MCV@gamescom Day Two | August 21st 2019

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DAY TWO

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CONTENT Editor: Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8785

Is content still king?

For the first time at gamescom, Google is publicly taking its place in the trade halls under its Stadia moniker. Streaming games from the cloud is nothing new, but a company with the resources of Google hasn’t joined the games industry since Bill Gates announced the Xbox back in 2000 at GDC. Whether Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s own visit to GDC 19 years later will prove as pivotal for the industry remains to be seen, but Google, like Microsoft, may have to endure a couple of setbacks on the way before it truly achieves mass market success. One thing is for sure, Google is entering a far larger and more competitive market than Microsoft did.

Senior Staff Writer: Marie Dealessandri marie.dealessandri@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8786 Designer: Tom Carpenter tom.carpenter@biz-media.co.uk

Google looks to understand this, but historically it’s relied on the quality of its engineering and platforms to build its businesses, not the acquisition and nurturing of first-party content. With everyone else focused on building the best content, it will be interesting to see if Google goes with the flow, or succeeds on its usual terms.

Speaking of the best content, the MCV@gamescom team has spent some time judging the UK Game of the Show Award, organised by Ukie and this year sponsored by Wicked Sick.

We’ll be announcing the winner this evening on the UK industry stand, so please come along and have a drink!

Seth Barton, editor of MCV

Production Manager: Claire Noe cnoe@datateam.co.uk

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MANAGEMENT Media Director: Colin Wilkinson colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8777

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INTERNATIONAL MCV and its content are available for licensing and syndication re-use. Contact Colin Wilkinson for opportunities and permissions: colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk

Today @gamescom

MCV has an exclusive media partnership with Famitsu – Japan’s leading video games analyst and news source

04 News and interviews The biggest stories at gamescom

12

12 Outstanding Xbox

A look into the Xbox Adaptive Controller

16 Devolver Digital

How Devolver plans to reign on mobile

20 Relocation, relocation...

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Plus trade hall plans

42 When we made...

Sea of Thieves

48 Gamescom in pictures The best pics from around the show

50 The final boss

Hi-Rez Studio’s Véronique Lallier

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20/08/2019 17:01

Xbox: ‘We have no plans to expand any upcoming first-party titles to any other consoles’ With Gears 5 heading to Steam, plus Ori and the Blind Forest being converted to Switch, Aaron Greenberg, GM of games marketing, clarifies Xbox’s first-party strategy to Seth Barton TWO publishing announcements from Microsoft in the run-up to gamescom caught the eye: Gears 5 is now heading to Steam, just a few weeks before its release, and 2015’s Ori and Blind Forest is coming to Switch, in just four weeks time. So what do these announcements mean for Xbox’s publishing strategy as a whole?

We caught up with Aaron Greenberg (pictured right) on the Xbox booth to talk about the reasons and ramifications of these decisions.

He quickly made it clear these are exceptions to the rule, not a change of direction.

“Going forward, all of our internal studios, and the new studios we’ve added, will be focused on making games for our platforms and we have no plans to expand our exclusive first-party games to any other consoles,” said the GM of games marketing at Microsoft.

“People should recognise how excited we are with our internal development studios more than doubling. Those teams, going forward, will be focused on making games for our platforms, so while we know there’s existing commitments in place, take The Outer Worlds as an example, there was already a commitment to make that game available as a multiplatform title and we’ll continue to honour that.”

Such commitments are an inevitable outcome of the spending spree of acquisitions that Microsoft has gone on lately, but they will end once those undertakings are spent.

“Thinking about the next game from Obsidian, InXile or Ninja Theory, all those studios, just like our existing internal studios, whether it’s 343 or Turn 10, they’re going to be focused on making those games for our platforms. So we have no plans to expand any of those exclusive first-party titles to

any other consoles,” Greenberg stated categorically to MCV@gamescom.

That said, we’re curious as to why an older title, Ori and the Blind Forest, is coming to Switch next month.

“Ori is built by Moon Studios, which is an independent, external studio. They came to us with a desire to bring the original Ori to the Switch. We thought that made sense, and we’re happy to work with them to enable them to bring that to Switch,” Greenberg explained.

“We understand their desire to bring that game to Switch, and in this particular case we

were happy to support them. And we think that makes sense for the original Ori,” he clarified, and we can only agree that the game is a perfect match for the hardware.”

However, going forward, Greenberg was keen to clarify this doesn’t set a precedent for the sequel: “Our plans with Ori and the Will of the Wisps is to launch it exclusively on Xbox One and on the PC.” ALL STEAMED UP While console is one thing, the more open nature of PC stores is another, with Microsoft

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happy to bring Gears 5 to a potentially far greater audience via Steam.

“We know there’s a big PC audience out there which may not own an Xbox and they want to be able to play some of our big IPs. And bringing Gears 5 to that audience makes a lot of sense,” Greenberg started explaining.

“Steam reaches PC gamers in a lot of markets that are traditionally not as console heavy, and [Steam] has relationships with those customers there. It’s a very engaged PC audience and so to be able to bring a title like Gears 5 at launch to PC players in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China, in these big PC markets – here in Germany even – for us it’s a great way to reach a broader audience,” he added.

However, Xbox was keen that this was done in a way that includes those new players in its larger Xbox community with crossplay and cross-device progression.

“We’ve always focused on putting the gamer at the centre of everything we’re doing. When we think about growing the amount of people playing our games, we want to do it in a way where we support crossplay, cross progression, with people playing on the console and the PC together. So the community of people you’re going to play with isn’t determined by where you actually bought the game,” he stated.

“We’ve been able to work with Steam so that we’ll enable that community to also be able to play across Windows 10 and console. And so we’re excited to be working with Steam and the pre-orders are up. It’s been exciting and we’re bringing Halo: Reach and The Master Chief Collection to Steam as well,” he reminded us.

But while Microsoft is happy to expand its reach using other retail platforms, it still

“We’ve always focused on putting the gamer at the centre of everything we’re doing.” believes it’s own offering is the best: “We’re creating a lot of choice; gamers can get the game on Steam, buy it on Xbox, or subscribe and get it at launch on Xbox Game Pass. Though if you are a PC or console player, we think the best value comes from Game Pass.”

Finally, while gamescom has long been a big show for Microsoft, as opposed to Sony for

instance, the company just announced an even bigger stage for Xbox in the form of XO19 in London in less than three months.

Greenberg explained its importance: “We think of both E3 and XO19 as the big beats of the year, we unveiled a lot of big news at E3, and XO19 will be another key beat for us. We’re going to have a lot of surprises.”

But despite doing it’s own event, Microsoft is keen to support others too: “We want to support industry events, we plan to be at the Game Awards in December as well, the big beats where gamers are watching and showing up, we want to be there. That said, it’s always fun to be able to create your own show, and our fans love that.”

Added to this, Greenberg explained the reasons London was chosen this year: “We thought: ‘what a great place to invite friends from around the world to the Copperbox Arena [part of London’s 2012 Olympic legacy]. We’ve got the Rare team, the Ninja Theory team, the Playground Games team, all of the top British creative teams there with their staff.”

“We have a huge spring planned, so between this holiday and E3 next year we have a record number of games coming out, so that event will be the perfect opportunity to showcase all those,” he concluded.

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CD Projekt Red on living up to expectations with Cyberpunk 2077: ‘We are feeling under pressure’ Cyberpunk 2077’s producer Richard Borzymowski talks to Marie Dealessandri about CD Projekt Red’s approach to dealing with players’ anticipation and how developers should remain wary of promising too much

DURING an interview with MCV@gamescom, Cyberpunk 2077’s producer Richard Borzymowski (pictured above) addressed hype around CD Projekt Red’s upcoming release, that’s easily the most anticipated game of 2020.

“We are feeling under pressure but we are taking [it] as encouragement and we are lucky that what we’re showing to the community is well received. They have given us a certainty that the vision that we had is the right one, is a good one,” he started, adding that while he may not be personally involved in the decisionmaking of what material is being shown to the public he “really likes” the approach taken.

“The approach here is to be transparent,” he continued. “We are showing we’re not making an illusion out of words. We’re sharing what we’re up to, and ensuring that we are on track to do something that will be well received.”

In theory then, CD Projekt Red’s approach should avoid disappointment from players.

After all, living up to their expectations, he suggested, can be extremely challenging for developers. It’s a topic upon which Borzymowski was prepared to offer his experienced advice.

“Very often I think, not only in games, you can also see it for books and the like, you are promising things before the launch without actually showing anything behind it, and you are building up this hype basically just based on words,” he said. “Even if the product in the end is very good, the hype bar is higher than what you can actually deliver. Even if the end product is very high, people will just be: ‘Oh this is not what I thought it was going to be’.”

And when MCV@gamescom asked if CD Projekt Red was worried about the hype

surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, he replied: “Worrying is not the word... We know that people are waiting for this game. And the only thing we can do – the very same thing we did on The Witcher – is to pour our heart and soul into it.”

On top of the buzz coming from the video games community, Cyberpunk 2077 needs to live up to the expectations of the original pen-and-paper RPG’s fans as well, with 2077 being “a continuation, a sequel” of that tabletop game, Borzymowski said.

“It was really important for us to stick to it as much as possible because we know there is this community of Cyberpunk fans out there. We are not exploiting the Cyberpunk franchise. We’re developing it together with Mike [Pondsmith, creator of tabletop RPG Cyberpunk 2020],” he concluded.

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Good Shepherd: ‘The reality is that a lot of investors don’t understand games’ Good Shepherd’s marketing director, Vernon Vrolijk, talks to Marie Dealessandri about the firm’s ambition of being a mediator between investors and developers, in a world where the rise in games talent has not necessarily been followed by an explosion in investment GOOD SHEPHERD’S marketing director, Vernon Vrolijk (pictured, below right), has described the international games industry as an “overwhelming” landscape, from the perspective of an investor, in an interview yesterday with MCV@gamescom on the firm’s dual business as an investment platform and a publisher.

“Our publishing arm is about finding games that we’re confident in, and that we believe in. Basically we act as a filter [for our investment arm], because there are thousands of games, and the reality is that a lot of investors don’t understand games,” he explained. “Investing in entertainment is the scariest investment you can make. Be it film or music. It’s very high risk,” he said, adding that the sentiment is even stronger in games.

“The reason is, unlike movies for instance, video games are relatively young. So you have a lot of investors who have just never

“Video games have exploded, but that explosion of talent doesn’t match with an explosion of new investments. We want to solve this problem.”

played games. But they see maybe their kids play games; they see how big it is. But they don’t necessarily understand it. The challenge they’re meeting, as well, is that we have our own culture. We speak a certain way, we have our own dialogue, we do events very differently than anybody else. So if you

have anyone external looking in, it’s very overwhelming.”

He then highlighted why investing in games through Good Shepherd acts as a filter for investors: “We act as the translator. We can say: ‘This is a team we believe in, we’re going to work with them’. We’re committed.

You invest with us, we are on the same terms, we’re onboard, we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

Good Shepherd’s mission is not only to help devs finance their games and get them out there (and make a business out of it): Vrolijk told MCV@gamescom the company also has a higher goal.

“The long term vision of why we’re doing this is we want to solve a problem that we’ve seen in the industry for many years, which is video games have exploded, so many projects are being made, but that explosion of talent doesn’t match with an explosion of new investments. So we believe that, by being a mediator, we can show [investors] you can be successful with games, so it’s going to be less scary and we can bring more people in, and we can bring more money into the industry.”

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Partnered content

Team17 wants you to join its award winning games label Troy Horton, developer relations manager and head of product acquisitions at Team17, explains why you should be considering the publishing label for your next game

G

ames, people and independence are the passions that run through the heart of Team17. We look for great games created by even greater creators – nothing is more important than that to us! We love working with passionate people who want to create and bring great gaming experiences to millions worldwide.

Our games label offers a wide range of support services with a bespoke approach to all our partners; helping them reach their creative goals is always our top priority. Whether you need QA, usability, localisation, marketing, PR, social media support, influencer management, platform relationship management, bespoke console conversions or development funding, the core pillars of our publishing label remain the same: • To help your studio become financially sustainable, supporting you and your team to achieve long-term success.

• Harness our near 30 years of experience to elevate your game to the next level with an army of our Teamsters behind you. As projects change, grow and progress throughout their life cycle, we are ready to help.

Throughout the years we’ve been adding to the list of services we offer, while also aggressively increasing the number of talented and experienced people working for our games label.

In fact, we are continuing to expand even today, allowing us to better adjust project resources to fit the needs of our partners and their games as development progresses.

At Team17, we value diversity in everything we do, including our games portfolio. During gamescom we are featuring two of our highly

anticipated upcoming titles, currently in development at very different studios. Both Blasphemous, by Sevillebased The Games Kitchen, and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair from UK studio Playtonic Games, are filled with exceptional creative and technical flair, offering a great player experience while being wildly different in theme and approach.

If you are a budding developer or group of developers with a great game in the works, we would love to talk to you. We have a long track record of BAFTA Awards winning success helping independent developers achieve their goals, and you could be next if you partner with the Team17 games label. Feel free to contact me (troy.horton@team17.com) or submit your game directly on our website: www.team17.com/submit-a-game

Pictured above: Team17’s Troy Horton

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Borderlands 3’s Paul Sage: ‘Shorter cycles are something I really love as a developer’ Gearbox’s creative director Paul Sage tells Marie Dealessandri about the benefits of not waiting too long between your reveal and your release, and talks about the opportunities brought by the likes of Stadia and Epic Games Store

BORDERLANDS 3’s short pre-release period was “incredibly beneficial” Gearbox’s creative director Paul Sage told MCV@ gamescom. Having been unveiled at PAX East at the end of March with a trailer, Borderlands 3 is releasing on September 13th.

That’s only six months after its reveal – a very short cycle by today’s standards.

“This is a decision that [publisher] 2K and Gearbox came to but I’m going to give you my take on it: I love this decision,” he told MCV@gamescom. “As much as possible as a developer you want to be able to talk about the game and get it out there early. I think the

public can actually hear too much and get a bit: ‘Oh, but when is it coming, when is it coming?’. And the anticipation can only hold for so long before somebody starts to lose interest. I think shorter cycles is something I really love as a developer because we can keep people getting new information that feels fresh every time we speak and there’s not such a long cycle that we’re like: ‘I have no idea’…

“Even if the game has a lot of interesting things to talk about, how do you extend on that when it’s two years at a time? A nice short cycle is just incredibly beneficial.”

On the topic of what’s beneficial to developers, Sage also addressed the rise of new platforms such as Stadia (that Borderlands 3 will eventually release on) and stores such as the Epic Games Store (with the title being exclusive to Epic’s shop for six months).

“Just from a personal point of view, as a developer, I want [Borderlands 3] to be everywhere,” he said, explaining why Gearbox was keen to be an early adopter to both platforms. “We create something for people to be able to play and entertain them.

Just for me as a developer, you get greedy to see people playing your game.”

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Modern Wolf wants to make game publishing more ethical: ‘A lot of these publishing deals are pretty predatory’ Crunch culture has become the hot topic of the last 12 months. Seth Barton speaks to Fernando Rizo, CEO of new publishing outfit Modern Wolf, about how it’s trying to treat devs better MODERN WOLF is a new indie publisher, funded by ex-Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgwood and his Supernova Capital fund, which hopes to succeed because it’s more ethical in its approach, rather than despite it.

Modern Wolf is run by CEO Fernando Rizo (pictured right), a Splash Damage veteran, who has more than 20 years of experience across the industry. He told us: “Consumers are starting to care about how their games are made and about the conditions under which developers work.”

He then explained why he’s the one to lead this new approach: “I was a biz dev and marketing consultant for lots of different industry groups. I helped those guys negotiate a ton of publishing deals and every time I did that I thought: ‘A lot of these publishing deals are pretty predatory’.

“I thought: ‘could an empathetic person, who’s done this process a million times, who’s been an indie dev themselves, could they set up a publisher that was designed to be more developer-centric, more transparent?’”

He hopes to achieve that by putting “a premium on the stability of the businesses” the firm will work with: “Indie devs are fragile and they have to jump through some pretty awful hoops just to get a game out of the door for a publisher, so let’s make a publisher that doesn’t act like that, let’s make a publisher that helps make indies sustainable businesses, coaches them if necessary and provides continuity funding after the game ships.”

And such funding can make the difference between a dev surviving and not, claimed Rizo: “I worked with a couple of different indies that were on the verge of going out of business after the game shipped, because the first royalty cheques took two to four months to show up.

“We want to create a scenario where nobody has to get laid off, where you can keep your talent in-house to work on the next thing. We’ll cover you.”

More flexibility sounds great, but games still need to ship to make a profit for developer and publisher both. Modern Wolf will then have to tread a careful line between kindness and pragmatism.

“We can help the developer create a milestone plan at the beginning – we’re not going to impose arbitrary milestones from above, we’re going to work with them, the plan will change, but the game does need to ship, roughly on time,” Rizo concurred.

Modern Wolf is vocal about trying to care for the mental health of its developers, as much as it can at least: “We’re not doctors, but having been in those developers’ shoes, we know what the common causes of stress are: cashflow and random shifting requests from publishers. We can limit those by saying you’ve got final creative control of your product, we’re never going to tell you: ‘It’s two months out, you should have multiplayer.’ ” We asked him if making life easier for developers will make it harder for the

publishing team: do consumers care about publishers’ mental health?

“Probably not,” Rizo laughed. “But we’re happy to eat that stress if it makes our developers’ lives easier. One of the things we have with Supernova backing us is that we can help our developers become sturdier businesses, we offer leadership coaching, we offer financial workshops: planning expansion, hiring intelligently,” he continued.

The publisher is also keen to find games from under-represented regions, such as one of its five launch titles, Toge productions’ Necronator: Dead Wrong, from Indonesia.

“It’s maybe not the most ‘hard-nosed’ business decision, but I would love to find folk from less represented regions. We can expose them to a bigger audience, and it would do the universe of game dev good if there were more diverse voices represented,” concluded Rizo.

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Outstanding

Xbox

Marie Dealessandri talks to Microsoft’s program manager Evelyn Thomas about the Xbox Adaptive Controller’s core principles, its impact on Xbox and what the industry can do to improve accessibility

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T

he Golden Joysticks introduced a new ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award last year, to celebrate “the game, people or technology that has changed our industry for the better in 2018.”

To say that the Xbox Adaptive Controller was deserving of this accolade would be quite an understatement. Having launched in September 2018 exclusively on the Xbox store, it’s a single step forward for accessibility and inclusion of disabled gamers like we’ve never seen before, and we can only hope the initiative proliferates and inspires other companies to put accessibility at the core of their vision.

Microsoft’s program manager Evelyn Thomas heads up accessibility strategy and development for Xbox, and her passion for her work and what the Xbox team managed to achieve with the Adaptive Controller is undeniable from the start of our meeting, when we ask her to tell the story of how it all started.

“There’s a gentleman by the name of Matt Hite [service engineer at Microsoft] and he had a lot of friends who were in the military. He was hearing stories about how they weren’t able to do things in their life that they used to do, due to injuries, and one of them was gaming,” she starts explaining. “He came across Warfighter Engaged, who builds custom gaming rigs for returning vets. He worked with them and realised that while they were doing just amazing work, there were some gaps in some of the things that they were building that he felt he could probably help with. [The controllers] were fragile because they

were hand-built, they were expensive, they were really hard to maintain and when they broke you’d have to have an electrical engineering degree to fix them,” she laughs.

All of this meant the custom devices were not easy for someone to effortlessly pick up and learn, she continues: “So a lot of handholding by the charity which means they didn’t have a lot of scale or reach.

And even for the people that knew about the charity they had a backlog of like 400 people that they couldn’t serve.”

Around the same time, Microsoft was holding its annual Ability Summit, a two-days event focusing on accessibility and inclusion, internally and externally. “[Matt Hite], on the back of a napkin, started jotting down an idea, chatted with a bunch of folks and they said: ‘That’s a great idea, let’s do a hackathon on it’. Satya [Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO] likes to refer to those as the one week out of the year that inspires the other 51. So it became a hackathon project and we built a product, tried it out, tested it with customers. We really believe in that philosophy of ‘Nothing about us without us’. So from day one we made sure that we included our gamers in the development process so that they could help point to us where to start, what we should be building for them. We then iterated on it from that feedback and ultimately it became what it is.”

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that technical in most cases. So it had to be drop-dead simple, easy to find, easy to set up, easy to use.

“And then on the other end of that spectrum are the charities and nonprofits, which use a lot of these devices.

They can build these bespoke devices so it needed to be extensible, it needed to be flexible, it needed to support an ecosystem that already existed so you don’t have to reinvent that wheel. And all of that was validated by our direct connection with the charities and with the individual gamers with disabilities. We just went to them and said: ‘This is what we’re thinking – is this the right thing?’ And with a few minor tweaks that’s how we landed where we are.”

Pictured above: Microsoft’s Evelyn Thomas, collecting the Xbox Adaptive Controller’s Golden Joystick Award for Outstanding Contibution

Listening to Thomas tell the story, it feels like this was a very short process. But it was actually quite the opposite. The very first contact with Warfighter Engaged was in 2014 and from there the team also had to convince the top management at Microsoft that the project was worth their time – and money.

“Just like with everything you have to be able to pitch and we approached this product a little bit like a startup.

It was a really scrappy group of people that were really passionate and just wanted to make it happen,” Thomas smiles. “They weren’t necessarily tasked with doing it as their everyday job but they just carved out time in their day to get the work done. But once we had the concept and once we could basically talk to our leadership and demonstrate what it was we were building and who the market was, it was a very easy sell.”

From there, the growing team worked around three main principles, linked to the three different types of customers they wanted to serve: “The first one was the gamers of course. So it needed to be functional and extensible for them so that they could have it set up the way that works for them,” Thomas says. “The other one was caregivers, and caregivers aren’t necessarily all

THEY’RE TELLING US Implementing all the features needed and finding the right design for the Xbox Adaptive Controller was no easy task and the team ended up in a bad position a few times, Thomas recalls.

“We’ve been building controllers and Xboxes for a very long time. We know the forces that are required for the buttons. So we created the Xbox Adaptive Controller, had it manufactured, brought our first testing units into our lab and the machine started pounding away on the buttons and they immediately broke,” she laughs.

“It was a light bulb moment for us and it was one of those things where we went from this know-it-all culture to a learn-it-all culture. And we just refactored how we thought about every decision we ever made building the product.”

Modularity in particular was at the core of the design process, to make sure it could adapt to the player’s exact circumstances. For this reason, the back of the controller has 19 3.5mm ports and two USB 2.0 ports, so players can purchase the accessories that fit their needs.

“We’re not telling them how to play the game, they’re telling us. We want to give flexibility to the players. Xbox should be a place where everyone can have fun. With an emphasis on everyone,” Thomas says.

The design of the product also look incredibly polished and slick. And there’s a good reason for that, she continues.

“We wanted it to feel like it belongs to the Xbox family of products so disabled people don’t feel like their friends get to play with the cool controllers and they don’t.”

Even the packaging was made with accessibility in mind: “Chris Kujawski, our lead designer on the project, had two fundamental principles: it should be easy to open up with one hand and you shouldn’t have to use your teeth. That was pretty much it,” she says. “And that has influenced the rest of our product lines in terms of how we’re thinking about the packaging for the other hardware that we offer. It’s even changed how

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we think about who we market to and how we market to our customers.”

The impact of the Xbox Adaptive Controller on the rest of the firm’s business goes beyond packaging and marketing though, Thomas adds.

“It’s dramatically influenced everything, from how we greenlight projects to how we get our products through. It used to be: ‘Is there direct revenue, does that immediately result in bottom line dollars? Then we’ll greenlight it, otherwise move on’. And this has really changed leadership’s opinion about what are the right things to invest in. At the end of the day it’s the customer, right? It’s investing in something for the customer.

“We’ve been working on assistant technologies and accessibility features on Xbox since as far back as 2014.

And it’s going to live on in perpetuity and everything that we do in this product influences the next body of work.”

Thomas wouldn’t share any details about what’s coming in terms of accessibility and inclusion at Xbox but promises there’s some “pretty great stuff coming down the road.”

For the Xbox Adaptive Controller itself, the future looks bright and Thomas confirms a statement Xbox chief Phil Spencer made around the reveal of the device: the firm is very much open to the idea of sharing what it learnt with Sony and Nintendo.

“We believe that we can compete on a lot of things; accessibility should not be one of them. Everybody should be able to have the joy of play. And Phil is right: we are 100 per cent committed to making this available to other platforms. If they’re open to it and they’re interested, we’re ready to have those conversations. We have had conversations within those organisations about our controller.”

“We can compete on a lot of things; accessibility should not be one of them.” and then build that in and you’re just going to win,” she smiles, before continuing.

“The other thing is that there are tons of gamers out there who want to give feedback. They want to be able to play and they’re just champing at the bit to give feedback to developers. We get emails every single day: ‘Hey, are you testing this? I’d love to give you my feedback because I have muscular dystrophy’. So listen to your customers.”

Xbox has partnered with charities from day one: Warfighter Engaged, as we already mentioned, but also AbleGamers and UK-based SpecialEffect. The team also worked in partnership with Craig Hospital, a hospital in Colorado that focuses on people with spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries.

“We’ve been in partnership with them to begin with and we’re expanding those partnerships out within the United States and external to the United States as well,” Thomas says.

So if you’re reading this and you work for or know a charity, a hospital, an organisation that would benefit from having access to the Xbox Adaptive Controller, now is the time to get in touch with Microsoft.

“We’re always interested in new partnerships that can actually help the gamer. And we know that the hospital space and the education space are spaces where this product would really benefit a lot of kids – and a lot of adults as well,” Thomas concludes.

Pictured below: The Xbox Adaptive Controller can be expanded upon immensely to create bespoke setups for individual users

CHAMPING AT THE BIT There’s a long way to go before gaming gets fully accessible, even at its simplest level – subtitles for instance are still not a norm for everyone for some reason.

But Thomas reckons the industry can start with two simple things to improve inclusion and accessibility.

“What ends with a product should start with people,” she starts explaining. “Studios, game developers, hardware developers, anybody who builds anything should really think about how they are in partnership from day one with the people who want to use their product. You can build in isolation, but you’re going to end up with something that really isn’t going to benefit them as much as truly embedding them in your decisions.

“So the strongest feedback I have for anybody is: think about your customer first, think about what they need

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05/08/2019 10:25

How Devolver plans to reign on mobile Marie Dealessandri talks to VP of mobile publishing Mark Hickey about Devolver Digital’s ambitions for its mobile division

I

t went a bit unnoticed, perhaps because it was around the time Devolver Digital launched Gris and announced Ape Out, but late last year the company doubled down on mobile games.

Emboldened by the incredible success of Reigns, which has branched out into the Game of Thrones world, Devolver hired Mark Hickey, its first VP of mobile publishing, in December. And with his impressive record of mobile experience, he looks to be exactly the right person to help the publisher take the next step.

“I started working in mobile games way back in 2002 in Canada working for Gameloft where I was responsible at first for business development because none of the agreements or infrastructure to really distribute

mobile games even existed,” he starts explaining. With a medium as young as mobile games, it’s impressive to have experience dating back so far.

Hickey continues: “In 2007 I relocated on behalf of Gameloft to San Francisco and became responsible for the relationship with Apple... To do games on the iPod click wheel, thank you very much,” he laughs. “And then of course in July 2008 the App Store launched and that completely changed my life and certainly changed the world in terms of mobile games and what’s possible on mobile devices.”

After experiences at startup Kiip and Canada’s biggest work-for-hire studio Behaviour Interactive, he joined Apple in November 2013.

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“I first started with the worldwide developer relations team as a partnership manager and so I was responsible for a whole host of partners – everyone including EA, Activision, Blizzard, Epic, Square Enix, 2K, the list goes on,” he says. “There was a whole bunch of medium and small size companies – one of which was a very special company called Devolver Digital.”

Hickey continued to climb the ladder and became the App Store business manager for games in 2015 – then the opportunity to work with Devolver arose.

“So I’d been at Apple for five years and I had a really wonderful time working there. But that being said, while I was empowered to do things that had a meaningful impact on people’s lives, I always felt that it was more pronounced within the indie space because when an indie or small team has success you know it’s really meaningful, not only for them personally but for what becomes possible for their careers.

“So Devolver brought a couple of really awesome games to us: Downwell, Reigns – and subsequently after the success of those games, those developers have gone on to have very meaningful careers. Ojiro [Fumoto, Downwell’s creator] went on to work at Nintendo. So if you take that impact, combined with my own tastes and interests as a consumer... There was kind of a perfect storm. I had done five years, I was looking at new opportunities, Devolver was really near and dear to me both in terms of the relationship that I have with them but also the products they were doing and the icing on the cake was that they were also interested in looking at mobile as a more serious opportunity. And so that just allowed the stars to align. And now here I am.”

EYES ON CHINA Even if Hickey doesn’t name it per say, it sounds quite clear that Reigns’ success has quite a lot to do with Devolver’s newfound interest in mobile.

“I think it’s off the back of initial success that’s been had with some partners,” he replies mysteriously when asked about why now is the right time for Devolver to take more interest in the mobile space. “I’ve been sitting

in the mobile industry my entire career and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of different talented and creative teams that I think in some cases could do very well under the Devolver flag. And so for those reasons it just felt like the time was right.”

However, Devolver is still mostly known for its PC and console releases and Hickey is keen to highlight that the publisher’s approach is not going to change.

“It’s going to widen the lens. My joining the company doesn’t signal Devolver changing focus from PC and console: that continues to be the company’s primary focus. But with the success they’ve found in mobile and given that there’s 2bn devices out there in the world – and growing – the market opportunity is undeniable.

“So in the same way that Devolver has been able to bring games that have a unique, fresh, funky vibe to the PC and console space, that has been true with some of the titles that they’ve done in mobile. Adding me to the team is making it possible to bring more of that kind of cool, original, Devolver-style content to more customers.”

Hickey adds he’s leading mobile publishing globally, “which includes China,” he emphasises.

“My main responsibility is the management of Devolver’s existing catalog of mobile games and developers, as well as finding new games from talented teams who have fresh and new ideas. In addition I’ll be focusing on unique ways in which Devolver can help developers get their games out to larger audiences. And as I mentioned China is going to be a more important focus for us going forward.”

With China’s domestic mobile game revenue having reached $15.63bn (£12.88bn) in 2018 (for 598m mobile gamers in the country, according to Niko Partners), it is certainly a place that any mobile developer or publisher should be eyeing.

PARTNERS IN CRIME So let’s say you’re a mobile developer with a cool game on your hands, waiting to find a publisher: you may wonder whether or not Devolver is the right fit for you.

So we ask Hickey what he’s looking for in a mobile title?

Pictured below and left: a selection of characters from Devolver Digital’s various incarnations of its Reigns franchise

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“Is saying: ‘We’ll know it when we see it’ an appropriate answer?,” he grins. “I say that because if you look at the games that we’ve done so far on mobile: Downwell is about this cute character that is forever falling down a well with guns strapped to his boots which he uses to kill enemies. That is very different from a game like Spaceplan which is about potatoes,” Hickey laughs. “Which is again very different from a game like Reigns which employs a Tinder mechanic to a chooseyour-own-adventure type of narrative gameplay.

“So you have these three kinds of games that are vastly different but that are special and unique in their own ways. And so as we communicate more broadly to the community that we’re interested in mobile, our hope is that we’ll be seeing developers approach us and certainly us approaching them to see what they’re working on.

As ideas come to the surface, it will be made more clear which ones have us excited and that we think are fresh and new and are worth pursuing as new products.”

Developers wanting to pitch their ideas to Mark Hickey and his team are “more than welcome to email mobile@devolverdigital.com to submit their ideas,” he says, before giving a few tips on what you should and shouldn’t be doing.

“We’re open to looking at everything but if it’s a developer’s first time making a mobile game, maybe there’s some high level things that are worth keeping in mind. The first is that it’s important to understand that the behaviour in mobile is different from PC and console.

“Mobile gaming tends to be a lot more five minute sessions throughout the day rather than a single session of multiple hours so designing for that reality is important. I think it’s also important to be mindful that the App Store and Google Play are global stores. The App Store is live in something like 166 countries. So localisation is important to start; culturisation in certain cases is even more important. And then lastly Apple and Google invest billions of dollars in making these devices an operating system. So when cool new features, either hardware or software or both, are introduced it’s important to think about how those can make a game better. I’m not talking about shoehorning a feature just to

say that you’re doing it. But in Reigns: Game of Thrones, [developer Nerial] started making use of the iPhone X TrueDepth camera to employ facial recognition so that when a character you can trust is looking at you they’ll make eye contact with you. But a character who is trying to deceive you or lie to you will look away. That’s a real benefit and a differentiating and cool feature that they were able to leverage.”

In terms of business model, Devolver’s mobile titles have historically been premium experiences, but Hickey is not closing the door to free-to-play.

“All options are on the table,” he says. “It’s true that Devolver games up to this point have been premium and they’ve been remarkably successful with over 2m copies sold lifetime for Reigns alone. We’re more interested in the original and unique game ideas developers come up with than business models.

“Some games make sense for premium others make sense for free-to-play and we’re open to both models.

But especially when it comes to free-to-play, we want to do it in a way that’s both fair to customers and to the developers’ creative vision.”

If the type of mobile game Devolver is going to publish remains to be seen (with Hickey saying ports are also on the table, as the release of Minit on iOS and Android earlier this year proved), his ambitions for mobile are clear.

“One way of measuring success would be to have mobile contribute a significant portion to Devolver’s overall business,” he says. “But there’s a second kind of soft goal which is to also increase the number of developers who’ve come away from working with Devolver with a positive experience.

“If you look at some of the partners we worked with in the past, like Dodge Roll, who made Enter the Gungeon, or Free Lives who did Broforce, they’ve been very successful. One could argue they don’t need to work with a publisher anymore but they choose to continue to work with Devolver because there’s such a solid relationship there and there’s such a camaraderie that they’ve kind of become partners in crime. And so I hope that the mobile partners with whom we’ll work will come away wanting to have a long term relationships with us as well.”

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12/08/2019 15:36

RELOCATION, RELOCATION,

RELOCATION The perfect job, or the perfect candidate, is rarely just around the corner. Seth Barton talks to Creative Assembly and OPM about making the relocation process work for studios and staff alike

Pictured top: Illustration by Sam Richwood

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E

ven putting aside the current political omnishambles, the competition for talent in development isn’t likely to recede anytime soon. And a highly competitive market means that studios will continue to look far afield for the right candidates. On the other hand, developers will continue to be tempted by the most exciting and rewarding roles, wherever they may be.

So whether you’re a studio bringing staff in from the other side of the globe, or a developer simply moving across the country, relocation remains a key part of the recruitment process. So what should studios offer, what should candidates expect, and how best to settle new staff into the local area?

CREATIVES ASSEMBLE! “The most important aspect to successful relocation is the hiring process,” says Emma Smith, Creative Assembly’s head of talent.

After all, if the work side isn’t right then the rest of the relocation will be doubly stressful. “You need to take the time and care to make sure the individual is the right cultural fit for the team, and really make them feel settled, alleviating the stress that relocating can cause.”

She tells us that relocation needs to be part of the discussion from the very start: “We are bringing talent from all over the world to join us and that often means relocating individuals and families. That’s a big decision for someone to make, so we start that discussion from the first stage of the interview process,” Smith explains.

Kim Parker Adcock, owner of recruitment agency OPM Response, agrees: “In our experience, the sooner you bring this up the better.

Relocation is one of the biggest barriers we face when it comes to offer stage. It’s important to be open about it from the beginning and get the buy-in from the applicant as soon as possible.”

Smith continues, noting that it’s never one-size fits all: “If the candidate continues through that process, at each stage we go deeper to understand them, their lifestyle and their situation so we can provide the best support and alleviate any worries they may have.”

Parker Adcock adds: “Studios that are good at this send an information package to applicants that details the local area. We like to use cost of living comparison sites such as Numbeo, so applicants can see how much it costs to live in different areas.”

The face-to-face interview stage is a key point for the relocation discussion, she tells us: “Usually the applicant will be going to visit the studio for the interview, so this is our chance to discuss the area. We even recommend booking an extra day or two if possible, to check out the local area while you’re there.”

And Creative Assembly is also keen to ensure that the face-toface interview is used to its utmost: “We will always pay to bring the candidate over to our UK studios, no matter their location. We meet them face to face and give them a chance to get a feel for our culture and the local area. We want to be certain that they are the right fit for the team and equally, that they will be happy here.”

“You need to take the time and care to make sure the individual is the right cultural fit for the team, and really make them feel settled, alleviating the stress that relocating can cause.”

PACKAGE IT UP OK, so the candidate and the role are perfectly matched and first impressions of the local area are positive. Congratulations, you’re all off to a great start, but it’s only the beginning!

Moving is always hard work. Even if you’re a single person with few belongings, moving across the country from one rented property to another, there’s still plenty to plan in order to make sure you have somewhere nice to live with all the various utility bills squared away.

At the other end of the scale the task looks enormous. For a homeowner looking to sell and buy new property, who might be moving with their partner and have children involved, the emotional and bureaucratic hurdles can be considerable.

But worry not, for incoming staff aren’t alone in all this. So just what help can employers provide? For starters, if you’re the one relocating then be sure that any financial assistance with the move is discussed and agreed in writing before you accept the job. And if relocation costs, often called a relocation package, aren’t mentioned at interview, then bring up the subject yourself.

Remember that the company wants to hire you and that relocation is a one-off cost for it, so there’s often more flexibility here than there is with salary negotiations. Few companies hire well in advance of their needs either, so providing help to get you moved quickly and smoothly, so as to get you up-and-running on the project, is in its interests as well.

And relocation packages aren’t just for the top jobs, as Smith explains: “We offer relocation packages, including visas, for all our permanent positions outside of a 35 mile radius of the studio, whether this is an entry level role or for a senior executive.”

Parker Adcock continues: “It’s not always available, but usually is.

Companies that offer this tend to have a better acceptance rate when

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offering jobs to staff abroad. This is a candidate-driven market and some applicants won’t consider relocating if there isn’t a relocation package, no matter how big or small it is.”

Pictured above from top: Creative Assembly’s Emma Smith and OPM’s Kim Parker Adcock

JET SET PETS So what should a typical relocation package cover and how are they paid?

“We’ve seen relocation packages from £500 to £10,000.

On average it’s usually about £2,000. It really depends on the individual’s situation – partner, children, distance of relocation, visa, and so on,” says Parker Adcock, providing some ballpark figures.

Smith adds: “It’s all about being flexible to the needs of the individual and, if relevant, their family.

They decide on the level of service they would like. It may just be support with flights or it may be arranging pet transfers, shipping belongings and accommodation.

In terms of costs being covered by Creative Assembly, this is negotiated on a case by case basis, depending on the individual’s circumstances and where they are relocating from.”

Some relocation packages are simply paid in a lump sum upfront, so you can spend it as you want. Others will reimburse you for certain costs up to an agreed limit, while some companies will offer to organise everything for you and pay for it directly. Many are flexible too, depending on how involved you want them to get.

And when it comes to those little extras there’s lot more studios can do to make new staff feel welcome, Parker Adcock says: “Companies can get a little creative here, such as reduced price or free temporary housing, free flights, agency fees paid for, shipping paid for, replacing like for like goods that can’t be shipped, and possibly the most important for some: helping to relocate pets.”

Yes, pet relocation is a significant consideration and Smith gives us an example: “A couple from Canada relocated to a local city and we provided a guide to all

“Migrating to another country with a different language and culture can be daunting, throw in a little bit of homesickness and it can be too much for some. It really is up to the studio to help their new staff integrate.”

the local things to do and see for them and their dog.

Yes, their dog. Their beloved British Bulldog even got his own welcome treat on arrival.”

RELOCATION-AS-A-SERVICE There are dedicated relocation agencies out there, but that’s just one approach, as Smith tells us: “We have recently brought our relocation service fully within the studio. Our new relocation coordinator provides a fully bespoke service from initial job offer to their first few weeks at Creative Assembly, including greeting them upon arrival in their new home.

“This level of support includes the general relocation, but also an additional level of detail which we believe really helps settle someone into their new home. This might be a hamper of essential foods, like coffee, tea, bread and milk upon arrival, guidance and tours of the local area, or even registrations for starting children at local schools. The support doesn’t stop there, we offer help with rental contracts, flat shares and more for everyone at Creative Assembly.”

That’s a pretty impressive sounding service and one other studios would do well to match. After all, this is a talent-based business and anything studios can do to settle that talent quicker, and help retain it for longer, is money well spent.

NEW KIDS A new job can be daunting enough, but moving for work adds extra pressure. So once the relocation is complete, what can the studio do to support new staff in those critical first few weeks and months?

Parker Adcock answers: “Migrating to another country with a different language and culture can be daunting, throw in a little bit of homesickness and it can be too much for some. It really is up to the studio to help their new staff integrate. ‘Meet the team’ lunches, social evenings and regular check-ins from management go a long way to help integrate new staff. I have to say the games industry overall is very good at this.”

Smith is clear that although the studio will do all it can to support them, all staff must deliver on the job: “It is obviously a big decision to relocate for a job, and we want to support people in that process, but our induction and probation period are the same for everyone.

It’s important that they start off on the same foot as everyone else and can focus on creating the best games from when they step through the door.”

We hope that helped if you’re thinking of moving.

And remember that any sizeable employer or recruiter in the games industry has done it all before, and that experience is among the most important assets they can provide to you, so don’t be afraid to ask.

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Exhibitor guide 2019 Your complete guide to who’s where at this year’s gamescom

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

HALL 1 EA Swiss SARL

1 1

A010

HALL 2 2P Games 3D Instagraph 5CA International B.V. 9300-2665 Quebec Inc (Thunder Lotus Games) Abysse Corp Admitad GmbH AdTiming ak tronic Software & Services GmbH AMS Neue Medien GmbH ASTRO Gaming - Logitech Europe S.A. Avanquest Deutschland GmbH Basco Inc. Behaviour Interactive Inc. Beta Service GmbH

2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

C056 E048 A060 C058a D049 D053 D038 E039 C020 D029 A010 C039 A010 C039 C040 A052 A010 C039 D051

COMPANY Bigben Interactive S.A. Bloober Team S.A. Blue Microphone - Logitech Europe S Centounopercento Srl CI Games S.A. Click Entertainment Ltd

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

A010 C039 D020 E029 A010 C039 C059 A010 C039 D014 E015

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT HALL 2 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. D014 E015 Distributor Click Entertainment is ready to connect with existing and new customers at gamescom, and share its plans for the peak season and beyond.

You’ll find the team located in Hall 2.1, Stand D-014.

CreditPilot PLC Darfon Electronics Czech s.r.o.

Destreamworld OU Dubai Media City

2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

C065 D041 C065 E049

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HALL 1

COMPANY EBANX S.A. E-CONCEPT SAS Enixan Ukraine LLC Epic Games Inc. Ethoscorp DWC LLC Exquisite Gaming Limited EZ Games/ EZ Cards Distribution, In Fokus Bilgisayar San.Tic.Ltd. Sti. Foshan Unique Furniture Co., Ltd. G2A.COM Sp.z o.o.

Gamekit S.A. gamesAHEAD e.V.i.G. Gameye B.V. Giant Network Gravity Media Guangzhou Andaseat Technology Co., Half Moon Bay Ltd. Hatch Entertainment Oy Helpshift, Inc HORI (U.K.) Ltd Imagination S.C. Lukasz Kubiak, Bartosz Moskala INCA Internet Co., Ltd. (corporation) INNO3D Insane Irdeto B.V. Jeton Wallet k3i.Co, Ltd. Kalypso Media Group GmbH Keywords International Link Distribution (UK) Ltd LLC Weplay Merchandise Logitech GmbH Marketpoint GmbH Marvelous Europe Limited MoGi Group Ltd Moloco, Inc.

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D055 D010 E046 E014 D048 A010 C039 A051 B060 C061 B052 C011 C053 A050 D040 E041 E042 C054a A010 C039 D051a A010 C039 A060 A040 A062 C050 C052a C044 B058 C051 B050 D013 C010 C052 D018 E019 D050 E051 A010 C039 A010 C039 E008 B061 B051

COMPANY MSM.digital NBG EDV Handels- und Verlags GmbH Nero AG Nitrado (marbis GmbH) Nordic Game Supply GmbH Omnyex E Commerce DMCC On Point Panda Network Payssion Phoenix Games Holding GmbH Plantronics Prepaidforge B.V. Progress Distribution GmbH RABCAT Computer Graphics GmbH Rainbow Horse Limited RAM ROM GAMES, S.L. Razer (Europe) GmbH Roccat GmbH Rubber Road Ltd. Sakami Merchandise GmbH Servers.com B.V. Setapp Sp. z.o.o.

Shikenso GmbH Sky City Y2K Limited Smartgrip GmbH SMIT ELECTRONIC snakebyte distribution GmbH Staramba SE Sumo Digital Ltd Supernova Capital Symantec Deutschland GmbH Teejay Games Limited Tegway Company Limited Tencent Game Without Borders Tilting Point Media LLC Trust Deutschland GmbH

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A010 C039 A010 C039 A010 C039 C038 A010 C039 B041 E048 A054 A059 B048 C049 A010 C039 D058 A010 C039 D052 E057 C030 A042 D039 A010 C039 A011 C050a D040 E041 C055 C054 C041 D030 A010 C039 A010 C039 E048 A010 C039 C060 D069 A010 C039 A052 B040 B056 D059 A010 C039

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Turtle Beach Unbabel Lda United Label S.A. Unity Technologies ApS UnityAds UNYQUE GmbH Urus London Limited VRiday Werkmeister & Company GmbH Whisper Interactive (Xiamen) Co., L Xtreme Spa zeuz GmbH

2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

A010 C039 E040 A010 C039 B059 A058 B059 A058 E031 C051 E048 A010 C039 C058 C042 E010

4players Acer Computer GmbH adspree media gmbh Adyen N.V. Alliance Distributors ally4ever Event GmbH Amazon Web Services AMD International Sales & Service LTD. AOC International (Europe) B.V. Barunson E&A Beiten Burkhardt Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH Bethesda Bezant Foundation Ltd Boffin Language Group Inc. CAPCOM Entertainment Germany GmbH Caseking GmbH Changeling GmbH / Supply Drop CLD Distribution Computec Media GmbH Cool 2U Corsair GmbH Cosmocover SARL Cosmocover SARL Cowana GmbH CyberLink Europe B.V. DataMagic Dell Inc. Destructive Creations J. Zieliński i wspólnicy spółka jawna Difuzed DMARKET Limited DotEmu SAS DTA Affelski i Paplinski sp.j.

DXRacer Distribution Europe DXRacer Germany GmbH EASTERN TIMES TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD Enarxis Dynamic Media Ltd. epay (Transact Elektronische Zahlungssysteme GmbH) Epulze ESPORT MANAGEMENT Factory-C GmbH Factory-C GmbH Factory-C GmbH Fnatic Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH Frontier Developments Plc Fyber N.V. Gaijin Entertainment Galaktus sp. z o.o.

GamerLegion GmbH GBG Global Brands Group GIANTS Software Entertainment GmbH GL Entertainment Distributions Limited GL Events Exhibitions Fuarcilik A.S Hadean Supercomputing LTD Happy Worker Toys & Collectibles IFSA Management INSTINCT3 GmbH

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

D048 B020 C029 B020 C029 D049 A042 B020 C029 A020 B029 A060 B069 A060 B069 A060 B069 D048 B020 C029 A060 B069 B044 B020 C029 B020 C029 B035 A011 D048 D059 A060 B069 D039 C030 D028 B020 C029 D057 A052 C059 D020 A021 A046 C046 D018 C060 D061 B040 D041 D010 D040 C069 D060 A060 B069 C060 D061 D060 C060 D061 A060 B069 B020 C029 C051 B049 D020 B020 C029 B058 B020 C029 D027 C053 B057 A044 A056 A060 B069

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Intel Corporation UK Ltd. JFI Games Inc. Jinx, Inc. Jöllenbeck GmbH Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP Kolibri Games GmbH LatinDV, Lda Leogaming Level Up! Interactive Ltda LifeXpress/ Medion AG Making Games, Key Players medialounge GmbH MMD Monitors & Displays B.V. Modus Games LLC Nvidia GmbH Overwolf, Ltd Paymentwall, Inc. paysafecard.com Wertkarten Vertriebs GmbH Payvision PDP Pearl Abyss Pole To Win UK Limited Pqube Limited Proxima Beta Pte. Limited Pyramid International QIWI Bank (JSC) RAD Game Tools Inc. SevenOne Media GmbH StarLadder SteelSeries ApS Stillfront Group AB Ströer Media Brands GmbH Studio Surgical Scalpels Sun Technolgies, Inc. Tent Works Interactive Thrustmaster / Guillemot GmbH Utomik Development BV Valve Corporation Versus Evil wa | co mediahouse GmbH Wargaming Europe S.A.S WePlay! Esports Western Digital Deutschland GmbH Wirecard Technologies GmbH Wired Productions Wolcen Studio World International Trading, LLC Xsolla (USA) Inc. Xsolla (USA) Inc. YachtClub Games Yoozoo Games ZEN Studios Ltd. ZOTAC Technology Ltd.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

C060 D061 B052 C042 C060 D061 B039 A060 B069 C060 D061 D012 A060 B069 A058 D048 B020 C029 A060 B069 A060 B069 B020 C029 D060 B011 A030 D051 A060 B069 C047 D029 C060 D061 C060 D061 A036 C048 C044 B020 C029 A060 B069 D020 C060 D061 C060 D061 D016 B050 D014 B020 C029 A060 B069 A045 A041 B020 C029 D025 C020 C069 D042 B059 C050 C060 D061 D027 A050 B051 A049 B020 C029 C028 A060 B069 A060 B069

HALL 3 2x2 Games (Dvaput dva d.o.o.)

34BigThings 360 KE JI JI TUAN YOU XIAN GONG SI 505 Games Ltd. 9M Interactive Aardvark Swift AESVI Agens AIXLAB Alpha CRC Ltd Altergaze Amber Studio SRL AMC Ro Studio Amiqus Limited Another Coffee Games SL

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

A011 D010 E019 A043 C020 E039 C040 F049 C020 E039 D010 E019 E020 F029 C040 F049 C020 E039 C020 E039 F010 F010 C020 E039 E010 F019

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COMPANY Apprien Armaggeddon Arte Artefacts Studio Auroch Digital Ltd Back to the Game BadFly Interactive, a.s.

BadLand Games Publishing, S.L Bastion Battlebrew Productions Beijing ELEX Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing Topjoy Technology Co., Ltd. BEIJING YUNCHANG TECHNOLOGY CO., LT Belong Gaming Arenas (part of Game Retail LTD) bHaptics Inc. Bifrost Entertainment Big Games Machine BigRadar Co., Ltd. Billy Goat Entertainment Ltd (Northern Ireland area) Black River Studios Blade Representaciones SL Boacompra Bohemia Interactive a.s.

Bossa Studios Bountie Holdings Pte. Ltd. Brain and Nerd Ltd Go Testify Limited Brazil Games Abragames Brgames Business France ByteDance Capsule Studio Caret Games Catalyst Esports Solutions Pte. Ltd CCCP CGE Digital Changyou.com Limited Changzhou Baiyu Auto Parts Co., Ltd Cheetah Mobile Chengdu pushan technology co. LTD. Cherry Pop Games ChilliConnect City of Helsinki Clan of the Cloud Code Wizards Coffee Box Games (Northern Ireland area) Comboid Labs SL Comercial Bekho Team Game Developme y Compañía Limitada Comercial Leo de Sol SW Limitada Connection Events CONSIGCLEAR LLC Coutts Critical Charm Croatian Chamber of Economy Croteam (Abest d.o.o.)

Cupboard Games Limited (Northern Ireland area) Curve Digital Ltd. Czech Game Developers Association Czechinvest Investment & Business Development A state contributory org. subordinate Datascope Recruitment Limited Dead Good PR deltaDNA Ltd Detis Dezign Format Pte Ltd Digital Tales Dirección General de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales Dorado Games Stillfront Dovetail Games

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E020 F029 B020 C025 B012 B023 C020 E039 F030 E059 E010 F019 C020 E039 B020 C025 A043 A043 A043 C020 E039 C040 F049 E020 F029 C020 E039 C040 F049 C020 E039 F059 E010 F019 F031 E059 C020 E039 B020 C025 C020 E039 F059 C040 F049 C015 A043 A028 C040 F049 B020 C025 A026 E059 A043 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 C020 E039 C020 E039 E020 F029 A020 C020 E039 C020 E039 E010 F019

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

C050 C050 A022 B020 C025 C020 E039 E020 F029 A011 A011 C020 E039 C020 E039 E059

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E059 C020 E039 C020 E039 C020 E039 D010 E019 B020 C025 D010 E019 C050 B030 C039 C020 E039 C040 F049

COMPANY Dragonfly Dwarfheim/Pineleaf Studio Dynamight Studios Srl East Games EC Innovations, Inc. Eden Esports Edge Esports Ltd Elektraglide Ltd (T/A Polystream) Eliphant Enterprise Lithuania Enterprise Singapore Esports Gaming League Excalibur Games Exient Exordium Games d.o.o.

Flash Esports pte ltd Flux Game Studio Jogos Digitais Ltda Flyball Electronic (Shenzhen) Co., Focus Home Interactive Focus Multimedia Ltd (Fanatical) Forge Reply SRL Fourth Floor Creative Fundacion Exportar - Argentina Future Tech Co.,Ltd. FuturLab Game BCN Game in Lab GameOn Gamepires (Pandora Studio d.o.o.)

Gameplan Consulting Gameprosg Pte Ltd GameRefinery Ltd. Gamers.com.mt Games from Québec Games Jobs Direct Games Revolted j.d.o.o. gamescom asia GameSessions GamingMalta Foundation Gazeus Games GENBA Digital GG Insurance Services GlobalStep LLC Gluk Media Go Testify Limited GoldKnights s.r.o.

Gravity Co., Ltd. Green Man Gaming Ltd. G-Star 2019 / Korea Association of Game Industry GY Games Henchman & Goon Hi-Rez Studios LTD Hoplon Infotainment ICCgame.com ICE - Agenzia per la promozione all’estero e l’internazionalizzazio delle imprese italiane Ico Partners Ignition Publishing Impunity Esports Pte Ltd IndieConstruction Indonesia Agency for Creative Economy (BEKRAF) Influsion Inc. InnoTechMedia Co.,Ltd. Iron Ward j.d.o.o.

I-STAR ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD. Italic Pig Limited IV Productions Jagex Jandisoft Just4Fun SG Pte Ltd

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E020 F029 D010 E019 B012 A040 C049 B030 C039 C020 E039 C020 E039 B020 C025 F040 B020 C025 C020 E039 C020 E039 B030 C039 A011 B020 C025 F059 A040 C049 A010 B011 C020 E039 D010 E019 C020 E039 E059 A040 C049 C020 E039 E010 F019 B012 F040 A011 F059 B020 C025 E020 F029 B030 C039 F030 C020 E039 A011 F016 C020 E039 B030 C039 B030 C039 F059 C020 E039 C020 E039 C020 E039 F040 C020 E039 E059 C040 F049 C020 E039 A031 A043 E020 F029 C020 E039 F059 A043

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

D010 E019 C020 E039 D010 E019 B020 C025 D010 E019 D052 C040 F049 C040 F049 A011 A040 C049 C020 E039 D010 E019 C020 E039 C040 F049 B020 C025

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HALL 2

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LEVEL 1

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Deluxe Edition INCLUDES

Digital Sountrack Strategy Manual Map of Aurania Sprite Stickers

MCV-DAY2-SOLD OUT.indd 1

13/08/2019 15:46

PS4 - £19.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 Switch - £29.99 / $39.99 / €39.99

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COMPANY Kaiju Entertainment SL Kemono Games SpA Kibou Entertainment Kokku KOMODOZ (PT. Armin Indokarya Kreati Koolhaus Games Inc. Korea Pavilion (Korea Creative Content Agency) Koukoi Games Oy Lab Cave Apps SL Leia Inc. Little Green Men (Intercorona d.o.o.)

LocalizeDirect Ltd LONGTUGame Lost Hoodie Lucid Dreams Studio Ludact Lumen Games Mactus Live Pte Ltd Mad Mimic Interactive Magnetic Arcade Malta Enterprise Corporation Mammossix Co.,Ltd. Manifesto Games Mantisbite Marvelous Europe Limited Megapop Games Merge Games MET Metis Systems S.r.l.

Metric Empire MICROIDS Milestone Srl Million Victories Mindiff Technology SL MixedBag Srl MMO Rewards Limited ModSquad, Inc. MONOGRID MUSAI CO., LTD MyRepublic Native Prime nDreams Ltd. Network N Ltd Ngelgames Co., Ltd. NGMaking Niebla Games SpA Nieko Play Northern Ireland Screen Novaquark Novobox Npanigames Inc. NUSOFT Nutaku Publishing Ltd. Octeto Studios SPA Ogury Oktagon Games OLD SKULL GAMES OPEN LAB SRL OPM Response Ltd Orientivity Pte Ltd Outright Games Ltd Paper Cult Payletter Inc. Pebblekick Inc. Perfect World Games Pico Art International Pte Ltd Pixel Reef Pixel Toys Ltd Pixelneat PLAINE IMAGES

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E010 F019 C050 D010 E019 F059 D052 A036 B039 C040 F049 E020 F029 E010 F019 A036 B039 A011 C020 E039 A043 E020 F029 F030 F059 F059 B020 C025 F059 C020 E039 B030 C039 C040 F049 F059 E020 F029 C020 E039 E020 F029 C020 E039 B020 C025 D010 E019 F030 A018 B019 D010 E019 B023 E010 F019 D010 E019 B030 C039 C020 E039 D010 E019 C040 F049 B020 C025 C017 C020 E039 C020 E039 C040 F049 C040 F049 C050 F040 C020 E039 A024 A032 B033 C040 F049 C040 F049 A036 B039 C050 A030 B031 F059 B023 D010 E019 C020 E039 B020 C025 C020 E039 F030 C040 F049 C040 F049 A043 B020 C025 C013 C020 E039 F040 B012

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Plastic SCM Codice Software SL Play Finland / Neogames Finland Association Playdigious PlayGiga S.L. PlayMagic Ltd Playstack Ltd Playtra Games Ltd Plexus & Oray Studios Plug In Digital Plutomobile Inc. PT Everidea Interaktif Nusantara PT Gajah Merah Terbang (IESPL) PT Langit Impian PT MassHive Media PT Megaxus Infotech PT Wawa Gemilang Interaktif PT. Agate International PT. Ozysoft Digital Internasional PUGA Studios Purewal and Partners R8 Games Ltd Ragnarok Studios Rain Cup Games SpA Rain Games Reality Games Reality MagiQ Inc. Realityz Reboot (Digitalna Avantura d.o.o.)

Red Dot Gift Cards Red Koi Box srls Red Meat Games Inc. Reddentes Sports Renaissance PR Reseaux Gameaddik Inc - PWN Games Resistance Games Resurgence Rewind Play Games RGDA Romanian Game Developers Association Rock Nano Global Rocket Flair Studios Ltd Round Zero Rusto Games Oy Secretlab SG Pte Ltd Seoul Digitech HighSchool (AdverGameKorea) Shanghai Venture Technologies Ltd. Sheer Tianyi Technology LLC Shenzhen 7Road Technology Co.,Ltd. Shenzhen Blackstream Interactive Entertainment Co.Ltd Shenzhen Ouni Technology Co., Ltd Shenzhen Share-Zone Technology Co., Shenzhen Smartmelon Technology Co.,ltd Shenzhen Targetever Technology Co., Shenzhen Yunsu Information Technology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Feiyu xingkong Technology Co,Ltd. Shiro Games Simple Video Games Singapore Games Guild SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED Singapore Sports Hub Singapore Tourism Board SINGTEL INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS P Skillsearch Ltd Skonec Entertainment Co., Ltd. Skyhook Games Studio Ltd Slitherine Software UK Ltd SMACH INVERSION S.L SneakyBox Soap Interactive d.o.o.

Sociable Soccer (Tower Studios Ltd) Sold Out

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E010 F019 E020 F029 B013 E010 F019 B030 C039 C020 E039 C020 E039 D052 B010 C011 C040 F049 D052 D052 D052 D052 D052 D052 D052 D052 F059 C020 E039 A036 B039 E020 F029 C050 E020 F029 C020 E039 C040 F049 B023 A011 A036 B039 D010 E019 A036 B039 B020 C025 C020 E039 F030 E020 F029 B020 C025 C020 E039 F010 B020 C025 C020 E039 E020 F029 E020 F029 B020 C025 C040 F049 A033 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 A040 C049 B018 C019 C020 E039 B020 C025 B020 C025 B020 C025 B020 C025 B020 C025 C020 E039 C040 F049 C020 E039 C020 E039 E010 F019 F040 A011 C020 E039 C020 E039

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HALL 2

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LEVEL 2

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

SOLESEAT (Yangzhou) . Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd Spain Pavilion - Games from Spain (ICEX Spain Trade and Investment) Spearhead Games Stoic entertainment Strelka Games - Belka Srl Studio Evil S.R.L. Studio Gauntlet Suntec Singapore Convention &. Exhi SuperPlanet Sweet Bandits Studios Tag Games Limited Tag of Joy Take Off Takeoff Creative Agency TAUNT Team Jolly Roger Team17

3 2

A040 C049

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

E010 F019 F030 C040 F049 D010 E019 D010 E019 E020 F029 B020 C025 C040 F049 F030 C020 E039 F040 C020 E039 B025 C020 E039 E020 F029 C020 E039

TEAM17 HALL 3 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. C020 E039 Are you a passionate individual or team working on a great game? Team17 can help you elevate your title, with the publishing label present at gamescom this year on Ukie’s UK industry stand in Hall 3. With nearly 30 years of experience, Team17 has a long track record of excellence.

Testronic Laboratories Ltd THE GAME BAKERS Theogames Those Awesome Guys Tiny Bytes SpA Tiny Lab Productions Tractor Set Go Twisted Ark UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) Association Ltd. Universally Speaking Ltd. Untold Games srl UrbanWolfGames Vader Entertainment Korea Co., Ltd. Virtual Frontiers Visual Dart Co., Ltd. VisualLight Co.,Ltd VLG Warning Up Whitepot Studios Limited Whyttest SRL (Limited) Wicked Sick Wizard Games Global Limited World Pro Racing Yangzhou Arena Import & Export Co., Yeshcompany YouRun LTD Youtouch Soluciones Tecnológicas Lt yup.gg Zenway Productions

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2

C020 E039 A014 F059 F010 C050 F040 F010 E020 F029 C020 E039 C020 E039 D010 E019 C040 F049 C040 F049 E020 F029 C040 F049 C040 F049 D010 E019 B021 C020 E039 F010 C020 E039 A040 C049 B030 C039 A040 C049 C040 F049 B030 C039 C050 B020 C025 B020 C025

HALL 4 11 bit studios 2tainment GmbH 4-Real Intermedia GmbH A Juggler’s Tale - GbR mit Bergmann Oberle, Probst & Schön Abrakam Ada Productions adjust GmbH Adshot Aerosoft GmbH AlanCode All in! Games Altagram GmbH

4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1

D071 B041 C044 A011 D020 B040 A051 B060 B051 C060 C021 D030 A051 B060 A011 D020 B061 C070 D071 C021 D030

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Anshar Studios APITs Lab App Annie Europe Limited Appeal Studios AppTweak Artifex Mundi Assemble Entertainment GmbH Asteroid Lab Belgian Games – Flanders DC BitPioneers GmbH Black Forest Games GmbH Black Spoon Games BlackShore Blindflug Studios AG BoomByte Games GmbH CARBON STUDIO SP. Z O.O. CD Projekt Red ClockStone Studio ComboStrike GmbH Cortopia Studios Cosmoscope Creative Europe Desk NRW c/o Filmund Medienstiftung NRW Creative Mobile OÜ Cronos Interactive CRYTEK GmbH Cyborn DACS Laboratories GmbH DAE Studios Daedalic Entertainment GmbH Dao Holding GmbH DaoPay GmbH DaRa Innovations GmbH DBloke DCMN GmbH Degoma Games Deloryan Demute Digital Kingdom Sàrl DIMOCO Europe GmbH Onebip S.r.l.

DNA Studios Donkey Crew Dutch Games Association Dutch Games Association Dutch Games Association Dutch Games Association Dutch Games Association European Games Group AG EuroVideo Medien GmbH EverdreamSoft Experimental Game GmbH Fast Travel Games Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH Fire Falcom Fishing Cactus game - Verband der deutschen Games-Branche e.V. Game City Vienna (Mice & Men) Game Industry Conference Game Seer VP gamecity: Hamburg / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft mbH Gameeleon Gameforge AG Gameloft GmbH Games & XR Mitteldeutschland e.V. Games Capital Berlin-Brandenburg c/ Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie games.nrw e.V. Games/Bavaria – WERK1. Bayern GmbH Gameseat GamesMarkt GmbH

4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1

D071 B034 C021 D030 A051 B060 A051 B060 A071 A011 D020 B061 C070 A051 B060 B034 B040 B061 C070 A065 B070 B061 C070 C021 D030 D051 C041 D050 B051 C060 A011 D020 D055 B061 C070

4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1

B031 C040 C021 D030 A051 B060 A011 D020 A051 B060 A011 D020 A051 B060 A011 D020 B051 C060 B051 C060 A031 A051 B060 C021 D030 A065 B070 A065 B070 A051 B060 B061 C070 B051 C060 B061 C070 A071 A065 B070 A061 A066 A060 B064 A011 D020 A011 D020 B061 C070 B041 C044 D051 B031 C040 A051 B060 A051 B060 A011 D020 B051 C060 A071 A021 B030 C031 D040 A051 B060 A011 D020 A011 D020 B041 C044

4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1

C021 D030 B031 C040 A021 B030 B064 A035

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HALL 3

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LEVEL 2

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HALL 4

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LEVEL 1

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

GameUp! Software-/Gamesforum RheinlandPfalz c/o IMG Innovations-Management GmbH GAMEVIL COM2US Europe GmbH Gamigo Advertising GmbH Gaming-Aid e.V. Gamious B.V. Garlic Games UG Gemotions GGE BV GOG Sp. z.o.o.

Guillaume Bouckaert Hannoverimpuls GmbH Happy Volcano Hastily Assembled Games Headup Games GmbH & Co. KG Hellion Cat Hochschule Kaiserslautern Hochschule Mainz Humble Bundle Deutschland GmbH IBG Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachen-Anhalt mgH Iceberg Interactive BV Improvive Imverse Indie Games Poland InnoGames GmbH it media Medienproduktionsgesellschaft mbH Klabater S.A. kr3m. media GmbH Kynoa Lightword Productions GmbH like Charlie Little Chicken Game Company B.V. LMK Landeszetrale für Medien und Kommunikation Rheinland-Pfalz Local Heroes Worldwide B.V. LuGus Studios LuLuLu Entertainment Magix Software GmbH Maratus Mass Creation Matchmade Mattel Inc. media:net berlinbrandenburg e.V. Mediengründerzentrum NRW MGZ GmbH Mediennetzwerk.NRW c/o Mediencluster NRW GmbH MeetToMatch MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft BadenWürttemberg mbH Momo- Pi Mooneye Studios MOTHERSHIP Marketing GmbH Musicrocker Soundfurniture GmbH Neat Corporation Neopica nordmedia Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH Okomotive GmbH Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg / acagamics e.V. own3d media GmbH OZWE Games Photon Engine GmbH Playata GmbH Poland Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf Prefrontal Cortex PreviewLabs bvba Qualitas Global Rarebyte OG Rebelle Productions remote control productions GmbH

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A031 C021 D030 A011 D020 A011 D020 A065 B070 B034 A051 B060 A065 B070 C041 D050 A051 B060 B034 A051 B060 B034 A011 D020 A051 B060 A031 A031 C021 D030 B041 C044 A061 A065 B070 B061 C070 A071 C031 D040 B040 B043 C048 B040 B061 C070 B040 A051 B060 A065 B070

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A031 A065 B070 A051 B060 B061 C070 C021 D030 A051 B060 A071 C021 D030 C021 D030 C021 D030 B031 C040 B031 C040 A065 B070

4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

B040 B061 C070 C031 D040 C021 D030 B051 C060 D051 A051 B060

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

B034 B061 C070 B041 C044 B051 C060 B061 C070 A011 D020 A011 D020 A071 D071 A071 B041 C044 A051 B060 A065 B070 B051 C060 A051 B060 A011 D020

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Resistance Studio Resolution Games Riot Games Services GmbH Roboto Rockfish Games GmbH S.A.D. GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt Salt Castle Studio GmbH Serious Games Solutions Softdistribution GmbH Somniacs AG Space Walk Stardust Sunnyside Games SARL Survios, Inc. SwissGames/ Pro Helvetia Tactical Adventures Take-Two Interactive GmbH Taylor Wessing Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB Team Marty Ten Eyes media The Farm 51 Group SA Tivola Publishing GmbH Toplitz Productions GmbH Totem Warriors Travian Games GmbH Treasure Hunters Triangle Factory Tripwire Interactive United Games GmbH Van Iersel Luchtman Verein FH Technikum WIEN Vertigo Games B.V. Visionme GmbH Vollkorn Games vrbn AG Walkabout Games Whow Games GmbH Wirtschaftskammer Österreich WUNDERPARC YAGER Development GmbH ZDF Digital Medienproduktion GmbH ZENIT GmbH / NRW.Europa

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A065 B070 D055 A011 D020 D071 A011 D020 A021 B030 B041 C044 B051 C060 C021 D030 B040 B061 C070 C031 D040 B061 C070 B061 C070 D055 B061 C070 A065 B070 C051 D070 C031 D040 C031 D040 B040 D071 A011 D020 B051 C060 B051 C060 A021 B030 B061 C070 A051 B060 A066 B041 C044 A065 B070 B051 C060 A060 B034 B034 B061 C070 A071 C031 D040 B051 C060 C031 D040 A011 D020 A031 B031 C040

astragon Entertainment GmbH BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Germany GmbH Bungie Creative Distribution Ltd. Reef Entertainment Ltd. Deep Silver a division of Koch Media GmbH Deep Silver a division of Koch Media GmbH Facebook Ireland Limited Flashpoint Germany GmbH Forever Entertainment S.A. Game Outlet Europe AB (GOE Distribution) Games Industry Network GAIN UG Gaya Entertainment GmbH Google (Stadia and YouTube Gaming) Google UK Ltd. London Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. Microsoft / Xbox MY.GAMES Nintendo of Europe GmbH Square Enix GmbH TaleWorlds Entertainment THQ Nordic GmbH Ubisoft GmbH Virtuos Holdings Pte. Ltd.

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

B011 C018 A021 B030 A024 A040 B041 D046 D045 A031 B040 A041 B044 B046 D041 D052 D049 A020 A046 A011 B018 D021 B031 D040 B021 D030 D051 A043 B045 D050 A051 C058 A052

Outdoor Area Sony Interactive Entertainment Deutschland GmbH

4

2

A010

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HALL 4

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LEVEL 2

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Little Big PR Day 2.indd 1

13/08/2019 10:54

When We Made...

Sea of Thieves

Marie Dealessandri takes a look behind the scenes at the development of Sea of Thieves.

Rare’s senior designer Shelley Preston explains that it wasn’t always intended to be a pirate game and how to build a game that is as watchable and shareable as it is playable

Pictured above: Shelley Preston, Rare

MY favourite thing about Sea of Thieves is not playing it. I know it’s an odd statement and don’t get me wrong: I do really love playing Sea of Thieves. But reading about people’s adventures in the game, seeing how they’re using it as a canvas, how they’re making it their own, how they’re strengthening friendships or going on incredible adventures with strangers is (almost) as good as playing the game itself.

I’ve rarely seen a game that provides players with such an avenue for discovery and exploration. There are other games that do that of course, plenty of others. But Sea of Thieves feels special to me because I’ve seen its positive impact on people’s mental health around me. Also, pirates are awesome. Sea of Thieves is not only a game to play, it’s somewhere you can go to forget about real life’s problems. And that’s very much what Rare set out to do when it first started working on its new IP five years ago.

“Ultimately the idea for Sea of Thieves can be distilled into a simple terminology that we use: players creating stories together,” senior designer Shelley Preston starts explaining. One thing that is abundantly clear as soon as we start our chat is Preston’s sheer passion for the game. Only a few minutes talking to her and you too would want to quit your job to go and create piratey things at Rare. She joined the studio 13 years ago as a tester, then climbed the ladder to designer and has now been senior designer for nearly six years. She’s

witnessed the inception of Sea of Thieves from the very beginning.

“It was inspired by looking at this emerging trend where there were lots of videos online of people playing games in unique ways, using the game almost as a backdrop to have their own stories. So games like Day-Z or Eve Online, where all these really interesting, unique encounters were happening,” Preston continues.

“We thought about how we could create a game where players could make their own stories in a shared social environment.

“And then at the same time we were obviously looking ahead to the future and thinking about streaming. At the time it was on that trajectory towards being as big as it is today and we were thinking about how perfect streaming would be for a game like this and how we could make a game where it was as watchable and shareable as it was playable.

“So really the context was making a game where players could create stories together that could be shared socially, so pirates didn’t actually come into it originally. It was just the concept and then we thought of lots of different ideas that we could put around that.

And pirates was one of those ideas that just made a lot of sense – we all have a soft spot for pirates here and we just thought it would be perfect for bringing players together as there’s a lot of almost unspoken knowledge

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Pictured left: Sea of Thieves was announced at E3 way back in 2015 but it’s only been a year since it actually set sail

of pirates. If you put people in a pirate outfit they know what to do already. So that breaks the ice and gives people something to start roleplaying with and start creating the rules of their world.”

Preston can’t remember all the options Rare threw around apart from one that “might’ve been vampires or something,” she laughs. “It was ages ago and there were so many ideas! It was just different ideas that we could wrap around the same [concept], but none of them made as much sense as pirates.”

If it wasn’t for pirates being so universally cool then, we would all be trying to steal each other’s blood bags as vampires right now.

This also highlights the importance of having a solid concept to start with when developing a game, as a strong vision will help shape the title, its mechanics and features.

“Players creating stories together is the pillar that binds everything that we do in Sea of Thieves,” Preston continues, adding that Rare goes by the saying of ‘tools, not rules’ when it comes to creating mechanics.

“So when we’re thinking about putting a feature in, say for example the treasure maps that players can hold in their hands, we will think about what you can do with that and will lay a very simple action that players can do. They can look at the map but because it’s about players creating stories together and it’s a social

experience, they can show the map to other people.

By showing the map, it doesn’t inherently do anything but it’s an action that you can do and that means that players can use that in so many different ways; they can use it functionally to actually show people where they need to dig for treasure, they can almost use it sarcastically if somebody’s gone to the wrong island, they can use it in a humorous way. So it’s about giving players tools and ways to have their own creative freedom. That was a huge pillar for us.”

She gives another example of decisions made during development that were motivated by the purpose of building a community and bringing players together.

“Every feature that we worked on we put through that lens and the ship is probably the easiest way to communicate how this thinking impacted every facet of our design. So when we were building the ship, rather than having what a traditional game would have with a vehicle that you can control – so one person presses the button and gets control of the ship and they can do everything – we deliberately broke up the controls so that you need to work together to raise the anchor. You can do it alone but it’s faster together.

“We deliberately made it so that the person on the wheel has their view obscured by a sail so that you need to communicate with your crew. We put the map down below decks so that it is easier for you to

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communicate as a crew back and forth. And I think everything we built goes through that lens of: how can we make this social? How can we make this bring players together? How can we make this motivate players to cooperate and strengthen that bond as a crew?”

Not only did Sea of Thieves’ mechanics need to serve the greater purpose of the game, but they also needed to work and make sense in a shared environment, Preston continues.

“When we’re bringing in features, we have to think about: how can we make something that impacts the wider social experience? So when we were looking at putting in treasure, which is obviously an amazing pirate trope, we went through many iterations of what that was.”

Having considered other options, such as being able to take items out of the treasure chests, Rare struck upon on the idea of digging up boxes of treasure – but not being able to open them.

“It’s then a physical item that you carry back to your ship,” Preston explains. “So not only does that bond you together as a crew, because you’re all protecting this item, but for other crews it’s a physical item that they come and try to steal from you and be piratey but they also can use it to trade or to be friendly.

So it’s just about thinking about how we make our mechanics in a way that drives as many different social experiences as possible.”

SOLO SAILING Despite this multiplayer-driven approach, Rare did have to take one small detail into account: some people would want to play on their own.

“We always believed right from the start that the crew experience is the strength of Sea of Thieves. But we knew as we developed the game that not everyone wants to play that way and not everyone necessarily can either,” Preston

says. “And the galleon was obviously very difficult for those players. So we specifically made the sloop to be handled by one player. We made it really fast and easy to use, but we also made it low and small in the water so you get a bit more chance of going unnoticed. You’re very nimble so you can get out of situations.”

Playing Sea of Thieves on your own brings its fair share of challenges, but the studio felt that giving a slightly more difficult solo experience was better than no single player alternative at all.

“Ultimately we know that, in some cases, playing alone is going to be more difficult than playing with a crew,” Preston says. “But we felt like it was more important to give players that option. It was important to us to break down that barrier and allow them to have that. So everything we do obviously goes through the lens of ensuring that it works for a solo person. We don’t have things that don’t work if you play on your own but we’re treading the line of understanding that it is more difficult on your own. And I think that players understand that as well.”

The single player experience wasn’t always on the table though, Preston adds.

“You’re always talking about and considering everything but initially we were focusing on the galleon and the crew experience,” she explains. “But the initial conversations of ‘should we do a solo ship? Does it suit our world?’ just grew and grew and as we gained more players in our Insider Programme and as we got more community feedback it just became really obvious that it was something that players would really want. Whereas I think initially it was more: ‘we may want to do this or we may not’. So it wasn’t right from the beginning a ‘we are 100 per cent like categorically going to do a solo ship’, it just kind of grew out of experience and feedback.”

This highlights the importance of players’ feedback in Sea of Thieves’ development, even before the game officially launched and even more so now that it’s out and constantly updated.

“Having the community and having player feedback has been one of the most phenomenal things that we’ve had on Sea of Thieves, and that’s something that I’m personally very proud of. Because it really does feel like we built the game with the community,” Preston enthuses.

“Everything we built goes through that lens of: how can we make this social? How can we make this bring players together? How can we motivate players to bond as a crew?”

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Processing community feedback can be tricky though, she adds, incidentally giving some precious advice about the flexibility required to develop a live service game.

“There’s almost a decoding of it. We have to look at it and we have to figure out what is missing from the experience that is causing that feedback. Sometimes that just means things we were already going to add might get prioritised ahead of other things. Sometimes it’s things we haven’t thought of or didn’t know were going to be an issue, so sometimes it’s very reactive, sometimes it’s things like player behaviour.”

She mentions Sea of Thieves’ brig mechanic, which was introduced as a way to deal with unruly, uncooperative crew members but she adds that this is an aspect that was difficult to figure out before launch.

“You don’t know the extent of such things until the game is actually live and being played. So things like that are definitely built alongside the community. It’s a kind of partnership – we have our vision, we know where the game is going to go, we have our road map and our features, but we’re also always ready to react and jump on things. We’ve built in a bit of flexibility because we know that things come out of community.”

ALWAYS LEARNING ‘Believable but not realistic’ was another key pillar during Sea of Thieves’ development, Preston says: “Everything acts as you would expect it to and it’s believable but it’s not necessarily physically perfectly realistic.”

That brought the challenge of having to find the right art style to support that approach, which also needed to support the game’s pillars and core gameplay loops, under the direction of art director Ryan Stevenson.

“The art style is timeless,” Preston says. “If you’re creating a world that you want to be a place to go and escape – get away from everything and completely immerse yourself in it – having a timeless art style is really important, especially as it’s a game-as-a-service that we want to keep servicing for years to come.

“Then there’s also obviously the sheer beauty of it. I mean it makes you want to jump in and explore it, it makes you want to look in every cave and island because it’s just a beautiful place to explore,” she smiles.

Looking back at the whole development, there are a few things the team would probably do differently if they could go back in time, for instance an engine switch at the very beginning of the cycle, Preston continues.

“When we first started developing Sea of Thieves, we had an awesome prototype which we built in Unity, that was really cool because we basically built the game in a prototype form and we were able to iterate so quickly.

But then when we moved into production, we moved

into Unreal. So we had to kind of rebuild everything from scratch and things like the physics of the ship and the way it’s [moving] took a lot of time to recreate,” she says.

“I also think the way that we prototype now…” she pauses to think, then compares Rare’s current approach to the way Sea of Thieves was prototyped in its early days. “When we create new features like the fishing that we’ve just done for example or The Devil’s Roar island, we prototyped those but we did it in our production branch and although it was fast and iterative it was more like halfway between prototype and production. We had an eye on the production code. At the time we couldn’t have gone back and done that but I think for a future learning: definitely prototyping in a very fast and iterative way, but with one eye on the production version of that.”

As we keep chatting about the different challenges met and overcome by Rare while developing Sea of Thieves, Preston explains that the biggest one was actually to have enough confidence to sail into unknown territories.

“As a studio this is our first online shared world adventure game,” she reminds us. “And you know you have all the live services aspect, it’s a brand new IP, we’ve entered this new era of building the community and learning how to be open and transparent. Although I think we most definitely rose to the challenge, it was undoubtedly a challenge both before launch and after launch. We had some issues when we first launched around scale because it far exceeded anything that we’d seen before. And we have to keep growing and learning from that. But although building a new IP and a new online shared world adventure game is a challenge, it’s a great challenge to be a part of, that’s for sure!”

If Sea of Thieves’ launch was a bit rocky, one year down the line it’s all distant memories as the title has become the incredible adventure it’s always meant to be – one that should remain afloat for many years to come.

“I think it doesn’t matter how new to the industry you are, what size your studio is, what type of game you’re making. Every game developer is doing the same thing which is creating an experience for players,” Preston concludes. “My advice is always to focus on your players and just don’t forget the magic that games can bring to them.”

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Industry Voices

The discovery business

James Binns, Network N

MCV gives the industry a platform for its own views in its own words.

Do you have a burning hot take for the world of games?

Get in touch!

NETWORK N is in the discovery business. We help players choose the right games and gear…

And we help businesses reach our audiences.

The discovery business has never been more challenging than it is today. Business is booming.

Lots of problems for the modern games publisher have been solved. Middleware is too humble a phrase for the suite of tools, which powerhouses like Epic supply, that help you prototype, develop and publish your games. Technology, speed to market and access to enormous audiences are all very old-fashioned challenges.

And yet. And yet. Everyone looks pretty miserable, because of how grim discovery is.

Things have actually gotten much worse.

For a short time we had solved discovery.

If you looked at Steam a decade ago you’d see a handsome store, with a few games, well presented. A single dominant place to buy PC games. That problem has since been unsolved.

There’s the proliferation of digital stores – good for customer choice, but harder to manage and to make an impact on and with the risk of leaving some customers behind.

Subscriptions like Twitch Prime and Discord Nitro are jostling alongside products like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus to fill gamers time. Games take longer to play than ever before. They’re more sophisticated and online elements mean players keep coming back.

Huge IPs like Fortnite and PUBG suck up players. Market entrants into crowded genres like Apex Legends can win a burst of fame – but maintaining it is far harder.

The fire hose of games that PC publishers had to contend with is now being felt on Switch, Xbox and PlayStation as costs and timelines

for porting titles have dropped. Meaning more games than ever.

And there’s a bigger focus on paid discovery on digital stores. PlayStation and Xbox have long charged. Steam stubbornly clings on to patronage and community curation.

It’s not an easy riddle to solve. But what you can’t do is ignore the problem, create beautiful art and hope that it will be discovered!

Psychologists have a phrase: ‘survivor bias’.

It is a logical error where you concentrate on successful stuff rather than failure. Your attention focuses on what has worked rather than what hasn’t and you think that is an exact recipe for success.

Conferences are full of folk standing on stage talking about how their glorious game found an audience. They’ll say how they did it all thanks to great art and finding an authentic voice on Twitter. After all, nobody would turn up to 200 speeches in a week from developers whose games failed to find an audience. So hidden gems remain hidden.

Developers are generally the smartest people in the room, but there’s a bunch of stuff they may not know. How to create product and market fit.

How to build a community. How to engage at scale. How to curate audiences for marketing.

How to design advertising that works. How to traffic it to the right people. How to track results.

Developers: if you do one thing after reading this, go ask somebody about marketing. Network N is in the discovery business – come find us.

James Binns is CEO at games media business Network N, which he co-founded back in January 2012 and now has 40+ staff while remaining independent.

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Running the production line freelance Hollie Emery, freelance producer

WHEN I introduce myself as a freelance producer in the video game industry, there are a general set of questions I frequently get asked, aside from the usual: “Do you play video games all day?” There are questions asked within the industry too, especially around remote working, freelancing and the role of a producer in games development.

The first one I hear is: “What does a producer do?” Like with other roles in games development, there are multiple facets to the production role depending on the project, requirements and stakeholder needs. The main varieties of producer are internal and external – both require an understanding of development, but apply production processes in different ways.

Internal producers are generally more involved in day-to-day development and work closely with the project’s vision holders and leads. The internal producer works with the vision holder to ensure that vision principles are being followed by the team, the schedules have been created to fit this vision and that budget, the deliverables scheduled and deadlines tracked and being adhered to. This role is more commonly seen in-studio, as there aren’t many freelance producers out there in the industry yet.

External producers generally take a step back from the day-to-day management that an internal producer would do. They’re especially great for remote teams, with regular communication with developers ensuring progress is tracked towards goals and that the vision, scope or budget are staying in-line with the team expectations. Publishers tend to use external producers within their teams.

In 2018, soon after the release of Yoku’s Island Express, I left my job at Team17 and

made the jump into indie to become a remote-working freelance producer. A common question I was asked by old colleagues was: “How does freelance production work?” I’ve since been asked this regularly while networking, and people have been curious about how I’ve managed to handle it all with remote working.

The truth is, in my experience, the role of producer hasn’t changed drastically between remote freelance and working in a studio. All of the above information regarding internal and external production applies to remote freelance production roles as well. For me, freelance production has been about applying production methodologies to the projects I’m contracted to, but making adjustments for remote working. For example, in my current contract, the daily stand-up meetings become a group call. Each team is different too, so what works for this team may not work for another.

I’ve worked remotely with development teams for nearly four years now across my studio role and current freelance project, so it didn’t feel like a difficult transition. Production doesn’t change much between freelance and working in a studio – the principles are still the same. The biggest difference I’ve seen as a freelance producer is the business side, like invoicing clients and filing expenses!

Hollie Emery is a freelance producer, currently working on an unannounced title from a large UK developer. Previously, she worked at publisher Team17 as producer on BAFTAaward winning titles such as Overcooked and Yoku’s Island Express.

“Production doesn’t change much between freelance and working in a studio – the principles are still the same. Each team is different, so what works for this team may not work for another.”

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GAMESCOM IN PICTURES

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The Final Boss Every month an industry leader wraps up MCV with their unique insight

From Rockstar to NCSoft, Warner to Hi-Rez, you’ve seen a lot of very different work cultures, what did you learn from that?

Over the last two decades I’ve been fortunate enough to work with truly talented people amid a diverse mix of company cultures.

My experiences have taught me that the highest levels of success come from supporting diversity and the unique breadth of talent and experience that only it can bring to bear.

At Hi-Rez Studios’ Brighton office, our team is made up of passionate gamers from all genres and platforms, who hail from all over the world. We have seven different nationalities, a good gender mix, varying levels and types of education and a multitude of backgrounds. In our diverse cooperation, we are better stewards for our games and our communities as opposed to just summing our individual efforts.

I’ve come to believe that it is paramount to empower independent thinking. There is not one single textbook way to achieve customer satisfaction and I have found that a group effort works best when engaging and supporting our fans.

With the greatest respect to your current role, what is your dream job?

When I was a kid, I wanted to create games to help people dream and to give them an escape. I wanted their gaming experience to provide positivity in their lives. As time passed, I realised my greatest talents didn’t lie in coding or creating stories. I decided to focus more on what I was good at: playing games, understanding gamers and influencing game developers to create the most compelling and engaging content they could. So ultimately, I did find a way to have my dream job and I love what I am doing today.

What I want to tackle now is a far more ambitious task, one that’s a bit naively utopian. I want to make our world a better place. I’m not looking for sainthood – in a way it’s actually selfish because I have so many family, friends and people I love dearly, and I want to protect them and increase the happiness in their lives. So I’d say my dream job today is to continue what I am doing while influencing our own communities so they are more resilient, safer, healthier and more inclusive. I hope that will in turn radiate throughout our industry.

Véronique Lallier VP, global marketing, Hi-Rez Studios “What I want to tackle now is a far more ambitious task, one that’s a bit naively utopian. I want to make our world a better place.”

What’s the key to marketing live service titles in 2018?

When you sell a service, you have to care about consumer feedback and how they engage with your content because you need to build an ongoing revenue stream. It’s only through empathetic listening that you can continue to bring innovation and fun content to your game. To be frank, online gamers have been very vocal communities for many years using early tools like mIRC or forum boards, so it’s easy to gauge their opinions – both the good and bad.

As far as the nuts and bolts of marketing goes, we’ve all had to shift marketing tactics out of traditional advertising into working with influencers, focusing on word of mouth, gently cultivating pre-existing online gamer communities into potential fans and riding the waves of customer reviews via livestreams, YouTube, Steam reviews, Reddit and the like. Referral programs, in-person meetups, developer to customer social media interactions, encouraging cosplayers and celebrating content creators have risen in importance and show no sign of slowing down.

What do you believe are the key advantages, and potential pitfalls, of the free-to-play model?

In my opinion, there are three key things to master in the free-to-play model.First, creating content at a frequent and consistent pace. Then iteration is key – try things, change things and fix things; the goal has to be improving customer satisfaction. And listen to customer feedback and analyse your data, so that even if your customers are not directly vocalising their opinions, you can still understand if they like your content or not. Not mastering these things leads to potential pitfalls like a growing feeling of development abandonment, stagnation of design vision and walling yourself off from your users.

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