iGame Radio

A couple of weeks ago, Plimus launched their new Buy Anyware eCommerce platform. Plimus is at Casual Connect, and I sat down with Simon Jones, Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Plimus, to see how Buy Anyware has been received by developers, and what changes we might see from the platform based on the response.

There are a number of Russia-based casual game developers here at Casual Connect, and I had the opportunity to speak with two of them today. Playrix, based out of Vologda, is known for their Fishdom and Call of Atlantis games. They made an announcement at the conference to pursue, as they put it, a “cross-platform development strategy”. Their press release state that all future projects would be developed for all platforms that Playrix currently develops for.

I stopped by the Playrix booth today and had a chat with Sean Elliot regarding what this really meant. He said that the announcement was more than just a move towards multi-platform releases. Though Playrix would strive towards near simultaneous releases for PC, Mac, and online, they were also intending on integrating cross-platform thinking in game design from the beginning.

“We feel it’s very important from the early ideation phase to see where this will work beyond just the PC and Mac platform,” said Elliot. “Customers are looking for rich gaming experiences, so when we build games, we will be able to bring that experience to a broader audience.”

Playrix has several games that are slated for Fall 2010 launch, so we should be looking forward to some more interesting games from this developer.

Realore Studios, a Russian-Lithuanian game development company, released a prediction today that the volume for the Russian game market would reach $130 million by the end of 2010. This is based on the fact that the Russian market has already hit $65 million in the first six months.

Realore is responding to this by launching Realore Social, which will turn many of their current titles into online social games, first on Moy Mir (the Russian equivalent to Facebook), and then more globally.

I spoke briefly with Natalia Zhuravleva of Realore about their Mac, iPhone, and new iPad titles. Zhuravleva said that more titles would be coming out soon for the iPhone, including Jane’s Zoo, possibly as early as August. Two titles were also going to be coming out soon for the iPad as well, an iPad version of Jane’s Zoo, and Dress Up Rush, a time management game.

Zhuravleva said that Realore is hoping to bring future titles to the iPhone and iPad, and continue to bring out titles for the Mac.

I was introduced to Zuma Blitz for Facebook at the PopCap luncheon today. A merging of the ball shooting game Zuma with the fast-paced arcade concepts of Bejeweled Blitz, players in Zuma Blitz must face attacks from two sides in a limited time period to gain points. Time for attacks can increase in game with the right powerups.

Though the game is weeks from release still, there are plans for some pretty awesome social gameplay, such as players being able to level curses on each other to hinder gameplay, or sharing points, etc.

I also confirmed that the lovely rumor from July 12 about a possible Plants vs Zombies 2 is just that…rumor. I spoke directly with Garth Chouteau of PopCap Games to get the skinny on this rumor once and for all, and found that the “announcement” is really a celebration regarding the release of Plants vs Zombies for XBLA.

Gamespot reports on it in detail about the same time I was getting the info, so I’ll let them tell you more. I’m too heartbroken. Other than to say that Chouteau did say that while he wouldn’t rule out a Plants vs Zombies 2 game, there aren’t any plans for one right now.

While at Casual Connect 2010 I had the opportunity to talk to the guys from PikPok, out of New Zealand. They’ve had two recent top 10 iPhone games, and some of the most innovative game trailers I’ve seen. We talked about their hits Flick Kick Football and Bird Strike, their art style, and how they came up with those trailers.

This morning began day one of Casual Connect 2010, the game conference for the casual game industry. The conference is located in Seattle, a hotbed of not just game development but casual game development, including PopCap Games, Big Fish Games, and GameHouse. First up, a keynote by noted mountaineer Ed Viesturs. Wait, what?
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In a report that few found surprising, Anita Frazier of NPD Group revealed the video and computer games have not been seriously affected by the current economic crisis, and will continue to climb in sales in the year to come.

A brief of the report was given to attendees of the Casual Connect 2009 Conference, and covered retail sales of both PC and console games. Video game use has risen to 63% of the 13+ age population, surpassing movie-going.

Interestingly enough, a comparison of the percentages of activities of kids 2 to 12 between 2007 and 2009 show that video gaming is cannibalizing movie-going and listening to music. Activities such as watching television, playing with toys/games, physical activities, and talking on the phone changed by 1% point or less between 2007 and 2009. Reading, in fact, went up. But both movie-going and listening to music took serious hits between that time period, implying that both reading and gaming became superior activities.

There is no doubt that the electronic entertainment industry is still rocking the economic landscape, rising by $3 billion in 2008 to $22 billion, while the S&P 500 tanked. In fact, this was the only category of entertainment that grew in 2008. For just the first quarter of 2009, that represented 1/3 of the typical household wallet for entertainment. BTW, that 1/3 includes online and download play. The vast majority of these sales were video game software sales, the increase from 07 to 08 being a whopping 26% (as opposed to a few percentage points for hardware sales, accessories, or PC games).

Unfortunately, in 2009 sales were down by 12%, but Frazier claims that this was due more to the release of high profile games at the beginning of the year which the industry couldn’t compete against in later quarters. We’ll see if this prediction bears out by the end of the third quarter.

But retail sales aren’t the only piece of the pie anymore, especially for the PC game world. Computer games are increasingly moving digital, and the downloadable and online subscription world is blowing the old notion that PC gaming is dying out of the water. In 2008, retail PC sales were only $701 million, as opposed to $11 billion for consoles. However, when one starts to look at the DDL world, as NPD has finally started to, one finds a new world altogether.

In just an estimation for 2008, subscriptions for online play were at $740 million, and a $425 million estimate for PC digital downloads. In total, the estimate for 2008 was registered at $1.9 billion. This number is likely to change as actual data starts flowing from the NPD group’s new DDL tracker which they are employing on major portals such as Steam, Big Fish Games, Real Arcade (and it’s associated site GameHouse), EA, Blizzard, Direct2Drive, etc. The estimate given at the Casual Connect brief was more likely to be $14 billion, according to Frazier, as the “official” number doesn’t include ad revenue either.

NPD will be launching other trackers as well, including one for microtransactions in late 2009, and another for mobile games in 2010.

Another interesting fact was that the majority (61%) of retail sales are family-friendly, i.e. in the +10 or friendlier category. This fact belongs in the “we’ve heard that before category”. But outside of that category is the question of how that will impact future reports. Because tracking will include online/DDL/subscriptions, but the online world, for the most part, doesn’t include rating. You’re average Indie game developer doesn’t have the money to get their game rated through ESRB, and though there are alternatives, few developers use them.

When asked this question, Frazier stated that this was still a “work in progress” and that the NPD group was “actively talking to everyone in the industry”.

So, what does all of this mean for Mac gaming? First and foremost, the majority of Mac gaming has moved to downloadable and online play. Having a tracker of this will increase dramatically the numbers of Mac gamers, and sales of Mac games, reported. Secondly, it will show the incredible sales of iPhone games.

I think that this can only result in good for the Mac gaming community, to prove that not only are we still here, but we are making a significant impact on PC gaming and gaming in general, and shouldn’t be forgotten. As several developers I interviewed at Casual Connect noted, they realized that Mac gamers were a significant portion of their user base that they couldn’t afford to ignore. I’m betting that we’re a lot more significant than most industry experts realize. Let’s help them realize it.

Cloud Technology…this was one of the key themes in a panel on Casual Games Trends at Casual Connect this year. Presented by Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners, the panel focused on the current state of casual games and where they are likely to go in the next five years.

Today’s economy is making it difficult for smaller companies to survive. Chang compared it to the “ant riding the back of the large elephants dancing.” Large companies are maneuvering in the corporate space, merging and just trying to survive, and the small company may only be able to survive by grabbing onto the tails of these larger monsters.

Chang’s key theme about the gaming space in this economic upheaval was a need for a re-invention of traditional media. This will involve, he said, participation and social interaction. To monetize this, advertising is not the way to go. Rather, virtual goods and other MTX (microtransations) will be the monetary theme of the future.

Chang sees growth in new App store clones, the Android, Netbooks/MIDs, social gaming, virtual goods, a shift to F2P (free-to-play), and utilizing cloud technology to expand casual game sharing.

Casual games, Chang says, have evolved from a simple downloadable, free web-based system where developers use exclusive distribution portals, to one that includes a variety of monetization methods, open and viral distribution social networks, and online social gaming. However, a large portion of players, an astounding 85%, still don’t pay for the games they play.

Not to worry, says Chang, there are ways to engage these players that will extend your brand and your game. Ideas he provided included engagement methods such as advertising and surveys, using them as viral agents on twitter and blogs to promote your games, engaging them to provide tags, reviews, and otherwise contribute towards your online community, and providing what he called “engagement currency”, benefits or achievements for loyalty towards the community or the game.

Casual 3.0, he believes, will introduce a new level in monetization…premium casual and social games. He analogized this with a nightclub illustration. Everyone wants to get into the exclusive nightclub, but once in, there is another layer of exclusivity where attendees can sit that costs money. And yet, those attendees will still pay for drinks and food on top of that (microtransactions).

This next level in casual games will also introduce cloud-based meta-gaming. An average casual game session can take between 5 to 30 minutes to play. However, says Chang, if you tie this into something else that is bigger and more compelling, the player feels part of a larger whole. This is the meta-game wrapper. It can be as simple as a credit or badge for another game the developer publishes, or as complex as connecting several developers together.

To encourage meta-gaming, one wants to engage the player everywhere and all the time. Cloud-based technology is the key. A player can access a cloud-based server with any device. This would allow for integrating many levels of social gaming as well as sharing, both between players and between games.

Chang sees many opportunities for casual and social games over the next 3 to 5 years. Over this time, more and more “digital natives”, those of us who were basically born with a mouse, keyboard, and tv controller in our hand, will be around, and fewer of those who grew into this revolution will. Gaming will thus become more mainstream, and become more of an engagement and monetization vehicle for all corners of society.

Chang also pointed to the rise and mainstreaming of cloud technology, opening up of more international markets, and XaaS (“everything as a service”) as a stimulator for more opportunities.

Podcast covering the Casual Connect 2009 casual games conference. Includes an overview of the last two days of the conference, and interviews with Pat Khumprakob of Fresh Games, and Alisdair Faulkner of Threatmetrix.

Podcast covering the first day of the Casual Connect 2009 casual games conference. Includes interviews with Hunter Woodlee of Controlled Chaos, and Stefano Corazza of Mixamo.

Podcast covering the first day of the Casual Connect 2009 casual games conference. Covers Mac and iPhone news, interesting Casual Connect happenings, and interviews with Sean Elliot of Playrix, and Marc Gumpinger of Scoreloop.