Mobile games can leverage social interactions to increase engagement and monetization. Games are inherently social objects that connect players, and mobile is uniquely positioned to facilitate social interactions due to its personal and always-on nature. To be successful, mobile games should provide avenues for social engagement in-game, such as leaderboards, challenges between friends, and rewards that activate players' passion and turn them into fanatics who promote the game to others. This social context can then be leveraged for effective cross-promotion and monetization when done in a relevant way.

1. Mobile + Social
The Case for
Games
Social Media World Forum
London - 15 March 2010
Volker Hirsch (@vhirsch)

2. Mobile Games...
... can be a bit of a nightmare

3. You do everything right...

4. on the inside...

5. ... on the outside...

6. ... and on marketing

7. Something is still missing...

8. THe $ Dilemma (carrier model)
after overheads
after production
after porting & QA
after License
after distributor
after carrier
after VAT
total revenue

9. THe $ Dilemma (app store model)

11. What is Social?

12. Social refers to the
interaction of organisms
with other organisms and
to their collective co-
existence [...]
Source: Wikipedia

16. A social network is not a
community!

17. You need Context!

18. Concept: Object-Centered
Sociality
Prof Dr Karin Knorr-Cetina,
Sociologist
Jyrri Engestrom,
Founder Jaiku

19. A game is a Social Object?

20. It always was!

21. 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

22. -Interact with players in
context, i.e. in the game
-Let players interact
between them (they have
a common object!)

23. CwF + RtB = BM
Mike Masnick, TechDirt

24. WTF ?

25. Trent Raznor
WTF ?

26. 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.

27. Object
Let’s recap:
Social is interaction
in context

29. make sure that mobile
levers the Social Object
(that is: your game)
towards Your Users...

30. 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)

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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...

34. OK, it’s huge, I get it.
But what do I do
with it?

35. Address the unique
propositions only
Mobile offers.

36. Value Levers: the 6 M’s.
Movement
Me
Moment
Multi-User Money
Machines
Source: Tomi Ahonen

37. 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 

38. We need Tools

39. 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.

40. 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).

41. 74% of all buying decisions are made
on a friend’s recommendation
Source: Bain Consulting

42. 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.

44. One last thing:
123,296,966,069,453
The Law of Big Numbers

45. The Mass Market is here:

46. don’t forget
the “other”
smartphones!

47. Choose a tool that
delivers all that.
Scoreloop does... ;-)

48. So...
Where’s the Money?

49. Where it always was:
in your pocket...
Catchy phrase nicked from
Jonathan MacDonald

50. 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...

51. 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
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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

52. +44 7843 599 678
(@scoreloop)
@vhirsch
me@vhirsch.com
http://vhirsch.com
http://scoreloop.com