Don Geyer has 12 years of experience in games business, education, and research. He is currently the CEO of ThreeGates LLC in Visby, Sweden, which has 25 employees. Geyer discusses the current state of the game market, including the dominance of AAA franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. However, he notes the growth of independent games, mobile gaming, and free-to-play models. Geyer believes the future is in self-publishing on digital platforms and leveraging new revenue models beyond the traditional up-front payment.

1. Games Today
Engaging Your Audience Through Games

2. Don Geyer
Games Business, Education and Research for 12 years
CEO – ThreeGates LLC Visby, Sweden
CEO – Digital UFO LLC Nanjing, China
Game Research University of Uppsala
Creative Producer – Aethereus

3. ThreeGates LLC
Visby, Sweden
25 Employees

4. The Current Game Market – Week 47 Units Sold Sweden
SPELTOPPEN: VECKA 47-2011
01Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (PS3)
02Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360)
03Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword (Wii)
04The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)
05The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3)
06Battlefield 3 (PC)
07Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (PC)
08Assassin's Creed: Revelations (PS3)
09The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
10Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
11Battlefield 3 (PS3)
12Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360)
13Fifa 12 (PS3)
14Battlefield 3 (360)
15The Sims 3: Husdjur (PC)

5. The Current Game Market – Top Swedish Titles
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 EA DICE 9 000 000 2010 2011
Battlefield 1942 EA DICE 3 000 000 2002 2004
Battlefield: Bad Company EA DICE 2 320 000 2008 2010
Minecraft Mojang 3 000 000 2010 2011
Battlefield 2 EA DICE 2 250 000 2005 2006
Just Cause 2 Avalanche Studios 1 500 000 2010 2010
Battlefield 1943 EA DICE 1 444 000 2009 2010
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat EA DICE 1 330 000 2005 2010
Just Cause Avalanche Studios 1 300 000 2006 2010
Mirror’s Edge EA DICE 1 000 000 2008 2008
Rallisport Challenge EA DICE 900 000 2002 2006
Sno-Cross Championship UDS 900 000 2000 2010
The Darkness Starbreeze 800 000 2007 2010
World’s Scariest Police Chases UDS 800 000 2001 2010
No-Fear Downhill Mountainbiking UDS 750 000 1999 2010
Bionic Commando Rearmed Grin 699 000 2008 2010
World in Conflict Ubisoft Massive 650 000 2007 2010
Terminator Salvation Grin 620 000 2009 2010
Krakels ABC: Den galna dammsugaren Pan Vision 608 369 1998 2010
Krakels ABC: Det magiska äventyret Pan Vision 608 369 1999 2010
Krakels ABC: Storm över Allemansland Pan Vision 608 369 1998 2010
Backpacker 2 Aniware 600 000 1997 2010
Magicka Arrowhead 600 000 2011 2011
Bionic Commando Grin 550 000 2009 2009

6. The Current Game Market
Activision
Had Q2 Digital Revenues of $386 Million
Digital products generated $386 million (+16%
Y/Y) in revenue, accounting for 60% of the
total in Q2.

7. The Current Game Market
Big Publishers
Activision
EA
Ubisoft
Sony
Ninetendo
Capcom
Disney
SquareEnix

8. The Current Game Market
Triple AAA
Old Game Publishing Model
5 – 35 Million USD up front
Develop game for 2-3 years

9. The New Game Market
Venture Capital Investment in the Games Industry
for 2011 Doubles
In the first three quarters of 2011, game companies
have raised $1.33 billion in venture capital
In 2010, the games industry saw $589 million in
investment from VCs. in all of 2010.

10. The New Game Market
The mobile game market was
$898 million in 2010,
and will reach $1.6 billion by 2015

11. The New Game Market
Guess how many copies???

12. The New Game Market
500 million copies of Angry Birds Sold

13. The New Game Market
Mindcraft
3 million copies sold

14. The New Game Market
Magicka
600000 copies sold

15. The New Game Market
Self Publishing
Using Digital Distribution Platforms
Steam – Valve
Battlenet – Activion Blizzard
Origin – Electronoc Arts
PS3 - Sony
Xbox Live - Microsoft
Tencent - China

16. The New Game Market
Steam – 30 million users
2 million – 8 million concurrent users
http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
Tencent – 800 million users

17. The New Game Market
Free To Play Model

18. The New Game Market
World of Tanks
Wargaming.net

19. The New Game Market
Free to Play Model
People Download the Game for Free
On average 3% of the players monetize
On average they play for 9 months
On average they spend 48.00 USD per month

20. The New Game Market
Independent Games
Over 300 entries for 2012
http://www.igf.com/

21. The New Game Market
Independent Game Awards
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Minecraft, by Mojang
Excellence in Visual Arts:
BIT.TRIP RUNNER, by Gaijin Games
Excellence in Audio:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games
Excellence in Design:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games
Best Mobile Game:
Minecraft, by Mojang

22. The New Game Market
Buzz Lighyear Ride

23. The New Game Market
Added Interaction System

24. The New Game Market
Not just Interaction – But a Reward System

25. The New Game Market
Not just Interaction – But a Reward System
Also a High Score Comparison System

26. The New Game Market
Take a Normal Activity - ZZZZZZZZ

27. The New Game Market
Take a Normal Activity –
Add Competition

28. The New Game Market
Take a Normal Activity –
Add Competition
Threshhold
of Entrance
Too Scarry

29. The New Game Market
Take a Normal Activity –
Add Competition
Threshhold
of Entrance
Ok to try

30. The New Game Market
Classic Success Example

31. The New Game Market
Aethereus at GamesCom Germany

32. Aethereus

33. Project Goals
Project Goals
Self Publish on Digital Distribution Platforms
Move to F2P Model in Asia and S.America in 6 months

34. Project Goals
How do you make a game?
Design Document
Target Group
Build you Team
Get Funding
Viable Financial Model

35. Project Goals
Communicating the Game
Feature Sheet
Game Treatment or GDD summary
USP whats fun and differnet

36. Physics Based Game Play
Ragdoll
Realistic Physics whenever possible
Let the Game Engine do the work
Fun (vid)

37. The End
Coop
Procedurally generated expedition system
Customizable City-State Nexus - home base
Don Geyer
don@threegates.se
www.aethereusgame.com