Specialist
Former Head at Unity Technologies Inc
Agenda
- Key trends in the gaming platform and video games industry
- Rise of multi-platform gaming and online cross connectivity
- Micro transactions and in-app purchases
- Video game development and rise of streaming platforms such as Google Stadia
- Impact of digital updates on video game life cycles
Questions
1.
What is your updated perspective on the shifts developing across the video game industry? What noteworthy trends are you aware of and how should we interpret them?
2.
What is your assessment of the TAM for mobile vs console and PC moving forward? Especially as cross platform becomes more and more relevant. How should we think about that factoring into the rise of mobile vs PC?
3.
There has been a shift in the demographic mix to more female heavy in the last few years, especially with more mobile and casual gaming. How does the higher female demographic in mobile impact publisher strategy and monetisation?
4.
What do you expect from the next generation or iteration of consoles? What can PlayStation and Xbox do to stave off becoming obsolete?
5.
Can you give us an update on how gamer perceptions is trending across microtransactions? Do you have any recent data points on what percentage of gamers make in-app purchases?
6.
What is the broader pushback on in-game monetisation, especially in the console and PC level? What was the lesson learned from the Battlefront pushback on EA? How are publishers avoiding pushback from gamers?
7.
To what extent could in-game advertising become a significant alternative monetisation model to microtransactions? What precedence is there from mobile for console and PC?
8.
What strategies are publishers using to optimise microtransactions, the in-app purchases revenue channel? To what extent is data utilised? How should we think about the cadence of new purchases? How do publishers try to calibrate microtransactions vs thinking about downloadable content and other forms of content?
9.
Major publishers are now talking about subscription services. Which part of the gaming community do you think these most appeal to? What features stand out, is the hook the early access to new content or the breadth of content, all you can eat, or is something else driving it? I’m thinking about EA Access and other services.
10.
When we think about things like Apple Arcade coming out, how successful can subscription be in the absence of streaming? And then post-streaming which is more subscription friendly?
11.
What are your early thoughts on Stadia? How might it change the landscape and what are the impediments to growth for Stadia, given requirements from an internet latency, bandwidth standpoint? Can the game performance address the highest end of hard-core gamers?
12.
How is cross platform changing the developer-publisher landscape? Specifically, how does it potentially change the ROI and the R&D efficiency for games?
13.
What does it take to run a successful studio that maybe the investment community might not appreciate?
14.
You mentioned how content is a big driver for subscription. When the landscape shifts to streaming with Stadia, xCloud and other offerings, will there be a war for content? If yes, what combinations will feel most natural to you?
15.
Where do you think gamer expectations are on frequency and materiality of post-launch content? How extended a lifecycle is reasonable to expect from microtransaction and downloadable content releases, for mobile and console?
16.
How should we think about new gameplay innovations? Why do you think Battle Royale was a hit, is it the game or is it something else? What do you think about auto battlers?
17.
What do you expect for demand fluctuations on either side of the next console cycle? As games are designed for the next generation, is cross-generational game compatibility – playing a game on PS4 to PS5 – now the industry norm or are there natural limitations?
18.
What features of the video game industry are best or least understood by those outside it, including investors? Which industry sources do you think calibrate success?
19.
How do you think M&A will evolve in 2019-20? Many of the major publishers are acquiring smaller mobile publishers to increase their mobile presence. What are the next avenues being considered? Which targets do you identify as particularly interesting?
20.
Is there a large learning curve to change engines if you’re a studio, or is there a lock-in to consider? How should we think about the strategy if publishers start using Amazon’s engine?
