Publishers, platforms and wearables: Conclusions from the Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixer @LOGIN

Following a full day of spirited discourse at the LOGIN conference in San Francisco last week, everyone headed back to the KIXEYE Death Star for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixer.

The room quickly hit capacity as the panel - KIXEYE's GM Dan Fiden, Kongregate CEO Jim Greer, Ubisoft's VP digital publishing Chris Early, Tango VP Renato Iwersen, and former EA Maxis PR Erik Reynolds - discussed issues such as the platform wars and whether marketing matters.

Moderated by Pocket Gamer's US events editor Martine Paris, and backed by an amazing spread of savories, beer and wine from KIXEYE - thanks to KIXEYE for sponsoring, our media partner LOGIN, and our on-the-spot photographers Phero Peter Nguyen, Krista Hauser and Paul Philleo (and Martine Paris) who captured all the action - check out our Facebook gallery here - a thrilling evening was had by all.

Martine Paris: Each month, we bring together the mobile game community at Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixers to introduce publishing opportunities, investors, and tools that will help developers bring games to market. So, the first question is - what are publishers looking for?

Chris Early: Ubisoft is a traditional publisher of premium games that works with third parties across a variety of platforms including mobile. We fund, we market, and we provide a producer. We work with about 10 companies a year so it's not a lot. What does it take? It takes a good game.

That's what we begin with because the reputation of Ubisoft is all about quality creative. It starts there and then we look at how we can help with monetization and acquisition. The team is super important as well because we're going to become partners to produce this game. I'd rather go with someone who has tried self-publishing first because there's knowledge that comes from that. A good example is Cloudberry Kingdom, a Kickstarter game that launched on PC that we recently picked up. They're getting more than our normal terms because our risk was reduced as we've been able to leverage their success on the PC to other platforms.

We look at games all the time so feel free to email your concept with hand art or prototype to adam.hoffeld [at] ubisoft.com. Adam will review it and give critical feedback to the team to see where it fits in our portfolio. If it passes the first bar then it goes into a meeting every two weeks where we look at a whole bunch of games and make a call. It might be hard to get through but it's not hard to get in.

Renato Iwersen: Tango is the #1 messaging app in the US with 150 million registered users of which half are in the US. Currently we have the luxury of being the only game in town but we can never ignore the other messaging apps like Facebook iOS. If the competition doesn't come from the US, it will from Asia. Kakao, WeChat and LINE have already announced their plans.

So we're growing rapidly. We have a dozen partners signed up, including Gameloft and Dragonplay, with 11 games live in the network today. We launched in August and expect to have 30 to 35 games by end of year. We believe we can help with discoverability for those small to midsize devs that don't have the budget to spend millions of dollars on user acquisition. We're currently seeking casual and midcore games that are already live, and offer a standard rev share deal with SDK integration. Devs interested should reach out to us at partners [at] tango.me and include number of downloads per day, updates planned, and details on social features.

Jim Greer: Kongregate is a free-to-play platform started 7 years ago, with over 75,000 games currently playable on the web. We're a social gaming site geared toward the core gamer with 90 percent of our users being male console players. We were acquired by GameStop in 2010 and currently operate as an independent subsidiary in San Francisco.

Six months ago we announced a $10 million publishing fund for mobile. Developers come to us with games that 50-70 percent complete with about 4 months to completion, and we help them finish the game. We assign a producer and free-to-play experts. We provide completion funds and marketing commitment.

The first two games are out and have done well; Apple even gave one of them a great feature. We're now rolling out 1-2 games each month. We're seeking studios between 3-30 people with a playable prototype that's fun for the core gamer. That's pretty broad because core gamers play word games too, so we're looking for endless runners, card games, and power defense games.

The perfect team is very passionate and doesn't necessarily look to arbitrage users per click. The devs don't need a lot of free-to-play or user acquisition experience as we bring that expertise. We know what gamers like, what they don't like and what makes them stick around. Kongregate has 19 million MAUs and GameStop has 25 million gamers in their loyalty program who spend $300 a year on console games, so when they find a game they like, their LTV is 10x what we see from the average user. We're looking for fun games that deserve to be made and we're generous with terms. Interested devs can contact the team at http://developers.kongregate.com.

Dan Fiden: KIXEYE has seen a lot of success on Facebook and destination websites with MMORTS games like Battle Pirates, War Commander and Backyard Monsters. Backyard Monsters is the first of our MMORTS games coming out on mobile, with additional games over the next six months including War Commander.

We don't strive to be first to market but want to deliver the best hardcore experiences and definitely think about the games in a platform agnostic way delivering experiences that are unique wherever you play them. Our players play for 120-130 minutes a day over the course of 2 sessions. We want to make tablet games that people can sit down and play for a half hour at a time that are cross platform and offer synchronous PVP.

Credit: Krista Hauser

I think a third party publisher is right for some [developers] but shouldn't be automatic. You no longer have to put your games on trucks to get them to Walmart so it's worth considering not going with a publisher. Many devs go to publishers for validation as publishers provide three things: development funds; a producer to help finish the game; and distribution, marketing and getting the game in front of people. However if they can't point to a third party game they put on the top grossing charts, you need to be wary of them as a publisher. Remember, many of today's publishers are bankrupt, THQ ahem.

Erik Reynolds: So I've worked for THQ and agree, hold the publishers' feet to the fire and demand value, from their marketing and PR departments to their relationships with platform holders like Apple. That's what you're paying for. I'm a huge fan of self publishing and there are a lot of platforms that can extend distribution where you don't pay anything.

It's ok if you don't know marketing and PR. It's simple, you can write a press release, just go online and download someone else's, look at the template. Press releases are old technology, everyone posts their twitter handle and email address. Know where you want your preview and review to exist and just reach out to these great folks in the media who want to see your game with a passionate email about why your game is amazing. You can do it yourself and be successful.

Paris: However, unfortunately many devs try to do their own PR and marketing, and never get coverage. Discoverability is as much as an issue with the press as it is with the App Store. The press are inundated with pitches and simply unable to see every email. Additionally devs are not always best suited to promote their own games. If you're a dev focused on making the best game possible, why divert time and effort to self publish? Not all devs know how to write polished copy with hooks, or produce compelling screens or riveting trailers. Few of them even know who to contact, let alone have the media relationships to pitch successfully or even a press list (btw, you can contact Pocket Gamer at news [at] pocketgamer.co.uk and reviews [at] pocketgamer.co.uk.)

A developer might bring passion but if they have no idea how to strategically compose the story or craft the stunt in a way that resonates with readers, they're unlikely to get coverage.

Fiden: They're are probably devs out there that don't know how to do PR and marketing in mobile. I think you need to honestly ask whether your publisher does. So unless they can demonstrate to you in a believable way that they know how to get you to chart, why give up the upside? If you're going to sign up and give a piece of your business and enter into a long term partnership with someone, then you need to trust that they're bringing something to the table that you don't have.

Credit: Paul Philleo

Greer: Brand marketing is simple, you can't measure it anyway, but direct marketing for user acquisition is a very different talent. A user is worth $3.50 and we need to find the right channels to acquire them for that money, knowing what it's going to take to make our money back on that user in three months. That's not easy and for a free-to-play game with a 10 person studio and $500,000 in the bank, and not something they can afford to get wrong.

Audience question: There are a lot of great tools that make it easier to build products but we're seeing thousands of great games that never find an audience. Building an audience over time seems key. Do you agree that audience is primary?

Paris: Yes, there are huge rewards to building community including becoming more visible to the press and attracting key partners. One million fans seem to be the magic number, but 100,000 is a great start. You can embrace fans with engaging programming on Facebook and Twitter which should be used as viral entertainment platforms. Showcase fan art, brag shots and gameplay, challenge fans to events, provide Q&A with the team, and respond positively to feedback, even when there are irate rants over bugs or server issues. By warmly addressing concerns and redirecting complaints to CS, you can turn detractors into promoters who will evangelize the brand, come back for more and bring their friends.

Greer: No question, you have to have a great audience or your game will go away quickly. The number of really good mobile games that never get above 10,000 installs is sad. I you're doing it yourself you need to ask how you will get to that first 100,000 that get you somewhere. For the right game Kongregate can help, Kickstarter too.

Paris: There's been a lot of mobile news in the past weeks. The introduction of iOS 7, iPhone5S/C, Surface 2 tablet (audience laughs) How many are excited about SteamOS and the Steam Machine? (big cheers) More than any holiday season, this one will feature a amazing array of devices which devs will be able to get their games on, from the new consoles, tablets and phones to the debut of glasses, watches, and a host of other wearables. Where should devs be placing their bets?

Reynolds: I'm not sold on wearables for the simple reason that wearables are being looked at from a technology perspective and I want something that looks cool, something that is actually fashionable, so that when I go out in public, friends say 'Those are great glasses' or 'That's a great watch'. I haven't seen that yet personally. Until they bring in designers with a fashionable eye, I don't really care for them. I'm most excited about the consoles as they will be able to touch so many more devices than ever before.

Fiden: I don't think as a business, consoles are a great place to be. It's an interesting place if you're making $5-10 million free-to-play games. I'm excited to play console games but I just don't see it as a viable business.

Paris: GTA V made a billion dollars in the first three days.

Fiden: There are certainly outliers, I'm going to buy it as well, but it's tough to plan a business around. It's still very much an iOS tablet opportunity for developers. That's where KIXEYE is very focused as it's a logical place for the hard core gamer to play long sessions.

Greer: As a business I do think the consoles will do well for about 10 publishers but it's not something I'd be excited about as an indie developer although some will do really well like large free-to-play scalable games, e.g. Wargaming. At E3, I thought the emphasis on free-to-play was the most interesting transition but there will be fewer and fewer winners and I just don't see that getting easier over time. For wearables, I'm far more excited about Oculus Rift than Google Glass. If you're going to put a computer on your face you might as well make it VR.

Credit: Krista Hauser

Early: Ubisoft happens to be one of those 10 publishers. If there isn't a new console at your house this holiday, I'd be willing to bet there will be a new tablet. Between the two, there's a lot of goodness for game devs because the tablet is a great handheld platform for game development and the new consoles are going to be disruptive. Both consoles will sell out and there will be faster adoption this time than any previous iteration. I think we're going to see in the tens of millions within a year which took a long time for the previous generation to get there. So it's a much bigger market this time.

Also, there's a lot of uncertainty in the console development market right now regarding discoverability and monetization, and that presents some great opportunities for indies. There are questions as to whether the next set of games will be $30, $60 or $80. We just saw this week that GTA V will have after-the-fact monetization and I think we'll see more of that in every game. Also, the consoles wouldn't have figured out how to highlight the best and worst games at the outset, other than alphabetically or a top ten list. If indies can get in, they might be able sweep up with word of mouth.

Paris: Will we see another billion dollar launch this holiday or is GTA V the story of the year?

Early: GTA V might be the fastest to a billion this year, but there a few that will make a billion this holiday season as well including Call of Duty [Ghosts] and Assassins [Creed 4: Black Flag], and possibly Titanfall too.

Iwersen: I'm buying a PlayStation 4 but most excited about the emergence of messaging as a gaming platform.

Pocket Gamer's US events editor Martine Paris will be moderating the Winning the Wearable Gamer panel with Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital, Charles Hudson of SoftTech VC, and Shawn Hardin of Mind Pirate at the GLAZED conference in San Francisco on Monday 30 September.

Then on Tuesday 22 October, Pocket Gamer kicks off the GMIC conference in San Francisco with the Pocket Gamer Global Game Stars track and a stellar lineup of speakers including Chris DeWolfe, Kristian Segerstrale, Ed Fries, and the CEOs and top executives of Unity, PlayFirst, Storm8, Glu Mobile, SEGA, Perfect World, Distimo, CocoaChina, iDreamSky, Gamevil, NativeX and others.

Sponsored by SGN and Distimo, the day provides a rare opportunity to mix with the leading voices in mobile gaming and a chance to participate in a pitch session to a panel of VCs and the press.

Discounted tickets are available here: http://gmic-sv.eventbrite.com/?access=PocketGamer25.

The program schedule and details here: http://sv.thegmic.com/global-game-stars-track.