[casual_games] Issues to think about in the casual game space

[Eric Lamendola]

Having been predominantly in the online side of the casual games
business for over 10 years now, we have had a unique opportunity to have
some insight of some of the items you have discussed.  You bring up some
interesting talking points that definitely warrant further discussion.

 

1)       Advertising revenue is real and is in a boom.  To ignore
advertising as a way for content publishers to generate significant
revenue is quite honestly a mistake.  Granted, there is a lack of
standards for the delivery of advertising before, during and after the
games, but several combinations of these are quite effective in
generating and incremental to the bottom line.  Adopting one company's
standard may not be the best solution either, but this market is growing
- fast.

2)       Brands are extraordinarily valuable in casual games as they are
in just about any industry.  Many developers focus on the development of
"great games" and don't focus on the idea of creating "great brands".
Look at any other entertainment medium and you will see a focus on brand
extensions, brand licensing, and of course there will be cloning.
Cloning for games is generally a result of wanting to tap into a
successful play-action more than a brand, but so long as people keep
buying, developers will keep making.

3)       When dealing with a screen that only has 1024x768 pixels and we
have already given half of that space to the browser, the portal's
header and the advertising - more than likely companies are going to
have to pay for better placement since there isn't much space left on
the page.  Name me one advertising campaign that isn't based on paying
someone for a venue to tell a consumer what they should like and why.

4)       The demand of the public will determine the price points and
whether or not they will accept the idea of in-game advertising.
Consumers are still looking for a fun experience.  Have many companies
had success with the higher price point games?  I believe James had said
once that tests were done at PopCap to see if different lengths of trial
periods and price points had an effect on sales and the result of that
was the 60min/$19.99 performed the best.

5)       I guess the question here is whether or not exclusivity would
ultimately result in more promotion and a better return.  There are many
game sites in Asia that seem of focus on "you come to THIS site to get
THIS game", but with all of the independent developers in the US who
don't have the marketing budgets to generate the kind of buzz needed to
get sales going and traffic to a single unknown site, this could be
tough.  How successful does a brand/game have to be before it could be
exclusive to a single online site?  

6)       There probably isn't more specialization since companies are
tired of getting such a small percentage if they are only one piece in
the economic chain.  If a company serves as both developer and
publisher, they immediately increase their share of the pie.  I guess
this comes down to do more - get more.

7)       This one has been debated to death.

8)       Well, this about this one this way.  You have a community based
around a game, but you want to put the game onto 20 portals.  But each
of those portals has a community that they want to promote.  So, what
added value is your community based game to them?  Does this go back to
the exclusivity issue, or are these mutually exclusive concepts?  I
would like someone to provide me with a definition of "Community" quite
honestly.  This has been an overused and amorphous term for years that
means everything from social networking to high score lists.

9)       I think the real question is how long have we all been talking
about these same issues.  Some of these seem important, but personally I
would put my vote in a standardization of an economic model which is
equitable to all parties in the value chain and defines the value of
each contributor.

10)   Doesn't Zango do this also?  Are they willing to share some data
on the performance of additional software?

 

We do appreciate James bringing to light a lot of the items that we had
discussed at the Salon at CGA Seattle in 2006 and hopefully this is the
start of a group initiative to help move the industry to the next level.

 

Cheers,

 

Eric Lamendola

Director of Business Development

Slingo, Inc.

 

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