Keeping the Promise of Casual Games:
Entertainment for Everyone
John WelchCEO, PlayFirst
Casual Games Summit @ Game Developers Conference08 February 2008
about me
• Degrees in Math & C.S.• Career in product management• SEGA (SegaSoft Networks): 1998-1999• Shockwave.com: 1999-2004• PlayFirst: 2004-present• Almost 10 years in casual games
casual means accessible
Is the game accessible to a “significant number” of people?
• attractive theme?
• friendly to new / occasional users?
• fun enough to do again / bring friend in?
casual means accessible
Is the platform accessible to ‘everyone’?
Physically: Do most people want to buy it? Can they find it in a store/online?
Socially: Do most people want to play it, tell their friends about it?
Mentally: Do most people feel comfortable, or are many intimidated?
Behaviorally: Do most people have time for this?
is mobile casual?
Conservative view today:• Neither is yet ‘casual’ • because everyday folks don’t
download games on their mobile phone
Future: • Everyone has one everywhere all
the time… • and uses it for apps & games• doesn’t get more accessible than
that
Everyone has one
Even buy-1-get-3-free support games
are consoles casual?
Conservative view today: • Exceptions, not rule• Only kids buy/play console games • Consoles not emotionally available
to adults
Future: • Entire family accesses interactive
media via some box connected to the television
Grandparents are playing Wii Sports with their grandchildren.
Reality today: • 76%of American’s have PCs• 238 million U.S. Internet users• Most exceed casual MSR’s• Most play casual games• And then there’s WoW on a
$6500 Dell XPS 720
$6,496
$349
pc: most casual + most hard core
“the internet” ~= “America”
all people read, watch, listen
• to diverse genres of media
• on diverse ‘platforms’
• are games really different?
a neat idea
• “Games” have always been for everyone.– But “video games” never were.
• Let’s make video games a universal form of entertainment!!!– This sort of just started happening in the late
1990’s w/ Pogo, Shockwave, Yahoo, etc.– We put a label on it: “casual games”
• 5 years ago “we” all fit in one room
we are making progress
• Our customers truly are ‘everyone’– 28% of the total worldwide online population are “gamers”
[Comscore - May, 2007]
• Gaming is the #1 activity (length of time) on the personal computer– 34% of all adult Internet users play games weekly
[Parks Associates - 2007]
• Even game development teams are becoming more diverse– 26% of PlayFirst game production staff is female
[I counted]
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Year
$ (b
illio
ns)
good money here
$12 Billion MarketN.A. Game Software:
6% growth (ESA)
$10 Billion Marketw/ 35% growth rate
$5 Billion MarketCGA: 20% growth
Are we done CATEGORICALLY?
• Demand ($$$) has always been on the console
• Supply coming from two directions
• Are we getting squeezed out? Maybe our turn is simply over!?
we are the future!
Retail publishers + platforms great at serving core audience• Don’t get the web will make mistakes we already made• Budgets, schedules, thinking are all wrong can’t do it small
…even though this is a tech-savvy part of the country… I guarantee you that we don’t have 50% penetration into
the Bay Area homes with video game consoles…
Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, San Francisco Chronicle Jan 2008
how long do we have?
… they’re too hard, they’re too expensive and they’re too intimidating, I’ve never played with a controller, the
game comes up and I have no idea what I’m doing …
Everyone loves playing games. I don’t care who you are. Yet we put a barrier in this industry (for) people who didn’t grow up … with a controller in their hand.
what a few smart people can do
• Dwarf best console innovations like Dance Dance, Guitar Hero, Wii Sports• All created by a few founders who are now really wealthy
• Internet = platform where YOU can innovate w/out permission– where YOU have advantages over the big players.
2007 Highlights
• 6,000 Diner Dash clones• 2,000 Mystery Case Files clones• Philosophical dilemma over is the “3-in-a-row” dead• Real innovators are cloning Club Penguin
not good enough
What did we do to grow this market???
our customers agree
Customer Poll:Are you happy with the creativity and innovation in casual games today?
No, they all seem
the same to me”8%
Source: PlayFirst.com survey – warning – not a highly scientific approach!
Casual gamers want more innovation!
“Absolutely, I find new games all the time”42%
50% “Occasionally I’ll find a gem of a game:
Customer Poll:
How do you feel about current purchasing options for casual games?
“I’m happy with the $20 model”
“I want different options,
such as subscription
or pay-per-level:”
28%
71%
The majority of casual gamers want more innovation
how about our business model?
some progress here
• PlayFirst:
– Diner Dash: Hometown Hero
• Multiplayer, avatars, episodic content
• Only 1 out of 30 games we published
• Only 1 portal would launch it (Yahoo!)
– PlayGold stored currency
• WildTangent
– WildCoins ad-friendly micro currency (see next slide)
rationale for lack of innovation
• Portals won’t let us innovate; they only want stand-alone $20 games
• Our customers are happy; they don’t want anything different.
• Reality = innovation is difficult
please consider
• Portals– Differentiate your service.– Share the customer.– Say ‘yes’ to the innovators. Say ‘no’ to the cloners.– Limit participation to allow suppliers to recoup
investments.
• Publishers– Take all financial risk: higher budgets, lower royalties– Build YOUR brands: story, characters, ongoing content – Invest in innovation: “genre filler” OK, copy not OK
• Developers– Be the artist, not the banker.– Beware the glut!
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