Marketing and awareness-raising in the App Store era.
Today's Mobile Games Forum in London saw a panel of industry figures discuss discoverability, and how to raise awareness of games when they're competing with thousands of rivals on app stores.
"You now have to engage with your customer on a regular, direct basis," said Barry O'Neill from Namco Bandai Networks Europe. "You can't rely on those carrier relationships. You have to engage on Twitter, and Facebook, and by doing proper marketing."
Paul Farley from TAG Games talked about the opportunities for smaller developers focusing on iPhone. "Previously with operators we wouldn't have been able to get to market with our stuff," he said.
"What to do to promote yourself? One of the key things there is getting the game out there and getting it reviewed, and getting it talked about."
Initially that means review sites and journalists, but does that mean the core marketing strategy for smaller developers is PR?
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"We didn't have a marketing strategy a year ago, so it shows how far we've come! Rather than broadcasting to the masses, we're now talking to individuals - having conversations with our customers - and it's working for us. We don't have to talk to a million people. If we can talk to 20 or 30 people who are passionate about the game, they'll then take the message about our game to a much wider audience."
So TAG is spending £4-5,000 to market its iPhone games, but trying to be creative with the message it's putting out. "Then you start to build that viral buzz and momentum leading up to the game being released."
Former I-play exec Craig Dalton, who's now with app discovery service Mplayit, agreed that mobile games marketing is really about word of mouth and talking directly to consumers.
"We're moving from public relations into individual relations," chipped in Namco's O'Neill. The publisher has experimented with Facebook versions of games like its Dr Kawashima brain training title.
Meanwhile, Namco Bandai has launched today a Facebook app to promote its Java mobile games. It's called Namco Arcade, and includes emulated demos of the company's games, complete with a billing interface to buy them.
Digital Legends Entertainment boss Xavier Carrillo Costa also had views on this issue, pointing out that having a high-quality game is crucial - put a poor game onto the social networks, and it won't become a hit. Quite the opposite.
Moderator Tim Harrison asked the panel about what kind of co-marketing opportunities are available with the OEMs and app store owners.
Costa said Digital Legends has been working with handset makers on bringing its games to their flagship devices. "We've done that with Nokia for many years, we've done it with Samsung, and with Apple we were in the keynote [with Kroll - at the original App Store launch event]. So if you are pro-active, there are a lot of marketing opportunities."
The panel also talked about the changing nature of marketing mobile games - launching with a bang is essential to get into the Top 25 or Top 50 on the App Store (for example), but also companies are trying to extend their marketing efforts to boost sales in the long-term.
Game updates can be key to this. "It's an important thing and something that a lot of people buying games have come to expect now," said Farley. "It's an important way to extend the life of a game."
Shinichiro Kasama of Japanese developer Digital Hearts said that the market is changing in Japan too, with the focus shifting towards "accessing the same customers" - in other words, offering more content to people who've already bought the game - either through in-app payments or monthly subscriptions.
Games as services, you might say. And plenty of people are saying it, from social games firms to iPhone developers. Which often leads to talk of freemium business models - free games with the revenues coming from virtual items and (possibly) advertising.
"Right now, we're in that transition period," said Farley. "Some larger publishers like ngmoco have had some success with the freemium model, but we're not as large as them, so not as comfortable taking that risks. But later this year we'll definitely launch a game on the freemium model. But not just yet!"
Meanwhile, the panel's thoughts also turned to the different smartphone app stores, with O'Neill talking about Android Market as a "half-built shopping mall... if they can get over the fragmentation issues and fix the store, it'll really pose a challenge for Apple."
Moderator Tim Harrison described Google as "the elephant in the room", but asked what it needs to do to sort out its store. "It's going to take a while," said Dalton.
"On our platform we see Android users very passionate about discovering content, it's because on the device they're having such a hard time discovering what content is available. I'm confident they'll sort it out though."
And Microsoft? It's had success with digital distribution on Xbox Live Arcade, but Windows Mobile is in the doldrums. Kasama said that Windows Mobile 7 may have a big impact, especially if it manages to successfully tie together mobile, PC and Xbox.
"What we've seen rumoured about Microsoft's next plans for the next version of Windows Mobile, if any of those rumours about the integration of services are true, it's going to provide a fantastic environment for games marketing," said O'Neill, while warning that half the assembled industry folk are probably under "severe NDAs" about Microsoft's plans on this score.
O'Neill also had views about why Facebook Connect hasn't yet become hugely important for mobile gaming. "We've got a silo in the mobile games business, and a silo in the Facebook games business," he said. Dalton backed him up, pointing out that social games publishers like Playfish tried iPhone and then backed away.
Farley suggested that a lot of developers will be working on more Facebook-to-mobile games this year. "We're looking at an age where a single-player game where you sit in a room and play by yourself is coming to an end," he said. "Social isn't a nice thing to have: it's vital."
Another question: what should Apple do in 2010 to improve discoverability on the App Store? Dalton said get more social, although he joked that he hopes they don't, so his company can grow.
Farley hoped for more recommendations of games that people might want to buy, based on their previous purchases.
Costa agreed. "Put more intelligence into the browsing. It's very easy for them to learn what you've purchased, and it's working very well on sites like Amazon. I would like that as a developer, but also as a consumer."
Last question: will marketing budgets explode on iPhone, and thus shut out the smaller developers? Farley thought not, saying iPhone is quite different to Facebook - where you can get to around two million players without much marketing beyond word of mouth, but where you need to start spending serious Zynga-level marketing dosh to grow further.
A level playing field between large and small publishers? When it comes to one or two games, yes, but Farley admitted a company like TAG can't compete on a portfolio basis against the EAs and Gamelofts.
Costa agreed, pointing out that bigger publishers are trying cross-promotion, where they drop one game to $1.99 or lower, with a prominent ad in it for a premium-priced game that's just launched.
