As humans, we are wired for connection and have a desire to belong. We thrive in community and often come together around a shared passion, as well as the enjoyment of competition and contest. The widespread success of professional sports illustrates this clearly, and the rise of esports demonstrates how our nature assets itself as we explore other forms of entertainment. As game developers, we can benefit from organized competition, using it to drive engagement and foster strong communities. Speaker: Peter Heinrich

1. @peterdotgames peterheinrich
THE CASE FOR
COMPETITIVE MOBILE GAMING
PETER HEINRICH
D E V E L O P E R E V A N G E L I S T, A M A Z O N

2. H O W M A N Y H O U R S D O P E O P L E S P E N D O N …
Source: The Economist, NCAA, Twitch
L E T ' S TA L K A B O U T S C A L E

3. E S P O RT S D O M I N AT E T W I T C H
E A R LY B OOS T:
F R A N C H I S E
L A U N C H E S
S o m e h e a v y w e i g h t
m o v e r s a n d s h a k e r s
a c c o u n t f o r t h e
e x p o n e n t i a l e a r l y
g r o w t h o f e s p o r t s .

4. P L AY E R S & V I E W E R S
A S I A - PA C I F I C
COMMANDS A BIG
A U D I E N C E
F o r 2 0 1 7 , 5 1 % o f
e s p o r t s c o n s u m e r s
c a m e f r o m t h i s
r e g i o n .

5. W H O I S WAT C H I N G ?
C A S U A L I S
GROWING FASTER
THAN HARDCORE
L a s t y e a r w a s t h e
f i r s t y e a r t h a t
c a s u a l f a n s m a d e u p
t h e l a r g e s t a u d i e n c e
s e g m e n t .

6. W H E R E I S T H E I N D U S T RY H E A D E D ?

7. W H O I S I N V E S T I N G ?
BROADCASTERS
A R E M O V I N G
I N T O G A M E S
E S P N h a s b e e n
l o s i n g ~ 2 0 0 k
s u b s c r i b e r s / m o n t h
s i n c e 2 0 1 1 .
"We've had 80 years of linear TV, and it's been amazing, and in its
day the fax machine was amazing. The next 20 years will be this
transformation from linear TV to Internet TV."
— Reed Hastings, CEO Netflix
E s p o r t s e n t h u s i a s t s
w a t c h 4 9 % o f a l l
t h e i r v i d e o c o n t e n t
o n m o b i l e , v e r s u s
2 1 % f o r g e n e r a l
c o n s u m e r s .

8. I T J U S T M A K E S B U S I N E S S S E N S E

9. B R A N D I N V E S T M E N T S PAY O F F
R E V E N U E
GROWTH IS TIED
TO A U D I E N C E
I n v e s t m e n t s i n
m e d i a r i g h t s , a d s ,
a n d s p o n s o r s h a v e
g e n e r a t e d m o r e
t h a n h a l f o f p a s t
r e v e n u e .

10. G L O B A L R E V E N U E T R E N D
GAMES SEGMENT
P R E D I C T S
R E V E N U E
L a r g e s t r e v e n u e
g r o w t h f o r e s p o r t s
h a s b e e n i n t h e
r e g i o n s w i t h t h e
s t r o n g e s t g a m e s
s e g m e n t .

13. gameon
A set of flexible APIs that allow game
developers to easily build cross-platform
competitions into their games and award in-
game and physical prizes fulfilled by Amazon.

14. E N G A G E D P L AY E R S
AT THE CORE OF
G A M E O N I S
P A S S I O N
T h i s i s w h a t w e a l l
w a n t : p l a y e r s t h a t
c a r e a b o u t a n d
i n v e s t t h e m s e l v e s i n
o u r g a m e s .

15. BEYOND TRADITIONAL ESPORTS
COMPETITION CULTIVATES ENGAGEMENT

16. Street-testing our hypothesis,
we learned:
Adding competition to casual games increased
player engagement and ultimately helped
cultivate community.

17. C O M P E T I T I V E M O B I L E G A M I N G
We experienced
its potential.
Our Champions of Fire
Invitational was a proof-
point that competitive
mobile gaming can be as
engaging as on PC.

18. FINDING THE FRICTION
WITH LOTS OF INPUT FROM DEVELOPERS
We designed a service to
support competitive play at
scale, foster community, and
apply automation where
possible

19. Bring the joy of competitive gaming
to everyone on every platform.

20. WHAT WE ARE SOLVING FOR
ENGAGED PLAYERS ARE AT THE CORE
Community Engagement Viral Acquisition

21. THE FUNDAMENTAL TECHNOLOGY
• Cross-platform API
• Competitions (leaderboards, leagues)
• User-generated competitions
• Prize/reward delivery
• Management console
• Per-use pricing

22. CROSS-PLATFORM API
BRINGING PLAYERS TOGETHER ACROSS ECOSYSTEMS
• Any platform
• Any device
• Any engine
• Global audience

23. COMPETITIONS
FLEXIBLE SET-UP & FAMILIAR FORMATS
• Rank players by any metric
• Support multiple attempts (lives)
• Create recurring or one-off competitions
• Enhance solo play with leaderboards
• Enhance PvP games with leagues
• Play across multiple rounds

24. USER-GENERATED COMPETITIONS
PLAYERS ENGAGING OTHER PLAYERS AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGE
Developers can allow the players
themselves to stand up ad hoc
competitions.
Friends and family can challenge each
other.
Streamers and influencers can engage
with their fans directly.

25. DELIVER AWARDS WITH AMAZON
YOU CONTROL THE PRIZE TYPE, VALUE, AND QUANTITY
REAL-WORLD
Physical items and awards, anything sold
or fulfilled by Amazon.com.
DIGITAL
In-game items, often selected from your
catalog of items available for purchase.

26. GAMEON CONSOLE
CREATE & MANAGE EVENTS, OPTIMIZE KPIs
Rank players by their best score or all their scores added together?
Ice Hammer1
Advanced options
`
Prizes
Choose prizes to be given out at the end of the competition
Rope
2-100 Toothpick

27. GAMEON PRICING
PAY ONLY FOR WHAT YOU USE
Each posted score counts
as a single play
The first 35,000 monthly
plays are always free
CPM for more plays (above
35k/month) is just $3
1 35k $0.003

28. W H A T ' S T H E N E X T S T E P ?
G E T T I N G S TA RT E D
developer.amazon.com/GameOn
Tech Docs
APIs
Blog
Online support
1. Check out the Amazon Developer Portal
2. Stick around for the tech session

29. THANK YOU!
Peter Heinrich
Developer Evangelist, Games
heinrich@amazon.com