Been a bit absent on the job this week with Adweek's DMC+E and Digital Media Wire's Games and Mobile Forum conferences going on. 3 days of good solid networking and content.
I feel like I've been neglecting the blog, so I've snuck out to a nearby Borders to share some thoughts on the session so far.
It's interesting how gaming and mobile are lumped together. Could be because they're separately not big enough (although the data clearly suggests otherwise) or (more likely) because they just dovetail so neatly together.
First some general thoughts. Only 10% of attendees today were from the agency/marketer communities. That's clearly not a good percentage and perhaps it just shows a combination of lack of awareness, interest and/or understanding in the space.
John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment conservatively puts the online gaming industry at about $1.5bn and predicts it will triple within 3-4 years.
He also emphasized the global magnitude of the industry - both from the perspective of how countries like China or Korea are immersed in the space (one game in China typically has 700,000 gamers playing online AT THE SAME TIME) as well as the fact that online naturally = global and therefore, it is not uncommon to be sharing an experience with a truly international community.
He spent a good time talking about emerging business models, from the ability to order Pizza Hut pizza directly from the EverQuest game to the astonishing world of secondary markets in the form of selling virtual goods and services. More interesting is that Sony not only recognizes this perfect economic model of trading swords, experience points or characters, but will set up a specific offering to facilitate it.
Currently it's all going on through eBay and it remains to be seen whether that will go away or not because of the more official channel being created.
fyi - Smedley estimates this secondary market at about $1bn in the next 2-3 years. IP on roids baby!
Smedley also focused on two other points:
1) Digital distribution - currently the majority of expansion pack sales are digital and file sizes in the range of 3-5 GIG's are already available.
2) Micropayments - obvious incremental revenue stream
3) Multiplatform gaming (as opposed to multiplayer) which is pretty sublime - think playing the same game on your PSP, Mobile phone and PC in a seamless manner
Smedley emphasized the need for new kinds of games to meet the needs of new kinds of gamers and highlighted more tie-ins to popular culture, collaborate problem solving and chat.
All in all, a very stimulating discussion about what I firmly believe is one of the biggest growth areas AND threats to the television model (content, commercials, the workzzzz)
jJ
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