Matt Wolf, vice president of entertainment, ventures and strategic alliances at the Coca-Cola Company is a gamer, but just a few years ago, that wasn’t so mainstream—or even widely understood. Wolf took on the monumental task of integrating a constantly moving, niche eSports audience into a century-old brand strategy and somehow made it all work out with tremendous results.
Wolf joined the fourteenth iteration of the [a]list summit Thursday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles and dished details to a room filled with marketers across a gamut of industries and shared how the soft drink brand turned the tide in gaming with activations in FIFA and League of Legends.
“[ESports] is a niche, but it’s really, really big,” said Wolf. “As a consumer packaged goods brand, we understand that learning in this space when we did (activating for about three-to-four years) that it’s a green pasture. You can really reach the hearts and minds of the fans. If you go through the right channels with the game makers and the players, it really becomes a good run.
“What I was trying to do was prove to the Coca-Cola Company that gaming had the power to be a difference-maker for us in our marketing and communications. ESports, I felt, was a great first foot into that because it was still fairly new in North America and Europe at the time, and there weren’t a lot of big brands taking a crack at it. It was a bet.”
Just four years ago, when Wolf would quiz colleagues about eSports, no hands would go up. “This was four years ago,” he shared. “Getting into it early, we had to figure out our own blueprint. We had to figure out how to get into this space, how to do our brand justice, ensure that the volume of communication around our marketing was at a certain point . . . but at the same time, was meaningful and provided a value to the community. That was key.”
“We take a multi-pronged approach [to eSports]. We have our frontline marketing communication, which is the way we brand our product into the space. Then we have the relationships that we make with the influencers, which is key. You can’t really lean into this space and get that value back as a brand unless you’re really able to hit it from a content standpoint, an influencer standpoint, and from a social media standpoint.”
Coca-Cola wanted its message to be organic and not forced, something that Wolf attributes to patience and careful consideration.
“We came in humble, we took our time, learned and we didn’t hold ourselves to any one through-line that we had to stick with.”
The Imax VR Centre in Los Angeles officially opened in January, and now, the company signed agreements to open four new pilot Imax VR locations in the coming months across the United States and China.
Imax and Guangzhou JinYi Media Corporation, one of the largest exhibitors in China, will install a pilot Imax VR Centre in Shanghai at the Shanghai Hongkou Plaza multiplex. Imax and AMC Theatres will open a pilot centre in New York, while Imax and Regal Entertainment Group will open establishments at two of Regal’s locations in New York City and California.
Rob Lister, chief legal officer and chief business development officer at Imax, told [a]listdaily that the company is trying to get people to experience VR for the first time.
“With 70 percent of people in our LA centre, it’s their first time experiencing VR,” Lister said. “The home consumer proposition is still expensive for most people. We think the location destination approach makes sense to bring people in and let them experience VR. There are a lot of things we can do there you can’t do at home. And our fourteen 12’ x 12’ pod configuration is conducive to multiplayer experiences.”
The pilot centers currently incorporate HTC Vive and Starbreeze’s Star VR technology, which has been specifically modified for location-based entertainment. Customers pay $7-to-$10 to play experiences like Starbreeze’s John Wick Chronicles and Ubisoft’s Eagle Flight and Rabbids VR-Ride.
“We’re taking an end-to-end approach to the platform,” Lister said. “We’re not just creating content or centers to exhibit content, we’re developing a VR camera with Google to capture VR content to use our relationships with Hollywood creators, we’re partnering with HTC and Starbreeze to aggregate the best tech to feature in centers. And we’re opening six pilot centers, maybe a couple more, in the coming months to exhibit content.”
Lister said Imax is also investing $50 million in new VR content with nine international investors.
“There’s still a chicken-and-egg issue with VR content not being as compelling as it needs to be, and there not being as many headsets being sold to get the big content makers creating for VR,” Lister said.
Lister believes Imax is perfectly situated to help solve this problem because the company works with filmmakers like Michael Bay, Christopher Nolan, James Camera and J.J. Abrams as partners on the film side.
“We can introduce them to this medium, where they can trust the quality and incentivize them to make VR content for us,” Lister said. “Our VR fund is investing in AAA content and we can help co-finance early stage VR pieces.”
Imax has partnered with Skydance Interactive to release a pair of upcoming VR games that tie into movie launches—similar to how Imax worked with Lionsgate on John Wick Chapter 2 and John Wick Chronicles.
Life VR, set for release March 24, is based on the upcoming feature film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds. The film-driven VR experience will take players deep inside of the sci-fi thriller genre. This July, Archangel, Skydance’s first original title, drops players into the cockpit of a six-story-high war-machine, a one-of-a-kind weapon that must stop a tyrannical corporation from taking over a post-apocalyptic America.
Imax will also release Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Crew Commander across its locations in the coming months. Like John Wick Chronicles, that game will also be available on home VR platforms. Imax is getting specially modified versions of games. For example, Ubisoft’s Eagle Flight game has been designed as a three-player experience where customers can team up with players in the pods next to them.
Another area Imax is interested in exploring is virtual reality eSports designed for customers.
“ESports is a really cool initiative where I could see people in one Imax location competing with people in another, and then maybe the winner gets to compete with a group in another centre,” Lister said. “That’s very ‘eSports-y’, where great gamers are competing instead of great athletes.”
In addition to its focus on multiplayer experiences, Lister said Imax is focusing on social platforms to generate word-of-mouth.
“We’re allowing customers to share their VR experiences across social media platforms so they can send their experience to friends,” Lister said.
Imax has joined Warner Brothers/Time Warner, Twentieth Century Fox, Metro-GoldwynMayer (MGM), Westfield Corporation, Bold Capital Partners and Steven Spielberg as first round investors in Dreamscape Immersive, a new tetherless room-scale VR technology. Imax and Dreamscape are also contemplating a strategic partnership that will bring Dreamscape’s technology into Imax-branded properties in the future, which would offer multiple VR platforms under one roof and a wide range of experiences from Hollywood as well as original IPs.
“We believe allowing customers to explore VR experiences untethered in a large room environment is going to open up a lot of interesting opportunities,” Lister said.
Lister is confident that Imax VR can grow into a global network, following in the footsteps of IMAX movie theaters.
“Even though we’re in a pilot phase testing six centers, we’re using this time to understand consumer preferences and pricing,” Lister said. “If we can solve that and demonstrate a good product, our strategy is to leverage our exhibitor network around the world. We can go into the UK and China and roll out a few hundred with exhibitor partners and use under-utilized space in the multiplex or lobby to set up VR and help exhibitors attract some Millennials that have abandoned movies and bring them back to the multiplex.”
The eSports economy will grow to $696 million this year, according to Newzoo’s latest report—a year-on-year growth of 41 percent that will reach $1.5 billion by 2020. Brands will contribute $516 million of this growth in 2017, the analyst firm predicts, and investments will more than double over the next three years. In addition, the sales of eSports content licenses are expected to generate $95 million this year on a global scale, up 81 percent from 2016.
Consumer spending this year on tickets and merchandise will amount to $64 million, with another $98 million to be invested by game publishers through partnership deals with white-label organizers.
The World Is Watching
According to Newzoo’s 2017 Global ESports Market Report, the global eSports audience will reach 385 million in 2017—made up of 191 million eSports enthusiasts and a further 194 million occasional viewers. This fandom is expected to keep on growing by another 50 percent, totaling 286 million by 2020. With revenues of $257 million expected this year ($113 million of which are sponsorships), North America is the largest eSports market that will reach $607 million by 2020. With its 25 million enthusiasts, North America generates twice as much revenue per year than in any other region.
Gambling In ESports? You Bet!
“With most big betting companies already embracing eSports betting on a global scale,” Newzoo stated, “it’s possible that eSports betting alone is larger than the eSports economy itself.” Betting companies see eSports as a huge “blue ocean” opportunity and while betting on professional gaming has been around for many years, Newzoo noted, it does not require the involvement of any eSports companies to organize.
Compared to betting on traditional sports, the eSports economy stands to make significant income outside of sponsorships and media rights. Newzoo used the NFL as an example, having generated $13 billion last year—but betting and fantasy leagues around the NFL games are supposed to have made north of $50 billion.
“ESports is not only growing exponentially as a new independent business and industry, it is also accelerating the convergence of various established industries,” commented Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. “For brands, media and entertainment companies, eSports provides a chance to capitalize on the favorite pastime of digital natives and millennials: playing games and watching game content. With the arrival of livestreams and events, gaming has entered the realm of broadcasters and media that can now apply their advertising business model to a market previously out of reach for them.”
Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSportson—2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.
From the 02 Arena in England to the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the newly erected T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, AEG owns and operates 90 venues, 20 sports teams and events, and 30 music festivals around the world. And whether it be the Grammy Awards, NBA Finals, UFC or Coachella, the sports and live entertainment company knows how to play host.
That party has a new VIP guest list because AEG secured a long-term global partnership with the world’s largest eSports company in ESL last year to align each of their assets to further broaden the reach of eSports around the world.
Whether it’s the League of Legends World Championship at Staples Center, the CS:GO ESL Pro League finals at 02 Arena, ESL One at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or the Intel Extreme Masters in Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the partnership leverages AEG’s leadership in live event production, ticketing, marketing and sponsorship and allows ESL to utilize AEG’s global network.
As eSports transforms the global sports landscape, the geographic reach and optimized operations are being expanded, too.
Mike Lee is director of digital for AEG Global Partnerships, which creates sales and marketing platforms for partners to activate and promote their brands. He joined [a]listdaily to share how AEG is leveraging the growing sport.
How is AEG positioning the company in eSports?
From music festivals to professional sports, we consider ourselves the premiere live event promotors in the world. For us, we look at new arenas of opportunity. The numbers and opportunities for eSports are undeniable. We look at ourselves as a ‘first-mover’ and we’re really excited about it. With all of the venues we have around the world, it’s a perfect marriage for us with ESL.
You are based in Los Angeles, where you recently hosted the League of Legends World Championship. What are you learning from each event that you produce?
We really do get to see the difference in audiences. We have data on what the basketball fan, or hockey fan ‘looks like.’ Now we’re creating a whole new segment on what the eSports fan ‘looks like.’ We have data on everything from food and beverage to mobile apps and foot traffic, and how people are interacting with us. ESL is a lot more different because it’s multiple games, all weekend, all day long. League of Legends is like a Super Bowl. We have the unique opportunity of sitting in the middle and to be able to see all of this and learn from it to make smart, insightful decisions in the future.
How are you marketing differently toward the eSports audience?
We position the eSports fan as your cord cutter. They’re similar in a way to a traditional sports fan because they are just as passionate about their sport. They are spending money on tickets, travel and merchandise. The way they are not similar is how they consume media. You have a mobile-first audience that’s not watching traditional sports, or even big events like the Super Bowl. This allows AEG to extend its portfolio and say that ‘we can hit the whole gamut of age demographics.’ We have large deals with sponsors. Our biggest partners are Microsoft and Coca-Cola. For us, we’re able to introduce those brands to our eSports portfolio.
How do you work with non-endemic brands who are looking for an entry path into eSports?
Our first recommendation to them is ‘join us for an actual event to experience it.’ The numbers speak for themselves. Whether you’re at the NBA Finals or Coachella, it’s one of those things that when you walk through parking lot and into the doors, you get it. It is a super passionate audience. Your average chief marketing officer is not going to these kind of eSports events. The makeup in eSports is very different compared to the high-end marketing executives. So I say come and experience it with us and you’ll realize that the numbers are not too big to be true. Generally, when a brand comes to us and is passionate about it, it’s usually because their children or grandchildren are already passionate about gaming.
If you were speaking to a room filled with marketers, what would your advice be to them?
I can share the story only to an extent. I would advise them to speak to people in the demographic. Get five high school, or college-aged people into a room and ask them about the big players in the sport, and see what they say. Most CMOs don’t know who Faker is. You need to speak to fans who follow the players, and to the ones who even donate thousands of dollars to them through Twitch. Ask them, ‘You only make $1,000 a month––why are you donating $40 to this streamer?’ You will believe it as soon as you hear it straight out of their mouth. That’s when it starts to make sense. That’s why we’re beating on every door and saying ‘this is the next big thing.’
How do you see the space evolving in the immediate future?
The future of eSports is up in the air. I think that it’s a land grab right now. Everyone is wondering ‘do I go after the talent? Do I go after the team? Do I go after the developer? Who is the person that’s eventually going to own the IP rights? When mobile starts penetrating the market, what else is going to come up? What country is going to produce the Michael Jordan of eSports?’ It will be interesting to see how all of this develops.
Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSports on 2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.
Artificial intelligence—it’s the stuff of science fiction that is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. Beyond the initial “coolness” factor, however, there are some very real questions to be asked and challenges to overcome for today’s marketer and beyond. Brace yourself, it’s about to get nerdy.
Feeding Your AI
Access to mass amounts of information is what puts the “intelligence” in AI—parsing and crunching massive volumes of data from disparate sources and inputs to find relationships, connect dots and make predictions in ways that are not humanly possible.
Market research and advisory firm Ovum estimates that the big data market will grow to $9.4 billion by 2020, comprising 10 percent of the overall market for information management tooling.
Research by The Economist Intelligence Unit last April found that 37 percent of global marketing executives believe big data and AI were among the technologies they expected to have the biggest impact on marketing companies by 2020.
Johnny Five can’t get enough “input” in the film, Short Circuit. Source: TriStar Pictures
Ethics And Safety
Just because AI can do something, doesn’t necessarily mean it should. Machines are function-based, and thus may become dangerous or make mistakes as a means to a predetermined, programmable end. For example, a self-driving car might decide to strike a pedestrian to avoid a serious collision for its passenger, or while factory AI makes production more efficient, employment rates could plummet as fewer humans are required. Ethical dilemmas like these make experts wonder if implementing Isaac Asimov’s Three Rules Of Robotics may not be enough.
During a panel about AI ethics and education in San Francisco hosted by the Future of Life Institute, Illah Nourbakhsh, a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, said that educators need to teach computer science and robotics students a basic understanding of ethics.
This is because the technologies they are creating are so powerful that they “are actually changing society.” Citing the examples of drones used in warfare and AI technologies used in advertising, Nourbakhsh said that cutting-edge technology on a global scale is changing consumer behavior.
Although humans program AI-powered robots to accomplish a particular goal, these robots will typically make decisions on their own to reach the goal, explained Benjamin Kuipers, a computer science professor and AI researcher at the University of Michigan.
Having a basic understanding of ethics can help technologists better understand the potential ramifications of the AI-powered software and robotics they are creating, he explained.
A robot calculates the probability of saving one life over another in the film, i, Robot. Source: 20th Century Fox
Respecting Privacy
Let’s face it—AI assistants are pretty dang cool. Unfortunately for consumers, however, AI messages have to be unencrypted, which tears a big, gaping hole in privacy. Whenever you ask Siri, Google or Alexa where to eat or what the capital of Uruguay is, your query gets sent to a cloud server where it is analyzed before returning at ludicrous speed with an answer. These assistants amass a huge amount of personal interests, habits, visited places and preferences in order to make better choices and recommendations.
While these assistants are designed to begin listening at the sound of a “wake word”—”okay, Google,” for example—consumers put their privacy at risk by even owning a device armed with microphones that can be accessed by a third party.
“Now is the time for setting privacy expectations,” said Michelle Dennedy, chief privacy officer for Cisco and founding member of Voice Industry Privacy Group, a new organization designed to set voice privacy agendas for developers. “We don’t want to kill the innovation cycle, but I care about whether my TV is listening to me,” added Joyce Brocaglia of Alta Associates, an executive cybersecurity search firm that helped launch the group.
In the film, Minority Report, personalized advertisements appear that reveal John Anderson’s identity to others. Source: 20th Century Fox
Until computer scientists can invent “searchable encryption,” Google offers state-of-the art encryption within its Allo messaging app—but if you turn it on, your fancy AI assistant can’t function.
Starting with iOS 10, Apple is using Differential Privacy technology to help discover the usage patterns of a large number of users without compromising individual privacy, according to a statement given to Wired.
Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, stated in a press release that machine-learning algorithms able to understand personal data such as photos are being used only within the confines of a person’s iPhone, not on Apple’s cloud servers. “We believe you should have great features and great privacy,” he said.
There are other issues to consider as well, like whether data gathered for marketing could be subpoenaed by authorities for a criminal investigation or purchased by a third party.
AI is proving highly useful to human beings—especially marketers—and the industry is expected to grow significantly over the coming years.
Experts are hard at work finding solutions for these challenges as the technology becomes more integrated into life as we know it.
So far we’ve managed to avoid a robot uprising. It’s probably best to avoid any AI calling itself “Skynet” for now, though.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the first free-to-play game in the Final Fantasy franchise to be built from the ground up for mobile devices, finished a rather unexpected promotion last week. Popular singer and actress, Ariana Grande was featured as a playable character named “Dangerous Ariana.” The character could be added to players’ rosters by completing the “Dangerous Woman Tour” stage during the limited-time event. The promotion also featured a remixed version of Grande’s 2016 hit song, “Touch It.” The song, which was enhanced with a Final Fantasy style, played in the game’s background during the event.
The Final Fantasy Brave Exvius worldwide version producer, Hiroki Fujimoto, talked with [a]listdaily about how the partnership with the famed artist came together and how Grande is now an official part of the extensive universe.
Hiroki Fujimoto, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius worldwide version producer
How did Square Enix come to collaborate with Ariana Grande?
Historically, the Final Fantasy series has collaborated with a number of talented artists in various ways, including the production of theme songs. Ariana Grande is an extremely talented and popular artist with a strong worldwide following, and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (FFBE) decided to collaborate with her in an effort to both enrich and add depth to the game’s universe. Furthermore, FFBE is a game that anyone can easily pick up since it is free-to-play and for mobile devices. We would be extremely happy if this collaboration with Ariana, who is known worldwide, motivates those who have never played Final Fantasy to get to know FFBE.
How does Grande’s brand fit in with Brave Exvius’s look and feel?
We arranged her song “Touch It” so it would fit within the FFBE universe, and recorded the track with a full orchestra to create “Touch It—Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Remix“. The track plays as the battle theme of each of the stages for the in-game Ariana Grande event. Her powerful vocals provide a dramatic element that enliven the battles throughout the event. Furthermore, our new endeavor to incorporate her special pixel character in-game is very much in line with the Final Fantasy spirit of constantly taking on new challenges.
What could Grande’s character do in the game?
Ariana is represented in-game as a pixel character. Anyone could obtain her character by playing the “Dangerous Woman Tour” event. Thereafter, players could adventure with her by including her in their own party. She increases her party’s strength through support magic, and can also inflict damage on enemies with the power of song.
How much input did Grande have in designing her character?
Ariana reviewed the designs the development team produced of her character. She was extremely pleased with the flashy effects, the cute character animations, as well as the singing animations they made specifically for her character.
Are there other ways to obtain Grande’s character?
Players were only able to obtain Ariana’s character during this special event period. Once obtained, players can continue to use her in-game for all content.
Is Grande a Final Fantasy fan?
Ariana has a keen interest and love for Japanese culture which also encompasses Final Fantasy, among other things. She mentioned that she has been studying Japanese and wrote “daisuki” (love) in Japanese characters above her autograph. We were very surprised to see that she could write in Japanese.
How did you decide on “Touch It” as a song to remix and feature in the game?
After listening to Ariana’s songs, we felt the composition and tempo of “Touch It” would go well with the expansive universe that encompasses Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. This magnificent song initially starts quietly and builds up towards the end. Ariana’s wonderful voice and the new orchestral arrangement fully expresses FFBE’s dramatic story and continuously expanding world.
Mobile games now account for half of the entire global digital games market and revenue grew 18 percent over the year before. In case you’re wondering how much money that equates to, the mobile gaming market generated $40.6 billion in worldwide revenue—equal to all global box office sales during the same time period.
In fact, Americans spent five percent more year-over-year on mobile games in 2016 and that number will continue to rise, according to a new report called, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: The 2016 Mobile Games Market.” To further illustrate just how popular “gaming on the go” has become, the report by SuperData Research and Unity Technologies states that Americans play mobile games more often than they watch Netflix, Hulu or YouTube.
Comparing Apples To Robots
Android is the most popular platform for mobile games in every country except the US. Android players were worth eight times more than iOS in China, but for US developers, iOS users generated 45 percent more revenue. While Android gamers represent 78 percent of the global market, iOS continues to yield higher spending overall.
Meanwhile, Asia still represents by far the largest mobile games market in the world, producing $24.8 billion in revenue in 2016—while North America and Europe generated $6.9 billion and $5.7 billion respectively. Indonesia is showing increased potential for brands, experiencing a 192 percent increase in installs in 2016. Spenders also play 84 percent more than the average Indian player, SuperData noted, creating an “undeniable opportunity for developers.”
Source: SuperData Research
“Puzzling” Popularity
It’s probably not surprising to learn that 58 percent of gamers play puzzle games, compared to 40 percent who play action games and 26 percent who play simulation games. However, action games represent 30 percent of the share of game installs by genre, while puzzle games represent only 14 percent. While more players are downloading action titles, quick gameplay leads to lower retention—70 percent of the rate that puzzle games do.
A Strong Year For VR
Virtual reality (VR) revenue totaled $1.8 billion in 2016, with 6.3 million devices sold. The top-selling hardware was Samsung Gear VR with 4.5 million devices sold due to “a low barrier to entry as compared to high-price competitors like Oculus.” With nearly a million sales by the end of 2016, Sony’s PlayStation VR was the king of non-mobile headsets.
Restricted to the Pixel phone, Google Daydream headsets sold a little more than a quarter of a million units last year. That is about to change, SuperData predicts.
“2017 will be the year of Daydream,” Stephanie Llamas, VP of research and strategy at SuperData told [a]listdaily. “Samsung gained a healthy market share with its first-mover advantage, but as people upgrade their phones this year, many will be VR-compatible whether that’s what they are looking for or not. Google invested heavily in content from trusted studios and IP, and they’ve carefully planned this release so as to coincide with these new phones. Given recent Samsung phone malfunctions and the lack of universal compatibility for the Gear VR, Google is also benefiting from better PR and awareness.”
According to the report, users engaged with VR more often than they did with games, movies or TV last year. In addition, mobile VR users engaged in 48 sessions per month, while PC and console users engaged in 36 sessions per month. Average sessions were only around 10 minutes at a time across mobile and console/PC, something that SuperData predicts will change over the coming year.
“Short sessions largely have to do with physical and hardware constraints,” Llamas explained. “Aside from motion sickness, smartphones overheat after about a half hour. The most popular VR content also tends to require shorter time commitments, so developers are creating more content that is friendly to these constraints.”
It’s the circle of life . . . for gaming, anyway. Tabletop games gave way to video games, tabletop made a comeback, and now the rage is tabletop games you play in a video game—the best of both worlds. According to new findings from SuperData Research, the digital collectible card games (CCG) market will generate $1.4 billion in revenue worldwide in 2017. Video game brands, in particular, are playing to win with CCG spin-offs from existing franchises—creating a whole, new competitive gaming market in the digital space.
Growing The Collection
When you think of collectible card games, titles like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! come to mind, each with its own loyal fan base and international competitions. While players continue to collect physical cards, digital versions are on the rise like never before. In fact, digital players account for 61 percent of the CCG audience thanks to greater accessibility.
Blizzard currently dominates the digital CCG market with Hearthstone—earning $395 million worldwide in 2016. Blizzard’s wildly popular game launches a major new content pack roughly every four months, which lets players prepare to spend on new cards. As with traditional cards, digital CCGs naturally lend themselves to competition and a foot in the door of widespread eSports fame. Hearthstone’s 2016 world championships featured a $1 million prize pool, inspiring players to achieve greatness through their favorite pastime.
“Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft earned roughly four times as much as its closest competitor in 2016 and is forcing transformation on the digital CCG market,” said SuperData. However, Blizzard may have some major competition with Shadowverse (developed by Cygames),2016’s standout CCG that earned $100 million in just six months.
GWENT, based on CD Projekt’s The Witcher video game.
The digital CCG genre is most popular in Asia with an audience of 11.6 million, while North America has the largest physical player base at 9.1 million. SuperData predicts that between the ends of 2017 and 2020, worldwide digital CCG revenue will grow by a CAGR of four percent.
ESports Growth
CCGs are taking off as eSports, and even smaller publishers are putting on tournaments to appeal to their most devoted players, SuperData noted, which naturally leads to online streams. Eighty-six percent of worldwide digital CCG players watch online videos about CCGs and 59 percent of viewers tune in to learn about new strategies. Among US digital CCG players, 7.6 percent spend money on in-game content and are more likely to spend than players of other types of hardcore or midcore video games.
For Counterplay, developer of CCG game Duelyst, telling a compelling story and providing quality gameplay are more important than filling stadiums. The lore, alone, took two years to write—covering 30,000 years of in-game history. “We don’t consider ourselves an eSport, since that’s a very top-down approach and mentality that we don’t believe in,” Keith Lee, CEO of Counterplay told[a]listdaily. “We take a bottom-up approach by nurturing, growing, and supporting the needs and aspirations for all types of players in our community. If competitive participation grows month-to-month, then we’re already successful.”
Meanwhile, new CCGs are being introduced all the time—from collectible card elements in Clash Royale to all-out warfare in World of Tanks: Generals. CD Projekt’s GWENT (a card game taken from The Witcher 3) is currently in beta, as is Smite Rivals from Hi-Rez Studios. While today’s hottest digital card games are played on PC, the player landscape is beginning to change.
“I think mobile gamers are at the phase where they just really like playing games on their phones, while some are becoming more hardcore and want to play on a stage in front of people,” Brian Grayson, project lead for Smite Rivals told[a]listdaily. “That audience was smaller a year ago and it’s naturally growing. We don’t have to do anything because it will grow organically, but we can support it by creating more opportunities for people to compete. Creating small grassroots tournaments, giving people venues, and even giving tools within the game to play against their friend and cultivate that competitive atmosphere. I think that will help the most.”
Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSports on 2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.
The mobile gaming world had its lexicon expanded today with the release of Slang N’ Friendz for iOS and Android. The word game challenges players from around the world to bust out slang terms that are usually rejected by traditional word games.
Furthermore, the game is backed by hip hop artist, Ludacris (Christopher Bridges), who said in a press release: “In a time when so much of the world is divided, technology has the opportunity to bring us together. Slang N’ Friendz encourages users to connect, be friendly and identify what they have in common through language. It’s also a chance for different generations to learn about each other’s unique forms of communication and find ways to use language to bridge generation gaps.”
Edwin Benton, CEO, founder and creator of Slang N’ Friendz, spoke with [a]listdaily and describes it as “a reinvention of the word game.”
“It’s similar to traditional word games, but we allow you to play commonly used words that aren’t allowed in other games,” said Benton. “What we’ve done is add slang dictionaries from around the world, and instead of denying points, we give users bonus points for playing slang words.”
Benton further discussed the uniqueness of the game by stating that “the interesting thing about slang is that a lot of words are dual—in that they’re regular words and slang words. So, you may get bonus points when you think you’re playing a regular word like ‘cool.’ You really discover a whole new world of slang by playing the game. We don’t just have American slang, we have Australian, Canadian and UK slang. If you’re playing against another country and they play their slang word, you can click on it and get the definition. That’s how we’re using this game to unite people from different cultures.”
(Left) Edwin Benton, Slang N’ Friendz CEO, founder and creator. (Right) Hip hop artist, Ludacris (Christopher Bridges).
Uniting the world with slang is quite an undertaking, but Benton is up to the challenge. He details how the game will keep up with slang words, which are adopted in regions.
“We have a feature in the game where if you play a word and it’s not in our dictionary, you can suggest it,” said Benton. “That word comes to us and we research it. If it’s a real word, we add it to our database. We’re in the early phases of how we present slang words—right now we’re only showing the word’s definition, but eventually we’ll have more information like its origin, how it’s used in a sentence, and maybe a short GIF. We plan on taking slang words to another level.”
When asked whether outdated slang words would be removed from the game, Benton said: “No. Generally, different generations use the same slang words, and some words die out, but they’re still in slang history. My grandmother has slang words that we didn’t know about, but we’ve added them to the dictionary because we want older players to be recognized and for the younger generation to learn about what some of those slang words were. We don’t take out slang words, we only add ones that are in popular use.”
Benton then talked about how Ludacris became involved with the game.
“Ludacris is a wordie himself, and he plays various word games the same way I did before I created Slang N’ Friendz,” said Benton. “He realized the same problem I did—that there are words that we use that couldn’t be played. I was introduced to his manager by a friend of mine, and I told him what the game was about and that we were looking for a celebrity. Instantly, a light bulb went off, because the manager plays games with Ludacris all the time. He presented the idea to Ludacris, who loved it, and they were completely involved from then on.”
So how is Ludacris helping to promote the game? “Ludacris is the face of the game,” Benton said. “He’s going to tweet about it, he’s also done a commercial for the company, and we have access to his likeness and voice in the game. So, when you play certain words, he comes in and says certain things. He’s all the way integrated into Slang N’ Friendz, physically and digitally.”
Benton stated that bringing on a celebrity face is very beneficial for standing out in the mobile game space, and that Ludacris would be posting about the game to his 30+ million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. That’s in addition to the company’s own social media campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.
“There are a few different ways to stand out, but having a celebrity on board—who has the followers and can get the word out—was key for us,” said Benton. “It’s something we wanted to do straight out of the gate. Second to that is making the game different. There are plenty of word games out there, but ours is very unique. We also have the ability to add flags to your profile. Our goal is to connect everyone from around the world, so you can type in the name of your country or state and your flag will be represented on your [in-game] profile.”
With Ludacris being a wordie and gamer, the obvious question was whether or not players would one day have a chance to play against the music artist. “At some point, yes,” said Benton. “We are developing a system where you get to play against Ludacris. It will involve three different levels, and Ludacris will be the hard level. It’ll be an AI, but it will feature his likeness. We’re waiting to see what the response is before moving in that direction.”
But the big question is whether Ludacris will contribute to the game’s soundtrack. “We haven’t talked about that yet, but maybe so,” said Benton. “We have some cool music created by our in-house sound guy, and I’m sure—if things go the way we expect them to—we may be able to get a cool track from Ludacris onto the game.”
Slang N’ Friendz will monetize in various ways, including through traditional ads. “But we’ve done something unique to separate us from the competitors,” said Benton. “We’ve added customizable tile sets and backgrounds. Some games just have a gold tile, but you can change to five or six different colors of tile, with different backgrounds, in Slang N’ Friends. We can add to that continuously, and they’re bought using the in-game currency system, Slang Change.”
Benton also talked about whether the game will release for additional platforms, particularly Facebook Messenger.
“There has definitely been some talks, and we’re planning the messenger app version as we speak,” said Benton. “We just want to get off the ground first, see what our users want, and listen to them. We also have a physical game coming out under the Slang N’ Friends brand that I think users will be very excited about. Be on the lookout for that within the next five or six months.”
SuperData has released its latest findings for digital video game sales throughout the month of December 2016, and there’s good news for digital publishers . . . not so much for GameStop or Mario.
At Least They’re Easier To Move . . .
The age of showing off one’s massive video game cartridge or disc collection may inevitably come to a close for future generations, as consumers are buying more and more digital copies instead. Retail software sales in the US experienced its worst month in December in two decades—dropping 16 percent year-over-year and GameStop’s stock price fell 28 percent from its highest point in 2016.
Meanwhile, SuperData observed that console digital revenue in the US has increased by 16 percent year-over-year, capping off a record sales quarter in which total revenue hit a combined $1 billion for the first time. Gamers just had to have their favorite titles this past holiday, evidenced by an impressive 21 percent jump in total full game download units in December.
Pocket Monsters Are Faster Than Plumbers
Super Mario Run has been more of a brisk walk compared to Nintendo’s mobile predecessor, Pokémon GO. Although the game was downloaded a third of Pokémon GO‘s total downloads—partly attributed to its iOS-only launch—the $10 price tag didn’t do much to boost sales. Super Mario Run made less than a fifth of Pokémon‘stotal revenue when comparing launch months.
“With Super Mario Run, Nintendo shows it still doesn’t get the modern market,” SuperData observed in its report. “The exclusivity to the iOS platform (until March) contributed to a truncated launch. However, the combination of a relatively large $10 full game price tag in a largely free-to-play ecosystem, and no plans for microtransactions, indicates that Nintendo may still not be understanding the new market and audience.”
Let It Grow, Let It Grow, Let It Grow
The total digital market grew nine percent in December with almost every individual segment seeing year-over-year growth. Digital revenue is still dominated by the mobile segment, increasing 11 percent to its highest point ever. Free-to-play games continue to grow year-over-year as well, with a rise of seven percent.
Benton then talked about how Ludacris became involved with the game.
