Analytics and Ads Anchor Games Connections
March 2014 – Games Connections USA was held in San Francisco. The B2B conference had a number of key themes this year. Typically the conference focuses on connecting developers with publishers and financing, this year more of the conference was focused on the business of game development rather than the titles themselves.
The rise of mobile gaming and casual games has driven a change to how games are monitored. On a pay for play model, the primary analytic that is tracked is number of downloads. The monetization model for games requires both in-game and post play analytics. Several of the companies at the show were displaying SDKs for the in-game analytics data collection. The use of these data sets helps the game developer create predictive behavioral models that can be used to optimize both in-game purchases and increasing player attachment time. These behavioral models have been implemented by several third parties as either analytics in the cloud as a service or part of the SDK on a royalty based on-sight analysis model.
These behavioral models as well as traditional analysis techniques have helped companies like Media Monks from the Netherlands to transform from a traditional content services company to a full transmedia company. The 13yr old services company was originally makers of PC and mobile content in the form of game IP, digital content creation, advertising creation for TV and other screens from the idea to the productization phases. They noticed a disconnect between the story & ideas and the tech. They have developed full transmedia solutions that take advantage of the technology available to tell either a message based story (an ad) through full interactive downloadable games.
Media Monks has focused on creating content for voice, TV, 2nd Screen and now downloadable gaming content under a long running rights free transfer model to the firms that contract their services. Media Monks holds on to and has created their own IP methodology to drive their transmedia services. An example is a recent program done for Adidas. Featuring Argentinian footballer Messi, the FIFA world cup player of the year was chosen to be the player on the cover of FIFA 13 and FIFA 14 video games. This lead to a custom trailer for the game that appeared at the opening of the game, and as a advertisement for the game. This then led to a 15 sec interactive module that allows you to operate in either multiple POVs of the trailer. The Media Monks group has created a custom single pass asset creation flow that allows all of these media types, including multiple resolution down samples to be created from the single design effort.
These analytics and transmedia companies are the both the foundation of the current gaming expansion model as well as the lead edge of the transformation. The gaming market is no longer being limited to just downloadable and Free2Play games to supplement console titles, but is being poised to move into more traditional business marketplaces such as advertising and Business Intelligence functions. These anchor companies are helping drive the Games Connect Conferences as the leading B2B event for the inudstry.
