Keeping the Promise of Casual Games:

Entertainment for Everyone

John WelchCEO, PlayFirst

Casual Games Summit @ Game Developers Conference08 February 2008

about me

• Degrees in Math & C.S.• Career in product management• SEGA (SegaSoft Networks): 1998-1999• Shockwave.com: 1999-2004• PlayFirst: 2004-present• Almost 10 years in casual games

in the beginning

these were the casual games

because of thisbut ‘casual’ came to mean this

what exactly is a ‘casual’ game today?

casual means accessible

Is the game accessible to a “significant number” of people?

• attractive theme?

• friendly to new / occasional users?

• fun enough to do again / bring friend in?

casual means accessible

Is the platform accessible to ‘everyone’?

Physically: Do most people want to buy it? Can they find it in a store/online?

Socially: Do most people want to play it, tell their friends about it?

Mentally: Do most people feel comfortable, or are many intimidated?

Behaviorally: Do most people have time for this?

is mobile casual?

Conservative view today:• Neither is yet ‘casual’ • because everyday folks don’t

download games on their mobile phone

Future: • Everyone has one everywhere all

the time… • and uses it for apps & games• doesn’t get more accessible than

that

Everyone has one

Even buy-1-get-3-free support games

are consoles casual?

Conservative view today: • Exceptions, not rule• Only kids buy/play console games • Consoles not emotionally available

to adults

Future: • Entire family accesses interactive

media via some box connected to the television

Grandparents are playing Wii Sports with their grandchildren.

Reality today: • 76%of American’s have PCs• 238 million U.S. Internet users• Most exceed casual MSR’s• Most play casual games• And then there’s WoW on a

$6500 Dell XPS 720

$6,496

$349

pc: most casual + most hard core

“the internet” ~= “America”

the promise

all people read, watch, listen

• to diverse genres of media

• on diverse ‘platforms’

• are games really different?

everyone should play games!

a neat idea

• “Games” have always been for everyone.– But “video games” never were.

• Let’s make video games a universal form of entertainment!!!– This sort of just started happening in the late

1990’s w/ Pogo, Shockwave, Yahoo, etc.– We put a label on it: “casual games”

• 5 years ago “we” all fit in one room

vision

Elevate video games to become a first-tier form of entertainment

enjoyed by everyone

we are making progress

• Our customers truly are ‘everyone’– 28% of the total worldwide online population are “gamers”

[Comscore - May, 2007]

• Gaming is the #1 activity (length of time) on the personal computer– 34% of all adult Internet users play games weekly

[Parks Associates - 2007]

• Even game development teams are becoming more diverse– 26% of PlayFirst game production staff is female

[I counted]

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Year

$ (b

illio

ns)

good money here

$12 Billion MarketN.A. Game Software:

6% growth (ESA)

$10 Billion Marketw/ 35% growth rate

$5 Billion MarketCGA: 20% growth

even the vc’s have noticed

but action will follow

are we done?

Are we done CREATIVELY?

• done inventing genres? • only for nerds?

Are we done ECONOMICALLY?

Are we done CATEGORICALLY?

• Demand ($$$) has always been on the console

• Supply coming from two directions

• Are we getting squeezed out? Maybe our turn is simply over!?

no!

we are the future!

Retail publishers + platforms great at serving core audience• Don’t get the web will make mistakes we already made• Budgets, schedules, thinking are all wrong can’t do it small

…even though this is a tech-savvy part of the country… I guarantee you that we don’t have 50% penetration into

the Bay Area homes with video game consoles…

Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, San Francisco Chronicle Jan 2008

how long do we have?

… they’re too hard, they’re too expensive and they’re too intimidating, I’ve never played with a controller, the

game comes up and I have no idea what I’m doing …

Everyone loves playing games. I don’t care who you are. Yet we put a barrier in this industry (for) people who didn’t grow up … with a controller in their hand.

what a few smart people can do

• Dwarf best console innovations like Dance Dance, Guitar Hero, Wii Sports• All created by a few founders who are now really wealthy

• Internet = platform where YOU can innovate w/out permission– where YOU have advantages over the big players.

we need to change

2007 Highlights

• 6,000 Diner Dash clones• 2,000 Mystery Case Files clones• Philosophical dilemma over is the “3-in-a-row” dead• Real innovators are cloning Club Penguin

not good enough

What did we do to grow this market???

our customers agree

Customer Poll:Are you happy with the creativity and innovation in casual games today?

No, they all seem

the same to me”8%

Source: PlayFirst.com survey – warning – not a highly scientific approach!

Casual gamers want more innovation!

“Absolutely, I find new games all the time”42%

50% “Occasionally I’ll find a gem of a game:

Customer Poll:

How do you feel about current purchasing options for casual games?

“I’m happy with the $20 model”

“I want different options,

such as subscription

or pay-per-level:”

28%

71%

The majority of casual gamers want more innovation

how about our business model?

some progress here

• PlayFirst:

– Diner Dash: Hometown Hero

• Multiplayer, avatars, episodic content

• Only 1 out of 30 games we published

• Only 1 portal would launch it (Yahoo!)

– PlayGold stored currency

• WildTangent

– WildCoins ad-friendly micro currency (see next slide)

rationale for lack of innovation

• Portals won’t let us innovate; they only want stand-alone $20 games

• Our customers are happy; they don’t want anything different.

• Reality = innovation is difficult

imho

please consider

• Portals– Differentiate your service.– Share the customer.– Say ‘yes’ to the innovators. Say ‘no’ to the cloners.– Limit participation to allow suppliers to recoup

investments.

• Publishers– Take all financial risk: higher budgets, lower royalties– Build YOUR brands: story, characters, ongoing content – Invest in innovation: “genre filler” OK, copy not OK

• Developers– Be the artist, not the banker.– Beware the glut!

when we succeed

We will have delivered on our promise that games are for everyone.

‘Casual’ goes away as a category.