Ten dos and don'ts for TV companies making games

Five dos & don’ts of making games
Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival 2010
Nicholas Lovell
GAMESbrief

Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief
Author, How to Publish a Game
Director, GAMESbrief
Clients include Atari, Channel 4, Channelflip, Firefly, nDreams and Rebellion
@nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief

Five don’ts of game development

1. Don’t rely on licences
“A licence is only as valuable as the amount it reduces your marketing costs”
Alice Taylor, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4
Existing IP:
Slows down development
Makes taking risks harder
Brings built-in audiences
Can be an effective monetisation strategy for a tv brand
Using licences is not a no-brainer

2. Don’t spend too much money
You don’t need to spend tens of millions of dollars to launch a game anymore
So why would you?
Unless you are *really*, *really* sure of yourself, keep it small, test and iterate

3. Don’t spend too much time

4. Don’t think about revenue *after* the design
“If a game is built around a business model, that’s a recipe for failure.”
- Dave Jones, designer, APB
I see eight different revenue streams
Dave Perry sees 38
Each one needs a different style of gameplay
No time today but key insight:
virtual goods are about STATUS and FEELING, not possession and ownership

5. Don’t forget it’s a game
Games are not movies or TV shows
Games are not linear
The tension is in the player’s head, not on the screen
What games do best:
Choices
Dilemmas
Engagement
Immersion
Please, no interactive movies
Average rating: 16%

Five dos of game development

1. Know your platform
Open
Closed
www
Inbetween
Largest audience
Best virality
Low consumer barrier to entry
Conversion is hard
Competition is growing
Niche audience
Expensive marketing
High barrier to entry
Strong propensity to spend
Competition is, if anything declining, but that’s because it’s hard
Niche audience
Crowded Appstore
Low consumer barrier to entry
Downwards pressure on App prices

2. Iterate, iterate, iterate
Most popular game in the world
62 million players in last 30 days
Has been in beta since it launched
Unlikely ever to stop

3. Outsource, outsource, outsource
If you can outsource, do it
Do what you do *really* well
Let others do what they do really well (will pay dividends if you are successful)
Market research
Ad sales
Development
Billing
Localisation
Affiliate networks
Distribution
Marketing
Legal
Hosting
Development

4. Pay attention to the market
The games industry is going through continued disruption
Sony and Microsoft blindsided by Nintendo Wii
Casual portals like Miniclip and Kongregate blindsided by Facebook
Advertising-based businesses blindsided by emergence of virtual goods
You can never be paying too much attention

5. Focus on retention, not acquisition
TV is good at ACQUIRING customers
Games are good at RETAINING customers and MONETISING them
Play to the strengths of the medium

5 dos and 5 don’ts
DO know your platform
DO iterate, iterate, iterate
DO pay attention to the market
DO outsource, outsource, outsource
DO focus on retention, not acquisition
DON’T rely on licences
DON’Tspend too much money
DON’T spend too much time
DON’T think about revenue *after* the design
DON’T forget it’s a game

Nicholas LovellGAMESbrief
nicholas@gamesbrief.com
@nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief
www.gamesbrief.com

Ten dos and don'ts for TV companies making games

by Nicholas Lovell on Aug 26, 2010

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Ten dos and don’ts for TV companies making games — Presentation Transcript