The music he enjoys is country and classical because these genres help unleash his creativity.

Crossplatform FTW

Setting the bar high will get you average results, while setting the bar extremely high will push your abilities to the limit.

The games industry in the next several years will be most affected by the need to incorporate crossplatform into games, according to Livneh. Without it, fragmentation becomes a huge issue that doesn’t get better with time. He points out, “Candy Crush Saga showed us the potential of being everywhere scoring higher revenues than ever.”

The aspect of the games industry that most impacts Gingee Games is the rapid advancement of technology, particularly in the mobile/social world. An example with this are NFCs. As soon as a technology is available, the company implements it into Gamologee as rapidly as possible. They constantly monitor the tech news to see what new feature they can apply. They have already implemented NFC functionality; that is, Gamologee users can play with NFC tags in the applications they build. Livneh points out that the advantage of Gamologee is its flexibility, allowing new features to be incorporated relatively quickly. Livneh emphasizes, “It’s really rewarding being able to take a brand new tech advancement and implement it on the fly. We feel that the more we can shrink the technology barrier to a minimum, the more people can create unique apps and games.”

Discussion — The games industry in the next several years will be most affected by the need to incorporate crossplatform into games, according to Livneh.

Sleepless Nights and Pushing Hard

The most exciting time in Livneh’s career was when he created his first big hit game and saw its community grow to four million users within six months. He reveals that it took four months of sleepless nights to reach this point.

Livneh found his greatest challenge in moving from social to mobile game creation. He had developed knowledge and expertise as a game developer for the social environment, but discovered that this knowledge base did not directly translate to building games for mobile. He insists, “I overcame this by a lot of pushing and never letting go. I am lucky to have a very supportive environment, and I do my best to surround myself with good and helping people.”

He tells us that pursuing your dreams comes with a very high price tag which will challenge every bit of your character, as well as your company’s character. Surrounding yourself with people who are team players helps to get through the toughest situations. He also stresses, “Setting the bar high will get you average results, while setting the bar extremely high will push your abilities to the limit.”

Video Coverage

Kadri Ugand: The Value of Accelerators | Casual Connect Video

October 25, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Kadri Ugand provided the guidelines she uses to evaluate teams for investment suitability at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Kadri Ugand is Co-founder and Manager of GameFounders, the first game accelerator in Europe. Based in Tallin, Estonia, GameFounders focuses on startups, particularly small teams of entrepreneurs in the very early stages of their companies. They attract not only companies that build games, but also those providing gamified apps, platforms, tools, and other game-related services. The support they offer these companies includes seed capital, office space, mentoring, training, and services. She tells us that accelerators are able to bring the relevant knowledge, experience and motivation that allow startups to discover quickly whether an idea has the potential to succeed.

She explains that GameFounders is a niche accelerator, aimed specifically at gaming because they can give much more value with this approach. The teams understand what the others are doing, and the mentors and partners are 100 percent relevant. The mentors also have the advantage of seeing only teams they will potentially do business with.

GameFounder Teams — She explains that GameFounders is a niche accelerator, aimed specifically at gaming because they can give much more value with this approach.

Finding Satisfication

Ugand was attracted to the games industry because of the combination of creativity and business. She points out that many creative industries consider themselves more of an art form than a business, but the games industry is different in that it emphasizes both. And she loves the openness, helpfulness and fun attitude of the people in the industry.

The greatest satisfaction for Ugand comes when their startups launch their games and begin making their dreams come true. She cites the recent release of Oborun as an example.

Team Focused

Teaching — She emphasizes that success is entirely dependent on the team.

She is very focused on her work, claiming that when they have teams in Tallin, work is also her hobby. They go out with the teams and mentors every week, exploring Estonia with them. Ugand’s career has always been working with startups. She emphasizes that success is entirely dependent on the team, saying “Great teams can make average products great, but bad teams cannot make great products succeed.”

At Casual Connect Kyiv, Ugand announced that GameFounders is now looking for its fourth batch of gaming startups. The application deadline is December 8, 2013, and those interested can apply at gamefounders.com.

Video Coverage

Nemanja Posrkaca on Making Games Accessible for Everyone | Casual Connect Video

October 25, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Nemanja Posrkaca explained the strategy and tactics used to double their number of users while doubling the engagement rate from 2 to 4 percent at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Nemanja Posrkaca is the Community Manager at Nordeus, a leading European game developer, winning, among other awards, recognition as the best European startup of 2011, and declared to be one of the best employer in the region. The company is dedicated to providing a seamless gaming experience to everyone, regardless of the device they are using. The games they make are free and accessible to a wide range of people and their game, Top Eleven, is the most played online sports game in the world.

The Monetization Challenge

Posrkaca’s entire career has been with Nordeus. From this vantage point, he assesses one of the top challenges to the games industry as the need to maximize monetization. He points out that many regions of the world are particularly hard to monetize, some because of their culture, and others because they have badly developed payment systems.

He believes this challenge can be met through offering premium currency as an optional feature in the game while still allowing users to play the full game for free, without the need to spend any money unless they want to. At Nordeus, they responded to the monetization challenge by making Top Eleven free-to-play and making sure users would not be locked out of any content.

The success of their plan is shown through the moment Posrkaca describes as the proudest of his career. It occurred when a post on the Top Eleven Fan Page received more than 140,000 comments. He says, “It was the most exposure we had ever had on social networks.”

The Social Aspect of the Games Industry

Posrkaca realizes the importance of these social networks. He claims the biggest challenge of his career has been developing a quality strategy of creating a social media team at Nordeus. He also sees social mobile gaming as one of the most important directions the games industry will take in the next several years and recognizes the need to focus on moving the gameplay of social games to a new, higher level.

When not involved with his work, Posrkaca is immersed in watching, playing and reading about football. He enjoys listening to electronic music, saying, “It just makes me feel good.”

Video Coverage

Katia Vara: Leveraging Global Experience | Casual Connect Video

October 25, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Katia Vara shared the experience of releasing a lot of game content on a weekly basis during Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

Vara's knowledge of the world, and of how to deliver top-notch content, allows her to find the cost-effective, yet high-quality solutions wherever they are and match them with the right processes to deliver the necessary results. — Vara’s knowledge of the world, and of how to deliver top-notch content, allows her to find the cost-effective, yet high-quality solutions wherever they are and match them with the right processes to deliver the necessary results.

At Wooga, Katia Vara works with Product Leads on all their production needs, including outsourcers, licensing, and methodologies. She has always been sensitive to people’s needs, an attribute which is of great value in her work, allowing her to find better solutions and the improvements they require. Her knowledge of the world, and of how to deliver top-notch content, allows her to find the cost-effective, yet high-quality solutions wherever they are and match them with the right processes to deliver the necessary results.

Throughout this, Vara learned, “Whenever I have a personal or professional objective, no matter how hard or far away it may be, I know I can reach it with patience and motivation.”

New Technologies and Usage Patterns

At Wooga’s Adventure Studio, they focus on games that create deep immersion and an emotional experience; for example, Pearl’s Peril, where the story is at the center of the game.

Vara considers that the rise of alternative smartphone usage will greatly impact the company over the next several years. She points to using smartphones and tablets as controller devices for sports games on consoles. She also sees the potential effect of the new alternative reality devices, such as the Occulus Rift, as they can expand consumer perceptions and the breadth of experiences that content creators can deliver.

At Wooga’s Adventure Studio, they focus on games that create deep immersion and an emotional experience. An example of this is Pearl’s Peril, where the story is at the center of the game. For the future, they will need to integrate the potential of these new technologies prior to prototyping.

Although Vara does not believe there is a single trend that will greatly influence the games industry as a whole, the new technologies, combined with great minds and opportunities will definitely affect the future.

Travel Leads to Discovery

When she is not involved with her work, Vara still participates in the industry through playing console and casual browser games with her husband, who is also a producer. She travels extensively, enjoying seeing new places, meeting with friends, and visiting her widespread family. She also enjoys walking in the woods with her dog. She listens to rock music, a preference she developed in her teen years, stating, “I like the fact that you can mix different genres with rock and easily convey emotion.”

Video Coverage

Roman Povolotski: Stabilizing Success | Casual Connect Video

October 25, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Roman Povolotski discussed what it took to inspire community among his games’ players, and how that sense of community could be leveraged into financial success during Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Social networks can provide various services to engage the gamers, and in this way, increase the success of the game. At Casual Connect Kyiv, Roman Povolotski shared his experience and insight into these practices. Roman, game producer at 2realife, has an undeviating focus on games. All his time centers on game development; he claims his only other pastime is sleeping, saying, “There is so much that is interesting happening in game development right now.”

Mis-Spent Youth…or Was It?

Roman’s total focus on games began at a young age, when he was given a Nintendo. Early in the morning, he began playing, determined to save the princess, and kept playing until the game ended. He was so disappointed to find the game over that he decided to make his own games. From that point on, he was addicted. He spent years gaming, including cybersports, until he had the opportunity to begin a career in game development.

A Career That Starts with Browser Games

Artwork — His objective is to build a successful future for a game with increasing monetization, retention, and other business statistics that measure the game’s success.

In 2005, Roman began his career with IT Territory as a game developer and then lead game developer, working on browser games. The most popular of these was Legend: Legacy of the Dragons. In his current position as Game Producer with 2reallife, Roman works in the middle ground between developers and investors. His objective is to build a successful future for a game with increasing monetization, retention, and other business statistics that measure the game’s success. This requires considerable research in behavioral economics, content, and currency inflation, since the longer a game is in use, the more statistical information it will generate as the players interact with it.

The Heavens Monster — Working on the game The Heavens has taught him the importance of patience.

Three Year Success Story

Roman is currently working on two of the most massive and difficult projects of his career, learning from them every day. Working on the game The Heavens has taught him the importance of patience. He emphasizes, “The longer you are operating a game, the more time will be needed to make updates. Even if you have very high-quality features and art, you must still continue improving them or you will lose users very quickly because the market is so unstable. When The Heavens was released, social network games were just beginning, and since then, the mobile games market has grown rapidly, but users still play social games on PCs. How many social network games do you know that are still operating after three years?”

Up for a Challenge

Roman has seen many challenges in his career, but he claims, “The bigger the challenge, the more satisfaction there is when you overcome it.” He finds when 2reallife reached a new record for concurrent user sessions in one day with one of their projects to be particularly gratifying. This occurred in August 2013, after three years of operating the game. He says, “This was a hard job. There are no easy decisions when you have an online game and three years of operating it.”

Interesting Ideas are at a Premium

The greatest challenge today in the games industry, according to Roman, is the on-going need to find unique, new, interesting, and useful ideas and products, both for gamers and for the business. To meet this challenge, he believes the industry must invest more in start-ups and develop an atmosphere in which new ideas can more easily emerge. At 2realiife, they welcome each new idea and analyze whether it could become profitable for the user or the game.

At 2realiife, they welcome each new idea and analyze whether it could become profitable for the user or the game.

In the future, Roman believes the games industry will see many new gadgets, but the most consistent characteristic will be the continuing demand for interesting games.

Community is Key to Success

Roman maintains that community is a vital part of every online game. An active community has the social units that communicate, generate retention, and spread news about new content. He believes the success of the game is very dependent on the communication between gamers inside the game. Through sharing goals, gamers gain experience working and communicating as a team. He points out, “As people solve problems together, they become a real part of the game, rather than simply using the game as entertainment. If you have a strong community, you have social assets, and you increase the retention of users because they have friends within the game.”

Video Coverage

Kresimir Spes Pursues Perfection | Casual Connect Video

October 24, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Krešimir Spes showed the audience how to use video technology to create many different full frame and high resolution effects in casual games to make it more alive while minimizing memory usage at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Kresimir Spes, a self-described perfectionist, is the co-owner and lead programmer of Cateia Games, a development and publishing company based in Croatia. They pride themselves on their premium quality games for PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows8/Phone8, and have published games worldwide in more than 15 languages.

Kresimir Spes, Co-owner and Lead Programmer, Cateia Games

Keeping the Engine Running

Spes came to this position when the company was in its infancy. He claims to have had only modest experience as a programmer at the time, although his passion for games had led him to start programing at age 13. The majority of his career has been with Cateia Games, where he develops and maintains the engines and systems that are the foundation for all their games, constantly working on new platforms and ways to improve engines.

Intrigued by Free-to-Play

Currently, he is researching the free-to-play model to determine how this trend can be implemented to improve their games. Specifically, he is working with the technical aspects of integrating their existing game engines into this genre. But, he points out that because the game engines were so well-coded to begin with, it is now easier to integrate them into a new free-to-play game. As an example, he cites the free-to-play Hidden Object game they are now developing, saying, “We don’t have to code the Hidden Object engine; rather, we embed the existing engine we are already using, reducing both development and maintenance times.”

Spes is watching with interest to see how the monetization model of free-to-play evolves, and expects it will have tremendous impact on the games industry as a whole.

No one is truly the same, and you have to adapt to each individual to motivate them and get the best out of them.

Discord and Harmony, a Delicate Balance

The coding is the easiest part of his job, he maintains, and the difficult part is running the company and managing the people to keep them working in harmony and moving in a common direction. At the same time, he must secure enough work to keep everyone working, and admits it has taken him years to find the right balance of all these functions. He emphasizes, “I’ve learned that no one is truly the same, and you have to adapt to each individual to motivate them and get the best out of them. You have to make them feel happy and satisfied while still keeping them focused on the company goals.”

Cateia Games — “I’ve learned that no one is truly the same, and you have to adapt to each individual to motivate them and get the best out of them.”

One of the most satisfying accomplishments of his career developed out of the frustration he was feeling with porting games written for Windows to the iPhone. They searched for a better solution, trying several third party engines, but finally ended up writing their own. At that time, he redesigned their games to use a single multi-platform interface, rather than having each game communicate directly with hardware, allowing for easy multi-platform development. The result is that now the support for a new platform only has to be done once to make each of their games work on that platform.

Practical Passion and Perfect Coffee

Spes’s passion for perfection is just as noticeable in his leisure activities as it is in his work. He is an enthusiastic bicyclist who spends his energy on bicycle mechanics and tuning and enjoys making his bike as comfortable, practical, and pretty as possible He has continued making changes until it now fits him perfectly.

He also has gone to great lengths to perfect his daily cup of coffee and insists, “Espresso coffee is the best. Don’t settle for less!”

Video Coverage

Oleg Pridiuk: Dare to Own the Task | Casual Connect Video

October 24, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Pridiuk outlined recent success stories and explained what Unity had to offer for mobile AAA titles at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Oleg Pridiuk, Technical Evangelist at Unity Technologies, is somewhat unusual in coming to game development from a background in mobile, but not in gaming. At the beginning of the iPhone era, when Nokia and Symbian were strong players in the industry, he was a technical journalist who became interested in mobile.

Oleg at Work — Oleg Pridiuk, Technical Evangelist, Unity Technologies

Unity at the Start

The important thing is to dare to own the task. The skills needed to deliver come along, whether it is programming or wood cutting.

When he began with Unity, it was a startup, with a team of twenty. At that time, every team member had multiple responsibilities; rather than having a single job description, all team members did their best using all their skills. Pridiuk manned the camera, blogged, wrote copy, translated, fixed hardware and even reinstalled windows. He emphasizes, “The important thing is to dare to own the task. The skills needed to deliver come along, whether it is programming or wood cutting.”

Eastern European Evangelism

He became Unity’s mobile specialist, working mainly with developer relations and quality assurance. Since becoming Technical Evangelist in April 2012, his focus has mainly been on Eastern Europe, including Russia, Ukraine and Poland for sales, tech support and publishing. In Russia and the Ukraine, he established himself as a technical and business representative for Unity, and he established business relations between Unity Games China and the top Russian games development houses.

Sociality Rocks — In Russia and the Ukraine, he established himself as a technical and business representative for Unity.

At Casual Connect Kyiv, Pridiuk announced that Unity is becoming more and more suitable for large cross-platform titles.

In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding, biking, and listening to a variety of music genres from Black Metal to Rachmaninov or Tchaikowsky. He believes, “Music is an instrument, a tool. It serves certain purposes, and those differ.”

Mmmmm…Whiskey.

Before joining Unity, Pridiuk considered that downshilfting and starting a whiskey distillery in Scotland might be an enjoyable way to live. But he claims, “You cannot escape gamedev. It catches you wherever you are.” So he stays in the games industry because games make people happy, and that is a trend he can totally support.

A career in the games industry is filled with challenges, and Pridiuk’s is no exception. He points out that the biggest challenge for every fast-growing company is to grow along with it. This is difficult when change is happening so quickly. The rules, the environment, the people around you, and the product itself are all evolving in multiple dimensions. Suddenly, your company is not the same one you joined.

But there are also moments that bring great satisfaction. Pridiuk says his proudest moment was when the Unity startup was first mentioned in Engadget.

Ressurection of the Indie

Looking ahead to what is coming next is his favorite topic. Over the next few years, he foresees that video will become the new photo. He also expects to see sensors, wearable computers, and quality multi-layer 3D printing using different materials. And he believes we will see small startups taking over bigger industries, those owned by mammoth corporations today. And mandatory classes in programming and design (preferably in Unity!) will be in schools and even kindergartens. He is already beginning to see these classes today.

Video Coverage

Artur Sakalis: Opportunities in Eastern Europe | Casual Connect Video

October 24, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Artur Sakalis provided an overview of the current and future games market in Eastern Europe during Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Artur Sakalis, Head of Game’s platform at Odnoklassniki.ru, has worked in social and mobile games for a number of companies, including an earlier stint with Odnoklassniki as Head of their API Department. Currently, his work includes many different responsibilities, but he sums up his goal as finding ways to make users happy while helping developers to prosper.

Survival of the Fittest

Sakalis describes himself as a survivor, and claims, “The essence of surviving in the games industry is not a single event, but a constant process of adapting and evolving.” And facilitating this process of evolution is the major reason he becomes involved with conferences about social and mobile games.

To those working to succeed in the games industry, he offers the following advice: “Look at the statistics, adapt, and look at the statistics again.”

Intentional Success in Eastern Europe

The greatest accomplishment of his career so far was launching Odnoklassniki’s game section and helping it become possibly the most prosperous business among Eastern Europe’s games platforms. Since he had been working in the casual games business for some time, he saw how the industry had evolved and was able to predict how social games would evolve. This helped him avoid many common mistakes as he positioned Odnoklassniki’s games platform for success.

“The essence of surviving in the games industry is not a single event, but a constant process of adapting and evolving.”

Although he has experienced many difficulties in his career, he doesn’t consider any of them to be his greatest challenge, pointing out the ultimate obstacle is always the one ahead of you.

A Hard Hitter

When not involved with work, Sakalis is still connected to the industry, avidly playing PC games. When he isn’t playing games, he enjoys ice hockey and participates in a local amateur league. He also enjoys listening to rock, hard rock and metal, music genres which appeal to the action-oriented aspect of his personality.

A Cross-Platform Future

“Standardized mobile devices and the upcoming mobile internet offer a great opportunity to combine the product and service development experience.”

During the next several years, Sakalis predicts that the industry will be most affected by the symbiosis of social and mobile games. He maintains, “The casual games industry taught developers how to make high-quality products. The social games industry taught game developers to provide high-quality services. Standardized mobile devices and the upcoming mobile internet offer a great opportunity to combine the product and service development experience.”

At Odnoklassniki, they are constantly evolving mobile versions of the site and providing new opportunities to game developers for cross-platform promotion of their games. During Casual Connect Kyiv, Sakalis announced that they are opening a production unit which will help developers adapt their games to the Odnoklassniki environment.

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