At Casual Connect Europe, Alexandre Zambeaux presented The P(l)ayers Survey, showing web-based free-to-play developers the key insights concerning monetization. These insights help developers understand how players pay, why they pay, and how they should take this into consideration.
Alexandre Zambeaux is Head of Key Accounts and Business Development at HiPay, a company of HiMedia Group. Zambeaux became involved in the game industry ten years ago when he joined Ubisoft working in the EMEA marketing department, and he has been in the industry ever since. His greatest satisfaction in this career comes from creating new lines of revenue for the companies he has worked for. He attributes these successes to the curiosity that keeps his mind open and active.
At HiPay, he is in charge of Key Accounts within the game industry, assisting their partners to grow their revenues and to use new payment solutions in developing markets. His previous career has been very helpful in the work he does now since he has been in charge of marketing, business development, and monetization. As a result, he can better understand the partners’ needs and be proactive with them.
Playing is a Requirement
He tells us the most fun thing about the game industry is that you get to play games at work. In fact, you have to play games! He especially appreciates this industry because it links business with cool products and is filled with young, enthusiastic, and talented people. He emphasizes that he finds the people he works with a constant source of inspiration.
Zambeaux finds his motivation comes from the way the game industry is constantly growing and innovating. He points out, for example, it is almost the only industry that has successfully taken the digitalization turn.
A Gamer Through and Through
When Zambeaux is not involved with his work, his most enjoyable time is spent with his children. He also plays golf, basketball, and, of course, video games.
He regularly plays World of Warcraft on PC and has just finished GTAV on PS3. He also plays Clash of Clans on iOS. These are all games that he can play for hours, losing himself in their worlds. Zambeaux tells us he really enjoys PS3 for its action, FPS and sports games when at home, and iOS while on his daily subway ride. He has used an iPhone for years, so he naturally prefers iOS to Android.
And where does he play games? Clearly almost everywhere games can be played, even at Machu Picchu in Peru.
What the Future May Hold
In the next few years, Zambeaux believes the big trends will be cross play and streaming services like Playstation Now. He also expects to see constant growth in the free-to-play model. And the way people view the game industry will change as games become available on more and more devices. HiPay is anticipating this development by working with companies to be sure they can monetize any content on any platform with the right payment tools.
