Gameloft: Cash in the Attic

SVP of publishing Gonzague de Vallois on the shift to mobile social, copycatting and the Gree partnership

Feature by Dan Pearson Contributor

Published on Feb. 27, 2012

GamesIndustry.bizHow much was that a result of the success of Order and Chaos?

Gonzague de Vallois

Yeah, that was a good experience. Whereas Gree is more casual, Order and Chaos is at the other end of the spectrum, much more hardcore but very social. Our success with Order and Chaos proved that social mobile could be a significant part of our success. That's why we've been adding, if you look at our catalogue, things like Oregon Trail, Fantasy Town, all the games that are live already.

If you look at Let's Go 3, that's been there for 9 months now, we're updating it every month. The latest update makes it even more social. It's a really deep trend to make the social aspects really core to the users. Order and Chaos was a good experience, a good proof of that success, even if it's on the more hardcore end.

GamesIndustry.bizObviously the success of social mobile relies heavily on the factors outside your control like the reliability of infrastructure and reasonable data pricing. Do you feel the infrastructure is ready?

Gonzague de Vallois

In the US, 4G is being deployed right now, so, it's there. In Europe...it's coming also. It's true it's not as reliable as Japan - everywhere you go in Japan you get a perfect 3G experience, but I think it's coming. It might take a bit longer to be on par with Japan, but I think it will be there.

In the US, 4G is being deployed right now, so, it's there. In Europe...it's coming also."

On the data plans, it's going in the right direction too. Of course, some carriers have been saying that it's no longer unlimited, so there will be some local tuning to do for each market but overall I think it's going in the right direction.

GamesIndustry.bizFragmentation is the other big European problem, in comparison to the US and Japan. France, Germany and the UK stand out, but at what point does it become viable for you to roll out localisations to other EU territories?

Gonzague de Vallois

It's true that Europe is very fragmented, but we've been localising in Italian, Greek...There are a lot of markets and together they make a big European market. If you concentrate just on the UK, Germany and France then you only cover maybe 30 per cent of the European market.

It's true that it's complex, but it's worth it for such a big and fast moving market.

GamesIndustry.bizHave you found it to be a benefit to be operating from Europe because of the Euro exchange rate?

Gonzague de Vallois

In terms of teams and business we do one third of our business in Europe, we have less than one third of our teams in Europe so it's pretty balanced in terms of what is in Dollars, Euros, Yen, RMB. It doesn't have too much impact from currency rates, we are very international.

GamesIndustry.bizWhat are your thoughts on the blurring of lines between influence and copycatting? I know Gameloft's position is that you don't emulate things which already exist on the platform you're developing for, but do you think there needs to be more regulation of IP?

Gonzague de Vallois

Recently, if it's pure trademark infringement or obvious copycatting, then I think Apple has been pretty clear, as has Google. I think the market becoming more diverse and more mass market so that you have to have different games for different people means you need more room for creativity because of the wider audience.

I'm not sure there is a way to regulate it more, but the market growing means more innovation. Also, the social aspect is pretty new so you have to innovate. If you look at our recent titles, they've had more interesting elements there.

GamesIndustry.bizHow would you respond to to the argument that says that Gameloft have crossed a line with some of their games, from emulation to imitation?

Gonzague de Vallois

What we've said is that there are some key elements in the video game business. Look at the football simulation, you have FIFA, Pro EVO, and we've have Real Football now for the last nine years, from Java to iPhone. You can't reinvent football completely. It's 11 vs.11, there are tactics etc.

If you look at our latest version then our control system is completely new and unique, very different from FIFA and Pro EVO. So we're present on key segments and we're trying to bring the best experience to gamers.

I don't think we've crossed the line there. We've always tried to bring something to the genre, something to the platform and something to the experience so that we can differentiate from existing IPs in those segments.

GamesIndustry.bizOne last thing which I wanted to ask about your market compared to that of Gree's, was your percentage of featurephone revenues. Europe and the US mostly skipped the featurephone generation which really kicked off mobile gaming in Japan, which is now moving to smartphones too. Have you seen that older technology filtering down into developing markets like China and Brazil?

Gonzague de Vallois

The featurephone business is still fifty per cent of our business, because we are very strong in markets like India, South America, APAC...I was in Mexico last week. The penetration of the iPhone there is very different.

The featurephone business is still fifty per cent of our business, because we are very strong in markets like India, South America, APAC."

The featurephone business is still very big, at least half of handset sales worldwide. So it's true that, as Europeans we see Europe, Japan and the US and say, oh smartphones are ruling the world now, but in fact in other big parts of the world, parts that are in pretty good shape if you look somewhere like Brazil, featurephones are doing very well.

Plus, the featurephone experience is getting better and better. Our smartphone experience has meant that we can downsize the experience to replicate it. Featurephone capabilities are going up pretty quickly too.

The line is getting fainter. If you take a series 40 from Nokia, the latest ones, they surf the web pretty well, they have touchscreen, good resolution. We can offer pretty good experiences. So it's still a big market. In Japan it's nearly 70 percent I think, more like 50 in Europe.

GamesIndustry.bizThat obviously extends the life of your catalogue, will that continue with social mobile games?

Gonzague de Vallois

You will still have to cater for each handset, for each territory. So we'll have to adapt the social experience based on the handset people have. The social trend is global, but it has to be adapted to each area.