Top 10 of 2009: Interviews
We run down what some of the key industry players had to say in the past year
Kristian Segerstrale, Playfish (July)
While EA's acquisition of Playfish was one of the biggest business deals of the year, none of that had happened when we spoke to CEO Kristian Segerstrale in July. In fact, one of the things he talks about is the publisher entering the social gaming space, funnily enough...
But before that, as the company celebrated its 100 millionth game download, he offers his thoughts on the iPhone, and how influential that might become.
Q: What's your opinion of the iPhone and what Apple has achieved since it moved into mobile gaming?
Kristian Segerstrale: I think the iPhone has been an important milestone in the games industry for a couple of reasons. The main one being that they have ignited the expectations of consumers that you should be able to have high quality gaming experiences on devices which are not fundamentally gaming devices. And bringing that marketing message to the consumer I think has been incredibly important. Also I think Apple has done a lot to create a model, if you like, digital distribution eco-system with the App Store.
Having said that, I actually think the iPhone and App Store have a very long way to go. The steps they have taken in the mobile gaming world is amazing - they've created a user experience which is unrivalled. But the environment is still a catalogue one - an environment where it's very hard to be successful unless you happen to have the breakaway hit. And even with a breakaway hit, you end up with a price war down to 99p. The economics of that marketplace haven't been that great. What I think is the most exciting thing that Apple has done is the 3.0 software update and the direction the platform is taking from that. They are actively encouraging games on the iPhone to become a service - I think that's really important.
They still have steps to go - I think it should be possible for consumers to get games for free and then pay for additional features - something currently not possible as you have to pay something up front if you want to pay for features. Also I think Apple should be far more aggressive in encouraging viral distribution of its games because viral discovery, as we've seen with social networking, is very powerful in broadly distributing games. Implement social discovery, where you can check out what your friends are playing and you can better figure out what the people around you are up to and you enable an application distribution environment where quality genuinely rises to the top.
They have things to do still, but they have made an admirable effort and in many ways iPhone will be seen as a very important turning point or early milestone in where the games industry is going.
Q: What would you say your company's mission is going forwards?
Kristian Segerstrale: Our mission as a company is to change how the world plays games. We believe there is a humongous opportunity in getting people more engaged in games by getting them to play together. It's like ball games in the park and board games at home played throughout the ages, you're communicating and having fun with friends. We're trying to bring games back to that form of entertainment. It's not about you sitting at home with the lights off in front of your plasma TV killing monsters. It's a fun, social, casual, everyday activity with all your friends. Our mission is to transform how the world plays games. The PC might be where that starts, but our belief is that handheld devices connected to the internet where you can connect with your friends are important, and that's why we're excited about iPhone and Android for the future. I think that games consoles - while they might be an important part of the industry now - might become niche in the next couple of years because it's not at all clear if it even makes sense to deliver this type of gaming - social, with micro-transactions - on a home console.
Q: EA has spoken about wanting to get into the social gaming arena - how do you feel about that?
Kristian Segerstrale: We absolutely welcome them. In fact, they are already there with a number of games on Facebook. They clearly believe, much as we believe, that games are becoming services and that retail distribution for games will decline quite rapidly from here onwards. And I think that the most important thing for social games is to ensure the quality of the end user experience. The social game experience is growing and continues to grow and we've been at the forefront of that and have been very pleased with where the industry has gone so far and with how the consumers have embraced it. The only threat that I see to the industry is that in the search for early profit and maximising early results for companies, companies will act overly aggressively in how they try to monetise users, which is not good for anybody. A bit like, if you remember what happened to ringtone subscription services in Europe - where there was a bit of a consumer backlash because the way people were paying wasn't transparent. I think it's great to see companies like EA have a bigger presence in the market because I think they will help set the quality standard and ensure people get what they've paid for.
Q: Your company received a big cash investment towards the end of last year - how's it being spent?
Kristian Segerstrale: We announced our launch on the iPhone and Android. We also launched on other social networks such a iGoogle, Bebo, Yahoo and other places. We've been pretty busy, also continuing to work hard on Facebook and MySpace. Since then, Pet Society, our biggest game, has grown to 12 million monthly active users - which is more than World of Warcraft. We've grown tremendously over the past six months. Our most recent title Restaurant City reached more than 54 million players in the ten weeks after launch.