Delivered at Casual Connect Asia 2017. Developer and publisher PikPok has built a large portfolio of games, building on a foundation of early successes. In this talk, Mario looks at leveraging existing games, technology, and fan-bases to build bigger and better games and/or build out franchises and brands, looking at examples including the Flick Kick and Rival Stars game series.

1. Iterating On Success – Mario Wynands, May 2017

5. iterating on success
Starting new games completely from scratch every time is very hard and risky
“Doubling down” on an existing successful formula can generate more immediate
and predictable opportunity
Doing so enables you to leverage existing investments in technology, customer base,
and creative effort to reduce costs and improve returns
Moving forward with games that you can easily iterate on means you can chase
more success faster if and when it happens

6. new stores and ports
A portable game will allow you to reach new customers by accessing new stores and
platforms relatively cheaply
Target the platforms and stores with the biggest markets as a priority
Moving from touch to controller, mouse or gesture inputs, and from portrait to
landscape aspect ratios can be very time consuming and expensive depending on
complexity
Be careful about stores and games where you need to maintain feature/content
parity as ongoing extra update work can generate a lot of cost

8. creating a sequel
A sequel should bring major improvements and new and interesting content to the
table, much more so than is possible via live ops, and not “more of the same”
Platforms are likely to get behind a sequel to a successful product at launch
Can cross promote very effectively to existing fans, but factor cannibalisation into
your modeling

11. creating a derivative game
Bringing a successful game formula into parallel or complementary markets can
replicate success
Look for new themes or consumer interests to wrap your derivative game around
Can cross promote well to existing fans, AND cross promote back into your old game

12. x1 x2 x8

13. iterating on failure
Some games have mostly great KPIs but are let down in a single key area that can’t
be easily resolved through live ops
Iteration on the formula can turn such a game into a winner, and help recoup your
original investment
Need to be careful to fix the problem without compromising great KPIs, so limit the
number of things that are changed

14. 5 6 7 ?

15. make it easier
Use a flexible base technology like Unity
Seek incentives like featuring, cash, or favourable revenue split from platforms
Partner with brands, licensors, or publishers to fund and promote reskins
Farm porting or reskin work out to third parties for revenue share deals

16. x1 x3

17. summary
Factor potential for porting, reskinning, reworking, or creating sequels into your
greenlight and investment decisions
Port to new stores and platforms to access new customers cheaply
Consider a sequel if you can bring a LOT of new things to the table
Build complementary games to amplify portfolio effect
Rescue good games with a single flaw by trying again
Make it easier to do through technology, incentives, and partnerships

18. mario@pikpok.com
@mariowynands
thank you