GDC09 talk

2. I’m losing my voice

3. I speak less

4. words say more

5. why am I doing this?

6. two little stories

7. “the pitch”

8. you: developer

9. convinced by Social Gaming

10. go to publisher / boss

11. pitch

12. great game

13. social networking

14. huge success

15. rejection

16. :(

17. “the project”

18. game

19. great ideas

20. doesn’t work

21. cancelled

22. :(

23. ...

24. what went wrong?

25. how can you fix it?

26. the pitch ...

27. ...what happened?

28. expectations vs. reality reality reality

29. what the publisher expected

30. PROFIT

31. what the publisher heard

32. COSTS

33. DISRUPTION

34. you didn’t notice

35. what the developer heard

36. INNOVATION

37. POPULARITY

38. FREE MARKETING

39. what the publisher expected

40. PROFIT

41. you already know that one

42. (we’ll come back to this)

43. DISRUPTION

44. (important)

45. what is disruption?

47. (curiously apposite)

48. also

50. “disruptive innovation”

51. “ disruptive innovation” != “revolutionary”

52. revolution:

53. guns, explosions, etc

54. change

55. stays the same

56. disruption:

57. silence

58. change

59. wiped out

60. silence

61. “social networking”

62. “so what?”

63. problem 2:

64. change

65. change => loss

66. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

67. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

68. change => loss; loss => anger/fear; anger/fear => rejection rejection rejection

69. your game

70. (w/social networking)

71. invalidate

72. years of experience

73. change => loss; loss => anger/fear; anger/fear => rejection rejection rejection

74. (and the Dark Side)

75. a.k.a. “ Disruptive Change”

76. </disruption>

77. <profit />

78. net result:

79. pitch

80. a reasonable theory:

81. “better games are more likely to be funded”

82. reality:

83. didn’t understand

84. (OR:)

85. got scared

86. one thing they know:

87. Show me the money.

88. (how much more will it cost?)

89. (how much revenue will it bring?)

90. You already told them

91. did you tell them..?

92. e.g. “Why...

97. what went wrong?

98. how can you fix it?

99. 1: “Don’t say this”

100. there are twenty times as many people using each social network as are using each online game

101. publisher thinks:

102. (SN users dont spend money)

103. (too expensive to run the ops for that many people)

104. (very low quality, low production value, our brand is much more high quality than that)

105. the future of “the internet”

106. publisher thinks:

107. (fad)

108. (landgrab that we won’t win)

109. viral marketing

110. (VM doesn’t work)

111. (you’re just gambling)

112. 2. Do say these:

113. here’s a prototype

114. (usually...)

115. (...never tried)

120. you lose:

121. brand-control,

122. game-control,

123. cross-sell opportunities,

124. and transaction commisions

125. we’ll learn as we go

126. ...and that’s OK

127. (and cheap)

128. tell them what they want to hear:

129. reduce cost:

130. e.g. “Don’t worry, be crappy”

131. e.g. free market research

132. e.g. lowered consumer expectations

133. reduced risk:

134. e.g. “soft launch”

135. e.g. ops costs only if we succeed

136. increased revenue

137. e.g. up-sell and cross-sell

138. increased customer loyalty

139. e.g. stick with your friends

140. Questions?