2010 In Review: Dino Decespedes, Appular
2011 will be freemium minus the farming
Set up by two from US developer Freeverse, Appular started the year as a PR and marketing operation, ending it as a bonafide iOS publisher, with games such as Hand Of Greed and Push Panic to its credit.
Dino Decespedes is Appular's COO and director of publishing.
PocketGamer: What was the most significant event of 2010?Dino Decespedes: The complete takeover of mobile gaming by the freemium model. I think 2011 will be the year of freemium minus all of the farming.
Developers will figure out newer, better ways to create awesome mobile freemium experiences. Appular has two freemium titles in the works right now that we're extremely excited about.
What was the most significant event for Appular?Appular's signature wins this year were planting our flag in the mobile publishing arena while continuing to do great work as the agency of record for top studios like DistinctDev, The Playforge, and Outfit7.
What was your favourite mobile game of the year?Fruit Ninja. So simple, yet so rewarding.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2011?I think the evolution of freemium out of the farming/harvesting genre will happen. I'm very interested to see where the model goes. I have faith that developers will take the in-app purchase model and do amazing things with it we never imagined.
If you could enforce one New Year's resolution, what would it be?More collaborations between studios. As an industry, we have so many up-and-coming indies and established veterans that, in theory, these collaborations should be possible. I'd love to see studios come together on ambitious projects and combine the best traits of each studios' skill set.
At the very least, we can all sit around a big table and kick around fun ideas at GDC 2011. I'm looking at you Pocket Gamer!
Thanks to Dino for his time.You can keep up-to-date with Appular via its website.
