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Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Omer Kaplan on the Best Practices for the Mobile Market in Asia | Casual Connect Video

March 18, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Omer Kaplan, CMO and co-founder of ironSource.

No one knows better than Omer Kaplan that Asia is now surpassing the West as today’s mobile epicenter. Omer is CMO and co-founder of ironSource and brings to his work experience in media buying for clients that include mobile publishers, game developers, retailers and major global brands. Omer was director of media at AfterDownload when it was acquired by ironSource in 2013 and uses this extensive experience to mentor early stage startups.

In Omer’s session at Casual Connect Tel Aviv, How is Asia Changing the Mobile Landscape?, Omer delved deeply into Asia’s growing global position and how that will influence advertisers and publishers in the future. As the mobile ecology evolves it is essential to shift focus and learn the best practices to take advantage of the changes. As he described, “Even if you are thinking you are localizing the product and you’re thinking you have the right people and you’ve translated everything, you need to be a ‘China-In’ or have the right Chinese partner to understand how to really reach and connect with Chinese users.”

To learn more about how to adopt the best practices for this market, be sure to watch the complete video of Omer’s session below.

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Contributions PR & Marketing

TROPHiT Opens Up Facebook Offers for Mobile Game Giveaways

March 7, 2017 — by Sagi Mann from TROPHiT

Facebook Offers Are No Longer Just for Brands

Value-Driven Marketing (VDM) has been part of retail for decades, however, as explored in my Gaming VDM intro, the road to its adaptation by mobile gaming has been challenging yet insightful.

In that context, Facebook Offers is a great tool to effectively target people with valuable offers. Back in 2015, convincing a mobile game publisher to use Facebook Offers as any other traditional marketing channel has proven somewhat challenging, and for a good reason they said: Facebook Offers are for brands, aren’t they? Naturally, as no industry standard existed to turn game virtual items into marketable offers (oh, and in-house attempts to do so have been too basic or too scarce), so how could any mobile game publisher consider Facebook Offers seriously as a valid channel? There was literally no accumulated marketing skills to even build a solid plan. We felt we had to pick up that glove.

Europe 2017 Video Coverage

Baris Ozistek: Is It Life Or Is It a Game? | Casual Connect Video

March 5, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

Just what is the relationship between games and life? Do games reflect real life or are our lives becoming more and more influenced by games? These are the questions Baris Ozistek considered in his session at Casual Connect Europe.

Baris is CEO of Netmarble EMEA as well as board member of StatersHub, the largest acceleration program supporting startups in this region. Baris has also been President of Turkish Digital Games Federation and a board member of Turkish Information Technologies Foundation.

In this session, Baris used several of Netmarble’s successful mobile RPG titles to illustrate how gamification is becoming more and more intertwined in our lives. As he pointed out during his session, games are no longer just entertainment and are certainly not simply for children. Games have now expanded to include such things as the Nike app for running which not only tracks your progress, but also allows you to compete with others. Baris emphasizes that, just as we have short and long term goals in life, games do the same, and offer rewards that depend on the efforts we make.

To learn more about the similarities between games and real life, watch the video of this session below.

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For more insights from Baris, see this article from Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2016.

Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Barak Levanon: Understanding People Through Data | Casual Connect Video

February 9, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

Hollywood celebrity campaign: great to acquire users, didn't effect revenues dramatically.Click To Tweet

Gaining users for games is a tough business according to Barak Levanon, mobile UA Team Leader at Plarium. Despite the challenge Barak loves being part of the fast-moving game industry where every day brings new challenges and decisions. They especially enjoy the intensity and action, in addition to working together as a team. Plarium is their first entry into the game industry and, after five years learning the agency business, it seemed like the perfect new challenge. As user acquisition is getting tougher every year, Plarium decided to partner with Hollywood actress Megan Fox - “which performed great to acquire new users, although didn’t effect revenues dramatically”, Barak shared.

Development Exclusive Interviews Indie

Suhail Habib: Make Games, Have Fun

February 7, 2017 — by David Radd

Suhail Habib is the sole game designer of 87, creating games for mobile, web, and desktop. Having worked with few resources and mostly solo, they noted that it’s a challenge to reach a level where you get success and recognition, but it’s worth it.

“My most successful game to date was a webgame I released in mid-2015, titled Drink Beer, Neglect Family. It went on to be played by several hundred thousand people, and was highly rated. When I think about what set it apart from other games I’ve created which did not go on to be successes, one thing jumps to mind above everything else: its personality,” said Suhail. “I feel that, for a game to be successful, it needs to be brimming with personality. This can manifest in either a quirky premise, striking visuals, or an interesting mechanic that is explored. This is the way small-time developers can set themselves apart from bigger studios, which are more averse to doing something that’s off the beaten path, and in turn garner some coverage as well.”

“I was inspired by a combination of elements. I was always into games and into programming, so my becoming a game developer was sort of inevitable. But here is what actually struck the spark:

Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Ron Rejwan: Mastering Prototyping | Casual Connect Video

February 6, 2017 — by Orchid

If it's ugly and people enjoy it, it will be much more enjoyable once it looks good. - Ron RejwanClick To Tweet

Jelly Button Games co-founder and CTO Ron Rejwan started learning to code at the age of 12 aiming to build games, and has been interested in it since they remember themself. At the age of 18 they were drafted to the ISR army as elite army programmer.

In 2011 Ron founded Jelly Button together with 4 co-founders, and since then has been the company’s CTO. While The Jelly Button team agrees game creation is based on feelings and instincts, they prefer playtesting at early stages to validate it. In their Casual Connect Tel Aviv Ron Rejwan explains their approach to playtesting and prototyping, and shares the tips and tricks one needs to know to follow their footsteps.

Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Amir Dori: Make Kids Happy! | Casual Connect Video

January 29, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

Games in education are not killing the passion for learning and that’s a huge achievement. - Amir DoriClick To Tweet

Amir Dori, Senior Game Designer for Matific, had strong advice: forget grades. During Amir’s session at Casual Connect Tel Aviv, he explained ways failing is important, how grading takes the fun out of learning and how games can help kids extend their potential with engaging educational content - without killing their passion for learning. Amir stressed, “They are teaching you to be afraid of being wrong rather than seeing your mistakes as an opportunity to improve. Failure is extremely important, especially for kids because if you want to better at what you are doing, you need to know what you are doing wrong.”

Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Key Insights into the State of the Social Casino Industry from Elad Kushnir | Casual Connect Video

January 7, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

What are the latest developments in the social casino industry? And what do they mean for your business and future plans? There is no one better to answer these questions than Elad Kushnir, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Playtika which delivers premium games to more than six million daily active users and twenty million monthly active users.

Elad is responsible for all M&A activity and also heads up strategic partnerships and spearheads regional growth opportunities in new market areas. At Casual Connect Tel Aviv, they provided the most recent information, from the second and third quarters of 2016, on the social casino industry. They also offered key insights into what this data means for the future of the industry. To learn more, be sure to watch the video of the full session.

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For more about Elad Kushnir, see this exclusive article.

Game Development Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Stav Goldstein: Creating and Enriching the Fictional World

January 5, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

How does using the game medium benefit the experience I want to create? - Stav GoldsteinClick To Tweet

Stav Goldstein is a freelance game designer and artist who also teaches game art at Mentor College. In 2015, Stav founded Fireberry Studio while releasing the first chapter of their title The Splitting and has since released the second chapter of the title.

Stav really enjoys the advantages of working freelance, including sticking to their own schedule and choosing to work on projects that are interesting and challenging. But there is also the disadvantage of working from home – it can be lonely at times. At Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2016, Stav shared their experience of developing their game series, as well as gave tips and tricks to the aspiring developers who also want to create worlds of their own.

Tel Aviv 2016 Video Coverage

Darion Lowenstein: Casinos, The New Gold Rush For Developers? | Casual Connect Video

January 4, 2017 — by Orchid

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Casinos have been fighting an age crisis: 21-45 year olds generally do not gamble, admits Darion Lowenstein, CMO of Gamblit Gaming. They currently oversee marketing and publishing efforts for the company’s arcade style real money games for mobile and its upcoming hardware launch in casinos. A 20-year industry veteran, Darion has produced/directed some of the biggest video games in the industry at companies like Electronic Arts, Activision, Rockstar Games and Scopely.

Darion presenting at Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2016

Now, with Gamblit, Darion is leading the charge to bring mobile and arcade style games onto the floor with products that appeal to those 21-45 year olds. With announcements like Jetpack Joyride, Into The Dead, and Catapult King, at Casual Connect Tel Aviv Darion Lowenstein discussed the benefits and difficulties of taking hit mobile games into the casino world. “I think that partner content is a better offering for customers on the floor than licensed content, when you take a movie franchise, James Bond, Brides Maids, and slap it on the slot machine”, Darion explains.

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Read more about Darion and their approaches here.

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