Mobile+social: the case for games

Volker Hirsch
Volker HirschCCO, VC, angel, founder at Medicines Discovery Catapult, Amadeus Capital, Blue Beck, Tech North Advocates
Mobile + Social
     The Case for
        Games

    Social Media World Forum
     London - 15 March 2010




   Volker Hirsch (@vhirsch)
Mobile Games...




... can be a bit of a nightmare
You do everything right...
on the inside...
... on the outside...
... and on marketing
Something is still missing...
THe $ Dilemma (carrier model)



      after overheads

       after production

        after porting & QA


          after License

             after distributor


                  after carrier

                             after VAT

                               total revenue
THe $ Dilemma (app store model)
Mobile+social: the case for games
What is Social?
Social refers to the
interaction of organisms
with other organisms and
to their collective co-
existence [...]




                   Source: Wikipedia
Mobile+social: the case for games
Mobile+social: the case for games
Mobile+social: the case for games
A social network is not a
community!
You need Context!
Concept: Object-Centered
Sociality




              Prof Dr Karin Knorr-Cetina,
                              Sociologist

                        Jyrri Engestrom,
                           Founder Jaiku
A game is a Social Object?
It always was!
It’s about Engagement


- Gamers Interact by the nature of
 the game.

- Gamers can be Fanatics!
- A game and the environment in
 which it is set matters to its fans.



games are powerful social
objects
-Interact with players in
context, i.e. in the game
-Let players interact
between them (they have
a common object!)
CwF + RtB = BM




           Mike Masnick, TechDirt
WTF ?
Trent Raznor




WTF ?
Nine Inch Nails
 - All Music free under CC license. CwF
 - All videos by fans aggregated on
   website.
 - Free iPhone app: Fan Finder.


 - Double Album for $10             RtB
 - Deluxe Edition (Double Album + Photo
   Book + BluRay + DVD) for $75
 - 2,500 limited edition signed luxury sets
   (with Vinyl + prints) for $300


Limited Edition sold out in 30 hours !!!

$750k revenue in 30 hours, $2.3m in week 1.
Object




Let’s recap:
Social is interaction
in context
Mobile+social: the case for games
make sure that mobile
levers the Social Object
(that is: your game)
towards Your Users...
Mobile is the most
powerful digital medium
to date.

Why?

 1. It’s Big (numbers)
 2.It’s Personal (nature)
 3.It’s really personal
    (Identification of needs)
475,000,000
     circulation of newspapers
            825,000,000
          registered cars
           1,700,000,000
Internet users (PC, Mobile, Web Cafe)
           1,800,000,000
    unique credit card holders
           2,250,000,000
        tooth brushes in use
           4,000,000,000
             FM Radios
          4,600,000,000
    mobile phone subscriptions
                                 various sources
Mobile is a 1st!

•   Personal mass media
•   Always carried
•   Always on
•   Built-in billing system
•   Always present at the point of
    creative impulse
•   Accurate audience identification
•   Captures social context
•   Enables Augmented Reality



                  Tomi Ahonen, Mobile as 7th of Mass Media, 2008;
               Alan Moore & Jonathan MacDonald, The Glittering
                              Allure of the Mobile Society, 2008
It’s VERY personal...

•   91% of people have their mobile within arm’s reach
    24/7.                               Morgan Stanley 2007




•   64% of Americans are not willing to share their
    mobile with anyone. 60% of married people will
    not share their mobile with their spouse!
                                                  Wired Magazine 2006




•   It takes an average of 26 h for a user to report
    a lost wallet but only 68 minutes to report a
    lost mobile phone.
                                                        Unisys Survey



•   8 out of 10 German men would rather lose their
    wife than their mobile phone.
                            Jonathan MacDonald; Survey of 10 German
                                                 men at 1am in a bar...
OK, it’s huge, I get it.




             But what do I do
                     with it?
Address the unique
 propositions only
  Mobile offers.
Value Levers: the 6 M’s.

             Movement

      Me
                        Moment




Multi-User              Money

             Machines


                          Source: Tomi Ahonen
Mobile is a 1st!

•   Personal mass media   
•   Always carried   
•   Always on   
•   Built-in billing system
•   Always present at the point of
    creative impulse
• Accurate audience identification
• Captures social context
• Enables Augmented Reality 
We need Tools
What
- Create Fanatics.
- Provide avenues for players’
  passion.

- Incorporate players’ strongest
  community: his friends!

- Allow Choice: if, when and where to
  share. Just offer the path.

- Keep it in context, i.e. in the game.
Examples of how
- High-Scores (Reward) but make
 them customizable (context).

- Connect to the community
 (Avenues of Passion).

- Person-to-Person Challenges &
 Tournaments (Playful contextual
 interaction).

- Awards / Rewards (Fanatics).
- In-Game transactions & Virtual
 Currencies (Contextual
 Monetization).
74% of all buying decisions are made
on a friend’s recommendation
                          Source: Bain Consulting
Real Cross-promotion

- General ads disregard the power
 of context & relevance (“Spray-
 Can”).



- Players = Fanatics = Ambassadors.


- Promotions by friends in context
 are genuine cross-promotions.
Mobile+social: the case for games
One last thing:

123,296,966,069,453


 The Law of Big Numbers
The Mass Market is here:
don’t forget
 the “other”
smartphones!
Choose a tool that
delivers all that.




            Scoreloop does... ;-)
So...
Where’s the Money?
Where it always was:

  in your pocket...



              Catchy phrase nicked from
                   Jonathan MacDonald
Summing up:

• Facilitate engagement.
• Offer avenues to activate the
   player’s passion.

• Deliver, and in big numbers.


Got all that? You have a winner!


And if the user wins, the rest (incl. $   $$) comes almost on its own...
Image Credits
http://biodisplay.tyrell.hu/2008/09/24/experimenting-with-resolution/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Numbers_grid_in_NY.jpg
http://gapingvoidgallery.com
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Petanque_players_in_Cannes_(France)_2003.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Bhgs_crowd.jpg
https://svn-create.freedesktop.osuosl.org/public/create/docs/logo/images/light_bulb_off3.jpg
http://www.easy-access.com/garagelo/coloring/tools.gif
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f-4eoJyuiitoJIPDaqrMJQ
http://blogs.fayobserver.com/faytoz/files/2008/10/davinci_toothed_gears_original.jpg
http://www.adsinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/1100109100-1.jpg
http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/video-game.jpg
http://www.foldingbikehut.co.uk/images/Toolbox%20Travel.jpg
http://ridgestonecondos.com/images/istock_000003282632medium_dollar_sign.jpg
http://cdn2.libsyn.com/sellinggeek/mobilepic.jpG
http://www.footballpictures.net/data/media/75/River-Plate-Fanatics.jpg
http://pervasivegames.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/124659356_bbe1e5b661_o.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/FIFA_world_cup_2006_-_Rome_circus_maximus_flag.jpg
http://www.wallpaperez.info/wallpaper/movie/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-1939.jpg
http://www.thisfabtrek.com/journey/africa/egypt/20100112-egypt-desert/desert-road-egypt-4.jpg
http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/old.images/tr_tdspromo2.jpg
http://www.wright-brothers.org/TBR/Information%20Images/Photos/1903%20First%20Flight.jpg
http://www.uwrf.edu/library/arc/images/diary.jpg
http://news.msu.edu/media/photo/2009/12/2c305035-52be-4906-b034-022eadb86877.jpg
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/sold/1414/big/Micro-Pave-Engagement-Rings.jpg
http://www.cartoonary.com/madagascar/images/madagascar-marty-alex-gloria-melman-penguins-
julien-2048x1536.jpg
http://writeontheinternet.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/superman.jpg
http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Lever/leverBig.gif
http://www.ruralmarketingservices.com/images/marketing_road_sign.jpg
http://cnx.org/content/m23853/latest/Picture%201.png
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/museumimages/thumbnail1.php/p2j200749041149arc_pht.jpg
+44 7843 599 678
                       (@scoreloop)


@vhirsch

me@vhirsch.com

http://vhirsch.com

http://scoreloop.com
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