The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast

It’s a double whammy for our latest episode of the Playable Futures Podcast, with gaming communities at the centre of the discussion. For this episode, presenter Will Freeman chats to Mark Reed, Founder of Heaven Media to reflect on gaming’s relationship with marketing and the important role that communities play in shaping its landscape. He then interviews Romain de Waubert de Genlis, Studio Head and Chief Creative Officer at Amplitude Studios who discusses how his platform Games2Gether aims to bring the gaming community into the dev process. Both spokespeople take a long view on the importance of community, but what becomes clear is that factoring community into marketing strategies (amongst other project milestones) early in a campaign can prove pivotal in its success – and in many ways it always has been – but as we look to the future it will be an important key to success.  As Mark Reed says: “For as long as I’ve been gaming, communities have always been at the heart of gaming and that’s still very true today.” Having witnessed significant changes over the course of a lengthy career, Mark reflects on how studios, publishers and developers have had to adapt to put their players and, crucially, engagement with them, first. Reflecting on the '90s, when the majors ignored their player base until launch, Mark suggests that the industry has now begun to accommodate them as early as possible. After all, if publishers don’t nurture their audience, they stand a chance of falling at the first hurdle. If communities are key to successful games marketing, what is their future with regards to the creation and making of new and exciting titles?   Romain, meanwhile, is co-founder and Creative Director of Games2Gether, a video game co-creation platform that brings the gaming community together and provides a platform for creators to swap ideas and collaborate on development. This further democratisation of the creative process puts budding developers first, enabling creators to swap ideas in a like-minded environment with no gatekeepers. “What people usually don’t like when they try to interact with a team is they will feel that they’re not being listened to… We have one million players, so it’s hard to tell everyone to listen to everyone at any one time, but it’s all about transparency.” And what Romain touches on here is something that is true when applied to gaming communities, dev communities and is a core principle of good games marketing to boot – with clarity, simplicity and openness the sector can maintain new and powerful channels of conversation and use the benefits thereof to build the games industry of the future.  The Playable Futures Podcast accompanies Playable Futures, a collection of insights, interviews and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry and medium will go next. A series of ten articles so far have been published on GamesIndustry.biz, with more planned. Playable Futures is a collaborative project brought to you in partnership with GI.biz, UKIE and Diva. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GamesIndustry.biz team gathers around their mics to look back at some of the biggest stories and trends of the year. Using a recent edition of This Week In Business as a jumping off point, we discuss whether 2022 was a weak year for new video games (as some folks believe) and how well the line-up compares to previous years. We also discuss the biggest trends, such as the wave of potentially industry-changing M&A deals that rocked the business back in January. As always, you can get more news, insight and analysis at www.gamesindustry.biz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the latest episode of the Playable Futures Podcast, games journalist Will Freeman is joined by representatives from three of the many independent and mid-size studios that are currently making waves in the games industry. Playtonic Games business development manager Stephanie Darrah, nDreams CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh, and Nosebleed Interactive managing director Andreas Firnigl discuss how much the game space has changed in the past decade and what it means to be an indie in a world where their titles are vying for audiences’ attention alongside AAA behemoths. With the landscape ever changing, many developers are becoming publishers themselves, taking their experiences of working with external parties to inform their own ventures into the space. “A lot of developers like us have become publishers because we’ve been through the process ourselves,” Stephanie explains. “We’ve developed a game from start to finish. We’ve done ports ourselves. We’ve had publishing partners and we know the next steps after development, like QA and localisation… We know the pitfalls and we know the milestones.” Community is integral to industry success too, with many publishers increasingly focusing on nurturing talent and sharing knowledge across the indie space. “We’ve been in those shoes and we know people who are now trying to be in those shoes,” Stephanie adds. “For us, it fits the model of the industry as a whole. It’s about helping people. It’s about trying to make it a better space… You connect with people who are needing that support and suddenly you’re a consultant, or a publisher.” The Playable Futures Podcast accompanies Playable Futures, a collection of insights, interviews and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry and medium will go next. A series of ten articles so far have been published on GamesIndustry.biz, with more planned. Playable Futures is a collaborative project brought to you in partnership with GI.biz, UKIE and Diva. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast is back, as the team once again gathers around their mics to discuss the biggest stories of the week. We start with the highs and lows of the latest Pokémon launch. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are smashing series records in key territories and are the most ambitious entries to date – but it turns out that ambition comes at a price. With widespread complaints and viral examples of technical issues, we discuss the potential impact of Scarlet and Violet's woes on the franchise's reputation, and what Game Freak and The Pokémon Company need to do to avoid this in future generations. We also discuss the end of Blizzard's 14-year partnership with NetEase, how the publisher might try to re-enter the lucrative Chinese market, and why NetEase is setting its sights on the Western markets. (A quick apology about the audio quality, particularly for Jeffrey. We are investigating the issue and hope to fix this by the next episode) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second outing of the Playable Futures Podcast, games journalist Will Freeman chats with Tommy Palm, founder and CEO of Resolution Games to reflect on the future of virtual reality.  An industry veteran responsible for the enormous success of Candy Crush Saga, Palm has since shifted his focus to the world of virtual reality, courtesy of Ultimechs, Resolution’s new multiplayer VR gaming experience. There are now more than ten million headsets in the market, so with VR well established as an accessible gaming platform, the barriers to entry are now significantly reduced. With the initial years of hype behind us, the format has begun to flourish on its own terms, becoming a fertile creative space for experimental games and ideas that were previously impossible to achieve. Palm reflects on VR’s complete reinvention of the traditional gaming experience, which in many ways parallels the evolution he witnessed in the mobile gaming space.  “One of the most exciting things about mobile games in the beginning was the touchscreen. It enabled direct control. You could see it so clearly with small children. They would touch the object they wanted to move. It was so incredibly intuitive and we have a little bit of that going on with VR.” Palm also discusses a world of creative possibilities that are only possible in VR. However wonderful and engaging the best games are, they still exist within the standard confines of gaming. VR continues to pioneer away from this, removing the need for a conventional controller-based experience in place of intuitive, responsive play that has continued to change the game. “You want more intricate interaction with games. Visually, they are stunning, but you want more interaction with your games. In VR you have hands, eye-tracking, and voice.” The Playable Futures Podcast accompanies Playable Futures, a collection of insights, interviews, and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry and medium will go next. A series of ten articles so far have been published on GamesIndustry.biz, with more planned. Playable Futures is a collaborative project brought to you in partnership with GI.biz, UKIE, and Diva. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"In eight years' time, I'd like to see the video games industry being the greenest industry in the world and that the players that play games are coming to it, not just to escape, but to give back as well." The wider creative industries are increasingly looking to games for inspiration. After all, it’s probably fair to say that gaming is now bigger than the Beatles – so why wouldn’t the world of music and film be looking to video games for a steer on how to engage their audiences? In the first episode of the Playable Futures Podcast, games journalist Will Freeman – a regular GamesIndustry.biz contributor – speaks to the UN Environment's Chief of Education, Youth & Advocacy, Sam Barratt, about the United Nation’s Playing for the Planet Alliance, and why the UN sees games as part of its mission’s future.  In this wide-ranging chat, Sam reflects on how the gaming sector can use its influence to shift the world from where we are to where it needs to be. As a medium that inspires and engages like no other, he discusses how games could encourage audiences to act and make a real difference.  The Playable Futures Podcast accompanies Playable Futures, a collection of insights, interviews, and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry and medium will go next. A series of ten articles so far have been published on GamesIndustry.biz, with more planned. Playable Futures is a collaborative project brought to you in partnership with GamesIndustry.biz, UKIE and Diva. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our special podcast series The Five Games Of returns with Tim Schafer, founder, CEO and president of Double Fine Productions. And the episode is available to download now. For those who may have missed past episodes, this is a series of interviews in which we explore how the games industry has changed over the course of five games from our guest's careers: their first, their latest, and three of their choice. In this episode, Schafer shares how he came to work at LucasFilm Games, the evolution of the adventure genre that the studio was best known for, the transition to early 3D graphics, the complexities of music licensing, and the changing attitudes towards comedy in games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To succeed in mobile games today, you not only need to make a great game, but you need to have a strong monetisation plan from the very beginning. In this special GamesIndustry.biz Podcast, Meta Audience Network’s Michael Bertaut discusses the state of in-game advertising, player acquisition and the future of monetisation. He reveals the latest data on where things are heading and details Meta’s view on how developers can make the most of the new opportunities. "We’ve noticed a shift from building great games to building a great gaming business," said Bertaut. "Sure, great games are foundational, but long term-success means shifting the focus a bit. To build a strong and sustainable gaming business, one needs both great games and game monetization expertise." As far as challenges go, there is no question that a loss of mobile ad identifiers had a significant impact on the ecosystem. Developers are facing the reality that old ad formats can no longer be relied upon and innovation solutions are required." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GamesIndustry.biz team gather around their mics to discuss the biggest stories from the business of video games. We start this week's episode with thoughts on how the industry will fare in the impending recession. The business models supporting games companies have changed dramatically since the last financial collapse, so how will economic changes affect spending on everything from free-to-play titles and in-game purchases to subscriptions? We also discuss the recent Grand Theft Auto 6 leak and the consequenes of leaks in general on the industry in general. For one thing, it's highlighted the misconceptions that video games' graphics are finalised before the gameplay, but do consumers need to understand more about how these titles are developed? As always, you can get more news, insight and analysis at www.gamesindustry.biz. For the biggest news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our daily newsletter at www.gamesindustry.biz/newsletters   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GamesIndustry.biz team gather around their mics to discuss the biggest stories from the business of video games. This week, we focus on Ubisoft - starting with our interview with CEO Yves Guillemot. The company has faced years of scrutiny following the wave of abuse allegations in 2020, but is it doing enough to address the issues within its workplace?  We also talk about the accountability of leadership at AAA firms, as well as Ubisoft's plans for its flagship franchises - especially Assassin's Creed - and the implications for its business going forward. As always, you can get more news, insight and analysis at GamesIndustry.biz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices