Susana Meza Graham is the COO of Paradox Interactive, a company that publishes strategy games. Over the past decade, Paradox has seen significant growth in revenue and a shift to digital distribution, with digital downloads now representing 92% of PC game sales. Paradox has also increased its creative control over its intellectual properties and grown its community engagement through YouTube, Twitch, and registered player accounts. Meza Graham outlines Paradox's focus on increasing direct reach to gamers, loyalty through community engagement and transparency, and return on investment through creative control and organic growth.

2. Susana Meza Graham
COO – Paradox Interactive
• Marketing/PR
• Publishing
• Digital distribution
• US office
• Organizational growth
• Organization Operations & Leadership

3. Intro
• Significant events and results
• Explore common denominators
• Wrap up
• Questions?

4. Paradox Publishing
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Community Development & Fan interaction

5. Total Revenue & Annual Growth

6. Publishing 2014

7. Paradox Digital Distribution
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Community Development & Fan interaction

8. Paradox digital penetration
20010162
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION
NON-DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

9. Digital download represents 92% of all PC game
sales (by volume) around the world*
Source: PCR / DFC Intelligence

10. Paradox Creative Control
& Direct Access
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Community Development & Fan interaction

11. Share of own IPs in Publishing Portfolio
25%
33%
47%
50%
82% 83%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

12. Some stats
Studios: 4
Youtube: 33 M + views
Twitch: 9 M + views
Paradox Accounts: 1.7 + M registered players

13. Customer focus
Strong community = strong company

14. Need # 1
Increase our direct reach to our gamers
1. Identify and stick to your target audience and focus on
opportunities to dominate the space they are in.
2. Remove as many individual obstacles as possible between yourself
and the ability for your customers to pay for your game.

15. Need # 2
Increase our gamers loyalty
1. Make it worth their while to stick with you in the long run.
2. Share your business strategies and offer options for them to voice
their opinion.
3. Show your true colors, gamers want to engage with your persona,
not your corporation – if you don’t have a story, create one.
4. Create a variety of channels to let your customers interact with you.

16. Need # 3
Increased creative control and return on investment
1. The larger the risk you take, the larger the potential upside (typically).
Explore your options.
2. Find your unique selling point. Experience and expertise gives you
more influence and weight.
3. Start from where you are today, not where you want to be tomorrow,
and rely on organic growth to close that gap.

17. Wrap up
1. Follow your convictions, and trust what you see. Just because trend
analysts say something is dead or over, doesn’t mean they are right .
2. Stay the course and focus on removing as many obstacles as
possible along the way
3. Aim to dominate – better to be a big fish in a small pond than a
small fish in a giant pond