What Games Are

Your Game Is A Graph

Forget everything else for a moment and consider that your game is just a graph of users over time. There is more than one kind of viable graph, but knowing which kind you are aiming for is important. It should affect every strategic or marketing decision that you make. This week's news that Draw Something's user numbers have already dropped by 30% is significant, for example. It makes Zynga's purchase of it look like a lot of money spent based on misunderstanding that game's graph.

Do you know which kind of graph you are creating, and are you making the right choices to improve it? Are you targeting your monetization strategy in the right way, or are you basing it on a faulty understanding of its likely graph?

5 Million Copies Later [Minecraft]

Just over a year ago, I wrote a well-received article about Minecraft, an indie game that few in the ‘proper’ games industry had even heard of that sold a million copies. This game-mixed-with-sculpture garden had broken all the rules. It was hard to get into, was (at the time) selling in a bare alpha state and hadn’t even had the decency to put together a proper website with a nice shop window. Instead, the developer had just thrown up a PayPal button and that was that.

Many at the time said it was lucky, niche, a kind of fringe market reaction. That, yes, a million copies meant something but not necessarily compared to a Zynga. Meanwhile Minecraft has continued to grow. Just this morning, in fact, Jens Bergensten tweeted that the game is but 500 copies away from 5 million sold. Most ‘proper’ games never sell that many.

I’ve always maintained that Minecraft is a symbol of something resonant in the games market, a deep shift in how it works that changes everything. It is yet further proof that we’re not really in the business of packaged goods and experiences any more, but of services, communities and emergent worlds. The question is are you willing to see that, or can you only see the world in terms of ‘proper’ and ‘fluke’?

The Perils of Franchise Fatigue [Single Franchise Publishing]

Q: What’s the biggest mistake that a successful studio can make?
A: Walking away from its key franchise.

Q: Why would a studio do that?
A: Because the staff get bored.

Q: Why is it a mistake?
A: Well…

100,000 Players for 60 Days [Traction]

‘I don’t really care about being right’, Steve Jobs said in an interview for Triumph of the Nerds, ‘I just care about success.’

There are infinite ways to kid yourself that a game is successful, but there are also many ways to misinterpret success as failure. Here’s what I think: If your game can attract 100,000 players who each play for 60 days then it’s a success. It might take time to realise its value, but you’re definitely onto something.

It has traction.

Why Investing In Games Creates A Company-or-Product Paradox

Investors aren’t interested in products, they’re interested in companies. A startup is a company in search of a business model. Metrics, customer acquisition and processes are really important. Consider China, location markets and smart TVs. It’s not them, it’s you. Do you really need investment?

These were some of the many messages that came out of an event called Games Invest. It’s very Silicon Valley led, thinking of any business as startup, transition and exit opportunity. Find your business model, raise money at the right time and then grow or sell. Fail fast and validate through tests.

And yet even if you do all of these things, I still think you wouldn’t get funded by people who invest in games. While the investor community wants game companies to think like the Valley, investors themselves still think that ‘product’ and ‘business model’ are different things. It’s paradoxical thinking foisted on game developers that leaves developers justifiably confused, and it needs to change.

You Need A Niche [Marketing Stories]

Traditionally, labelling a game niche is a sideways way of implying that it’s trapped in a ghetto. It invokes a sense of smallness, where games that are strictly for hobbyists struggle to survive.

In an industry that used to want to eclipse Hollywood, maybe that was a justifiable attitude. However in the age of single-franchise publishing, niches are really important. They are where tribes of engaged players come from, and if you want to change the world then a niche is where you need to start.

Find Games For Your Players [Marketing]

A post from Nicholas Lovell yesterday on how to market your indie game highlighted three possible approaches: (1) Launch-focused publicity, (2) metric-driven advertising and (3) permission marketing. The third reminded me of a quote by Seth Godin:

Don’t find customers for your products
Find products for your customers

The idea of permission marketing is to build a following by finding a cause that early adopters care about. Then build a platform to share your ideas about that cause, the gift of which gains their permission to talk to them some more. Then gather customers together to form a community and build products that speak to the community’s needs but which also push the envelope of their expectations. So the community will act as your marketing channel to the outside world.

That’s the general idea. Does it work for games?

A Simple Reason Why Games Aren’t Finished

CNN recently asked why games are never finished by most players. In an age when production values are so high, it’s a very valid question. The industry response is often that older players with work and family commitments simply can’t play as much as they used to, so this makes the case for shorter, more intense, games.

I disagree. In my experience, players find the time to play just as readers find the time to read. Online games also indicate that games can occupy many hundreds of hours for motivated players in the right circumstances.

The uncomfortable question to ask is whether the problem is the games rather than the players. Simply put, are players not completing games because they’re boring?

Small Ponds [Development Strategy]

Bright lights, big city. Developing for a hit platform often feels a bit like being a young ingénue getting on the bus to New York City in hope of becoming a Broadway star. There are huge opportunities, but also massive competition, so for every star who makes it there are a thousand who don’t.

Often the smart move is to start somewhere quieter. The actress who starts in smaller venues learning her trade and developing a following has more chance of making it than the ingénue off the bus, and similarly in games the developer who focuses on a quiet platform can often achieve something much more sustainable.

Keeping Players At Bay [Diablo 3]

Reddit is not happy. Nor Wired. Nor Rock Paper Shotgun. Nor indeed much of the internet this morning. Why? Primarily because of the news about Diablo 3.

In short: the game will insist on using always-online authentication, forbid modding (allowing access to the engine or tools), and include a market for the buying and selling of items. The first means you won’t be able to play the game on a plane. The second means that fans will not be allowed to fully express themselves. And the third means that those with more money may progress faster.

Of the three ideas, only the third is smart. Most players really don’t mind if others have used a shortcut to their success as long as it doesn’t affect them directly. But the other two are terrible. They are indicative of a growing trend in publishing to try and keep players at bay. They may work in the short term, but as long term strategies they are fraught with danger.