2010 In Review: Shainiel Deo, Halfbrick
Freemium and Android will be the trends for 2011
Considering the success Australian developer Halfbrick has had the App Store, it took a surprisingly long time to get started.
With a history in handheld gaming, its first release was a port of its PSP Minis game Blast Off, released in March 2010.
Closely followed up by multi-million seller Fruit Ninja, the studio also released Age of Zombies and Monster Dash on iOS during the year, before taking Fruit Ninja to Android and Windows Phone 7.
Shainiel Deo is Halfbrick's CEO
PocketGamer: What was the most significant event of 2010?Shainiel Deo: The most significant change was the rise of freemium content. The rapid shift from paid to free content claiming a lot of the top spots in the grossing charts has certainly been an eye opener.
For Halfbrick, this means making sure that we understand how to develop, market and monetise freemium games before the next wave arrives and swamps the paid market.
What was the most significant event for your company?The launch of Fruit Ninja for iOS was without a doubt the most significant event for Halfbrick in 2010.
It put the company on the map and provided us with some fantastic exposure including an appearance in an iPad commercial, as well as enhancing our relationship with Apple.
What was your favourite mobile game of the year?I may be biased but I'd have to say Fruit Ninja. I'm still playing it regularly eight months after its release and the new updates such Arcade Mode and online multiplayer keep the game fresh.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2011?Establishing Android as a viable platform for developers will be very important for the industry in 2011. Android has enjoyed a lot of success this year in terms of gaining market share but that hasn't really translated into a strong revenue stream for developers.
Hopefully the problems with device fragmentation, flakey marketplaces and poor payment options will soon be a thing of the past and we can all just concentrate on making great games for Android.
If you could enforce one New Year's resolution, what would it be?Discoverability is a big part of ensuring that quality games are recognised.
Even though developers should be doing a lot more to market their titles, it's important to have a good ecosystem and appropriate community involvement to give truly excellent titles a chance to become known.
Thanks to Shainiel for his time.You can keep up-to-date with Halfbrick via its website.
