Growing “out” of Europe: Wooga Postmortem (GDC 2012)

Growing “out” of Europe -‐Postmortem of 3 years Wooga-‐ Jens Begemann (Founder & CEO)

50 million ac:ve users, 70% female (age 20-‐60)

Team of 160 from >25 na:ons, in Berlin

Million 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan 2009 2010 2011

Vision: Games for everyone

Typical cliché gamers

We start playing as kids

And con:nue playing our whole life

But computer games are quite male

and young (or do you believe this is real?)

They don’t play computer games

She doesn’t play tradi:onal games

7 key learning to share

Brain Buddies

Started with paper drawing…

…and simple prototypes

Final Mini-‐Game – it’s only great because of all the detail

User tes:ng Every week/ 2 people -‐ Tons of insights leading to detailed changes

1st Learning: DEDICATION TO DETAIL

Ini:al plan: only address social networks as 2 years behind Zynga, Playdom & Playﬁsh Local Social Networks Facebook VS.

…then applied Frank Sinatra strategy: “If we can make it there, we’ll make it anywhere” à Focusing fully on Facebook

July 2009: Brain Buddies Launch @FB

We tracked user growth on the the wall:

Every Morning upda:ng…

… in 4 months we ran out of wall

6 Millions 5 4 3 2nd Learning: A Series FOCUS ON ONE THING 2 1 0 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan 2009

6 Million 5 4 3 2 End of virality as we know it 1 0 Jul Oct Jan 2009

14 Million 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

14 Million 12 10 8 6 4 2 February 2010: Launch Bubble Island 0 Jul Oct Jan – Adventure MJul Apr ode Oct 2009

Engage the player with highly polished gameplay & racoon reloads

Million 14 Strong growth, because of focus on engagement, not 12 virality 3rd Learning: 10 8 ENGAGEMENT IS THE 6 4 KEY 2 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

14 Million Farming game with a twist 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

Some growth, but ﬂahened aier 4 months 14 Million We con:nued to improve: weekly releases 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

A/B test: Invite BuZon 111 100 104

Introduc[on of missions

Garden @ Launch Garden Today

14 Million 12 10 4th Learning: 8 DON’T FOLLOW THE 6 HIPPO* 4 2 (*Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

14 Million 12 10 8 6 4 2 Series A 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010

35 Million 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010 2011

35 Million 30 25 2011: 20 15 Slow start 10 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010 2011

We were working on a new game with a cruise ship theme…

.. and quickly had a name (trademark) etc.

Fast prototyping, e.g. with Lego Completely in love and thought it would become a big hit!

Issues in the core game loop Relaxing Work @ a ship vs

Issues in the core game loop Exploring places Managing a ship vs

Adding features wont ﬁx a broken core game loop Feature2 Feature1 Core game loop

35 Million 30 25 20 5th Learning: 15 10 GET THE BASICS RIGHT 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010 2011

How to con:nue to grow

MAU TYPICAL game product lifecycle Time

MAU DESIRED game product lifecycle Time

Million 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jan-‐10 Apr-‐10 Jul-‐10 Oct-‐10 Jan-‐11 Apr-‐11 Jul-‐11 Oct-‐11

5% Paid Ads 40% Crosslinking 55% Virality

35 Million 30 25 20 6th Learning: 15 10 SUSTAINABLE GROWTH 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010 2011

35 Million 30 25 20 Series B 15 10 5 Series A 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct 2009 2010 2011

Million 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan 2009 2010 2011

Core fanbase wanted to have it –brought us to the top posi:on

Virality cycle + Synchroniza:on across devices

Development in the smartphone industry Carriers Pay/Download Single App Store Freemium Social

Million 50 45 40 35 30 7th Learning: 25 20 15 SOCIAL MOBILE IS THE 10 5 FUTURE 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan 2009 2010 2011

50 Million 7 SOCIAL mobile is the future 45 40 35 6 SUSTAINABLE growth 30 25 20 3 ENGAGEMENT is the key 5 Get the BASICS right 15 2 FOCUS on one thing 10 5 4 Don’t follow the HIPPO 0 1 Jul Dedica:on to DETAIL Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan 2009 2010 2011

Want to be part of this?

Career booth #1726 @Moscone West

Jens Begemann Founder & CEO Wooga TwiZer: @begemann wooga.com/jobs GDC booth #1726

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