A few weeks ago, Thomas and I attended the Nordic Game Conference in Malmö, Sweden. Although most of our time was spent meeting with representatives of the very impressive Scandinavian game development industry, we had a chance to see some of the talks, and came back with a few thoughts on current trends in the online games business.

“Go Online or Die”

The first day saw a very interesting panel and group discussions about the current trends in investment in the games industry, and where this industry is going. Casual and Social games, two segments of the industry being rapidly integrated, are obviously the place to be these days. London Venture Partners pointed out that over 40% of total investment is going into this field, with a strong presence of developers coming from the UK and Nordic regions. While this space is already quite crowded and very competitive, opportunities are still open, with the expected growth of cross-platform HTML5 games, as well as the rise of the “niche”, providing a much better ROI while requiring much less volume of users.

There is no need to say here that our industry has changed a lot over the past few years, and the question was asked whether “big” publishers will be able to make the transition, or if they will suffer and die from it (like the dinosaurs with whom they were compared). In this discussion, EA was highlighted as being well positioned to handle the change thanks to an already strong presence in the digital and free-to-play space, while Activision is benefiting from the online expertise of Blizzard. Ubisoft is likely to be another successful survivor, using its experience in building strong brands among various media types to smooth the transition.

Nobody knew when the breaking point would occur, after which it will be too late to begin the transition from a product-oriented business to a service-oriented model. However, to conclude this section I will quote the Managing Director of Ubisoft Massive: the current trend seems to be “Go Online or Die”, and by now hopefully, everybody seems to be aware of it.

ChawaChawa : Gaming with a Heart

One conference the following day was focused on presenting ChawaChawa, a casual gaming portal based on a simple principle: 100% of the revenue is generated by advertising on the site, and a large part of it is used to buy furniture and items sent to people in need all over the world.

While the idea of gaming for a good cause isn’t new, this conference relayed once again the need for a better publicity for gaming and the games industry as a whole, because PR stunts and charity announcements from large game associations aren’t enough if not included in a broader long-term strategy.

The second interesting idea conveyed by ChawaChawa is that, in our modern and incredibly busy lifestyle where so many media are competing for attention, time has become a valuable currency, and a gaming portal like ChawaChawa simply transforms this currency into items sent to the ones who need them. “If you can’t give money, at least give some time” is something often heard on organizations run by volunteers, and now this can be done simply by playing.

Sony in an identity crysis ?

The conference held by Sony to introduce its new handheld console to developers from the Nordic region was slightly awkward. At the time, the PSN was still down with no news about a comeback, and the few slides promoting the connectivity of the upcoming hardware were greeted by bemused expressions from the audience. This wasn’t, however, the most interesting part of the talk.

The Sony representative started his talk by a bold statement: “Gaming on a phone? I’m not convinced.” Coming from a company that is launching a gaming-oriented Android smartphone with the Xperia Play, this statement feels a bit strange, and there was even more strangeness ahead. Although the public message is to differentiate the NGP from the iPhone and Android, all its marketing material seemed directly inspired by Apple design. Among the promotional videos shown to the audience, only the Playstation logo clued us in that theirs wasn’t a commercial for a smartphone. The language used strongly recalls phones as well, with the speaker mentioning Apps (probably meaning the “Minis” already available on the PSP). Finally, the NGP will also be hosting content directly derived from smartphone through the Android-focused Playstation Suite.

While the hardware looks impressive, there is a messaging problem here. Why go openly against gaming on smartphones right after using the same visual language to promote a console? Sitting between the Xperia Play and the NGP, the Playstation Suite and the Playstation Network, Sony seems to look for more security by exploring all possible venues, but risks losing focus and confusing consumers if it doesn’t get its message (and its strategy) straight.

CCP, Creative Management Islandic-style

CCP was repeatedly mentioned during the first day as a perfect example of how to successfully target a niche audience and stick to it. With 360,000 players in 130 countries playing EVE Online and a revenue forecast of 60M USD for 2010, the company is surely known for its success with this, but also for its creativity, which is expressed both in-game and in other areas (note their music videos and chess-boxing contest). The CCP conference wasn’t about numbers or the company’s success, but rather about the source of all of it: creativity, properly managed.

As Stefania Haldorsdottir pointed out, the games industry takes a lot of its process and management models from the traditional software industry, but that’s maybe not the right way to be managing what should be a creative process. The takeaway from this conference might seem obvious but is always worth reiterating: when managing a team, the first and most important step is to know this team as well as yourself, then communicate what is expected of them and give them the tools to reach their goal. Communicate, involve people in the decisions that affect them, give them autonomy and ownership of their work, and most importantly: never bullshit anyone.

I’ll be back

The Nordic Game Conference is typically one of these events that make you feel good about working in the games industry. Seeing the creativity and potential of the companies present at the event is impressive in itself, but watching how the knowledge is openly shared between individuals is even more. I certainly hope we’ll be back next year for even more awesomeness!

On 27th October –that’s tomorrow! — Julien will be giving a talk on “Smarter Marketing” at TIGA’s half-day event in London, How to Self-Publish and Market Your Game.

Then, on 5th November, Martin will be at the browsergames forum in Offenbach, Germany talking about “Games as a Service”.

If you’ll be in attendance, please stop and say hello! More events news will be on the way soon.

While Thomas and Diane are already visiting panels and having meetings at the GDC Europe in Cologne, the rest of ICO’s crew is making the final preparations for their flights to the following gamescom convention starting on Wednesday. In fact, we are pretty much set and ready to go, staring at the planes taking off outside our office window at Gatwick Airport and looking forward to being on one of them tomorrow afternoon. We also finally got the confirmation for the catering service at our booth at Hall 4.1, Aisle H, Booth 055 – and as we are looking forward to seeing many of you in person, this means you can enjoy snacks and drinks while dropping by.

Like us, you may already have a busy schedule but even without having arranged a meeting you’re welcome to visit us and talk about business or finally meet in person. Whether you plan on publishing a video game in Europe, want to talk about partnerships with us or are just eager to collect the full set of our shiny new business cards, you should memorize the location of our booth.

Here is how I do it:

Germany-England 4:1, Hungary was the best team in ‘55 (before Germany won the world cup in ’56)

(EDIT: This is actually not true, but it works and could keep you busy to spot the error in the sentence)

Of course, that’s my way, easy for a German but might work for others, too.

(Now I’m back at nervously checking volcanic ash forecasts one more time)

On Tuesday 13th of July, I presented my lecture “Games as a service, do you really know what it means?” at the Develop in Brighton conference. While I have changed the slides a bit for the event, the content was essentially the same as when I presented it in Seattle for the LOGIN conference, and you can find the presentation on slideshare.

The really good news is that Dan Hon did a great write up of my presentation (something I meant to do for a while but never took the proper time to do) and you can find it on his blog:

My next speaking event already takes place in Munich this week. I will present a keynote at the Social Media Summit of the Making Games Conference with the topic ”Social Games: Busting the Myths”. You can find details on the event here.

And you probably know already, we will be at gamescom this year, we even have a booth: Hall 4.1, Aisle H, no. 055. Contact us if you want to meet.

The opening speech made it very clear. Asking the audience ‘What is Community Management?’ brought it straight to the point why a Community Manager Conference does make sense. It’s by far not the very first time I saw this question being raised and everyone giving a different answer. The first time was years ago and still not much seems to have changed. No wonder then that the audience got excited hoping to know the answer by the end of the day. This, on the other hand, would have been a wonder. Nonetheless, the CMC proved to be a stepping stone for many who are now hoping to be able to visit similar events in the future – and maybe one day be able to answer this question without second thoughts and hesitation.

The other thing that became clear is that while Community Managers tend to know each others (board)names and faces, they usually don’t have time for long discussions at conventions where their companies are exhibiting. This is usually the time where Community Managers bond with the community itself as those shows are more consumer oriented – and consumer relationships are a vital part of each Community Manager’s job. The CMC did a great job in bringing people together and get to know each other better.

Most likely everyone will have left the convention with different thoughts but I am sure most of them were positive. If you haven’t attended CMC or aren’t sure if you should visit future conferences then here’s a short list of things you could take away from being there.

Think outside the box

A lot of Community Manager job descriptions list ‘thinking outside the box’ as a desired ability. While it’s easy when you start the job – maybe coming from the outside or even the fanbase – it gets tougher once the routine kicks in. You know how your company rolls, what your managers want to see and it becomes tempting to take less risks and focus on safe results.  Speaking with or listening to other Community Managers enables you to not forget how to think outside the box. While many share the same challenges, the approaches to tackle them differ. Beyond that, everyone has other special abilities and ideas. Ideas you might have never thought about before – maybe because of lack of time or treading water. Get inspired!

Personal development

Inspiration is one thing, the actual implementation is the tough part. Talking to other Community Managers can help you improve your knowledge and gain more skills. A rule I’ve told myself but unfortunately not follow all the time is to also visit speeches or panels I don’t have a clue about at all. Sure, the title of a speech might sound interesting if it’s a topic I am enthusiastic about but then I often find myself leaving the room an hour later not having learnt anything new. It might even have been a great speech but only 5-10 minutes of it have been things I haven’t heard before. It does not have to be a speech about quantum physics but anything outside my expertise might give me 50-60 minutes of new knowledge. This knowledge might not be necessary for my day to day routines but can come in handy when encountering an unusual problem or trying something new.

Finding the answer – what do you do?

As mentioned before, even Community Managers still have problems describing what their job actually is. If they don’t know, how are others supposed to know? You might end up in a situation where you have to sell your services and by then it’s best to know how valuable you are. Maybe your company hired you just because they heard that they need Community Managers without even knowing exactly why and how to track their value. (Same phenomenon can sometimes be seen with Social Media Managers these days). This shouldn’t stop you from learning from other people’s experiences to find out how things are being managed elsewhere.

Maybe it’s the other way round and you already have a clear image of not only doing what you’ve been told but shining as an expert in some areas. Share that knowledge and get knowledge back in return.

Community Management takes place in an ever changing environment. Your community might be totally different than other communities. A global and everlasting definition of Community Management and its tasks might never be found but there is one question you should be able to answer when being asked:

‘What is in there for me if I let you manage our community?’

I have decided to change the format of the presentation though. Rather than uploading the one that supported my lecture at Quo Vadis, I’ve made a “generic” presentation based on it (which in turn was based on one for GFG that I gave this past January in Hannover). The new presentation is essentially the same as the Quo Vadis version, but rather than adding another Slideshare presentation, I replaced the GFG presentation and changed the title to make it less specific. The idea is to simplify the information and point people at the most up-to-date version of the material. You can still find a few similar presentations in our profile, which I’ve left alone as they contain uniquely useful info.

Here is the new presentation:

In other news, you may have noticed that we’ve recently redesigned our website, which now includes a Korean version. It’s a work in progress, so if there’s anything you would like to on the site, please let us know.

• The Nordic Game conference will take place in Malmö (Sweden) from the 27 to the 30th of April
• Quo Vadis will take place in Berlin (Germany) from the 27th to the 29th of April
• The first iteration of the Webgame Conference will be on the 29th of Paril, in paris (France)

All of them I wanted to attend to, for different reasons, but that is obviously not possible.

In the end, I will be attending Quo Vadis, mainly because they very nicely asked me to speak there and Diane and I have meetings in Berlin we wanted to have for a while. But I will sure be missing catching up with the attendees of the other two events.

As far a May is concerned, it seems I will be on my own in Seattle for the LOGIN conference (where I am speaking as well, on a different topic this time) and anyone states side who wants to meet me there is very welcome to get in touch. Well, that is if the Icelandic volcano let us travel this way ever again.

As for the E3 in Los Angeles in June, unless something changes, I don’t think any of us will be able to attend it this year.

Jen will be at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX from the 12th to the 16th of March, so you can talk to us there, too!

If you want to meet over there, please feel free to drop me a line through the contact page: http://www.icopartners.com/contact.php

5:35 Daddy, What’s a Disc?
A discussion on the death of physical media and the business models that will rise up to replace them

The full lineup of the conference is here. If you are attending, please come and say hi!

EDIT – you can find an article covering the panel here.