2012 in review: Christopher Kassulke, HandyGames

As we consider the trends of the past 12 months and look forward to the next 12 months, we've asked the great and the good in the mobile gaming industry for their opinions.

Christopher Kassulke is the CEO of HandyGames, a German studio that specialises in free-to-play games for Android and iOS.

Pocket Gamer: What do you think was the most significant event for the mobile games industry in 2012? Christopher Kassulke: I didn't see one single significant event in 2012 – it was a bunch of events during the year that shows this industry is the one to be in.

No matter if it was the 25 billion downloads milestone on Google Play or the 35 billion figure on the App Store, or the daily activated Android units worldwide of up to 1.3 million...

It was a year of the big numbers - great success cases around the globe.

What was the most significant event for HandyGames?

HandyGames has taken significant steps since our 'Mission Free' initiative [in 2011]. In 2012, we've been getting our 'Beyond Mobile' mission into place.

So, we are moving more and more towards a gaming company that supports all platforms. We are no longer just a mobile game company – we produce games that you can play on your PC, smart TV, set top boxes, consoles etc.

I am sure we will speed up that process and bring more of our games to an even bigger audience. We will deliver top quality content for free to all our gamers around the world.

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?

I played around 100 games on my iPad and my Android phone. The games that hooked me the most – that usually means that I played for longer than a day – were CSR Racing, Farm Invasion USA, Zombie HQ, Clouds & Sheep, Siege Hero HD, Where is my Water?, Critter Quitter and Guns'n'Glory WW2.

What I really enjoyed is playing together with my kids on an iPad! Kids are so fantastic and you can play cooperative on the tablet. Just like the good old days of my early PC and console gaming. It's about fun.

What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2013?

As you can imagine, we will see more and more freemium and paymium titles in the games market.

I am sure we keep on pushing our mission 'beyond mobile' to the next level. The launch of OUYA will be just another step for it.

HandyGames will also conquer the PC gaming world by releasing more and more games on that platform. We just released completely free of charge Clouds & Sheep for your PC, for instance.

Going cross-platform, and using the second screen are other trends we will push forward. So many big topics but at the end it's all about the quality of the game and creating great value for our consumers!

What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?

I am boring but I have all what I ever wanted to achieve! A great wife, three wonderful kids and an outstanding team that already did an awesome job this year!

So I would be just happy to keep on rocking the games market, and I know we will.

For the industry I really hope that sustainable and long term business becomes more important. The games business is a serious business.

So, another small resolution I would wish is that I would never hear again about crunch time in other companies. For me, crunch time just means bad management.

Thanks to Christopher for his time.