Okay Geek Farm
LA Games Conference 2010 Round Up
Ricardo Trejo
Hey gang, I was absent from the T3chH3lp HQ (our own little batcave, if you will) a couple of days last week because I was down in the city of Angles, Los Angeles, California, attending this year’s LA Games Conference. And while it’s no E3, it was an insightful look into what analysts and insiders are making of today’s current trends and patterns happening with the video games industry. And while before it was all about console sales and how to get those into the homes of more people, now it’s all about how can to facilitate and keep a hold of all the influx of new users the “gaming” structure as a whole has been able to garner. Senior Vice Presidents, General Managers, Research consultants, all of these guys for the big companies such as EA, Activision Blizzard, and Sony were on hand to try to put a definition as to what exactly constitutes a hit nowadays, and which blockbuster ideas are one hit wonders or permanent staples.
So first of all, what is the LA Games Conference?
Literally, it’s a bunch of business types all wearing suits, sitting in a big conference room and listening to insiders talk about what the next big money maker is going to be. I mean, yeah, they spoke about what’s happening right now in the industry and what’s selling like hotcakes at the moment, but overall it felt much like Dorothy did at the end of the Wizard of OZ. When you pull back the curtain on all those awesome graphics, addicting gameplay, and complex storylines, you have people who contemplate these things in terms of dollar signs on day to day basis. Now I’m not naive, and I’m not slow; I do know that everything is business, and the world goes round, but I guess I was just in a “say it ain’t so” kind of situation. Seeing analysts and big shots talk numbers, figures, business models, consumers, and units, well, it was a little overwhelming and boring to say the least. It was overwhelming not because it was a shocker in any form, but because most of gamers on the outside have absolutely no idea that this stuff is going on. That the stuff that’s coming up in the near future is a lot different than the stuff they’re expecting. And maybe this is why I feel that the conference was a good and a bad experience for me. I got a rare chance to get a better angle at the big picture of the industry, but I also realized that it’s not all about creativity, developers, and the gamers themselves. I may got next year, I may not - but what I learned was that I think I’m a better fit for E3 than this business insider talk.
What was discussed?
Personally to me, it felt as if there was a big buzz to the whole thing; sorta like something huge was coming over the horizon, something so big that it would change everything, however, no one could really put their finger on just what that change would be. Well, actually there were a couple thing mentioned in specifics but not much was ever delved into in detail. The entire event mostly dealt with the new arrival of the casual market and how to cater to them, how to continue to keep the hardcore appeased, and what changes would be happening both socially and technology wise that would change the face of gaming as a whole. And while cold hard opinions were rarely said, it was a comforting thought to know that the people behind these talks weren’t just guys and gals in nice get-ups, but rather people well versed in how the entire gaming culture works. These guys don’t just talk the talk, but they walk the walk and know their customers - but it’s what they don’t know that mystifies them.
Social Gaming
An interesting stat in which I was unaware of was made by Nanea Reeves, SVP and COO of Global Online at Electronic Arts (EA), in which the second biggest demographic of gamers, next to teen boys to twenty something year old men, are women 35 years old and older. Pogo.com, and likened sites are seen as a woman’s time to herself, since long dead are the days in which Moms sat down and knitted sweaters. Now they invest time into things like Peggle, Farmville, and Bejeweled, taking time away from responsibilities to just get their “game” on. Though, I do know that a lot of hardcore players will roll their eyes at this, but like it or not, this new class of casual gaming, or as the industry puts it, “social gaming”, is making up a big piece of the video game pie. And not only that, but Michael Pachter, Research Analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, and well known gaming analyst seen on Gametrailers.com, says that since gaming has become a socially accepted thing, younger girls are being exposed to the activity now, creating a whole new audience of players for the next generation. Even his own daughters play what some would call “core titles”, such as Mario Galaxy and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Though, he did mention that there are some genres and titles in which girls are not even thought of when they are being developed or marketed; the First Person Shooter genre to be specific - though, we’ve started seeing a bit of a backlash from the female species on that now as well within the gaming community.
The industry is keying in on how to expand, keep, and cater to its new audience of players. And for that reason Farmville was a big topic, even being mentioned by Eric Goldberg, Managing Director of Crossover Technologies, as the future of gaming due to its easy and instantly accessibility, free to play model, and its social aspects that can keep a player sucked into the experience without having to worry about skill or high scores. Though, that’s not to say that hardcore gaming will just fall over and go away. As noted within one of the talks, World of Warcraft is the most profitable gaming property on the planet right now, reassuring anyone who had any doubts that complex games would ever fizzle out. Not to mention that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ended up making more money than all social gaming combined last year.
Digital vs. Retail
A talk in which I was looking forward to the entire day was one called Digital vs. Packaged Goods - Adapt or Die? , which most interestingly featured GameStop Digital Venture’s General Manager, Chris Petrovic, on stage. I really wanted to know his point of view on how the company would survive despite the continued strides the industry itself has been making to move away from retail, offering more and more digital downloads. But to my dismay not a lot of specifics or even opinions were made about the entire topic at all. Instead there was just a whole lot of chitter chatter on what retail dying means and what consumers want, blah blah blah. Though, I did find curious what Alex St. John said, President and Chief Technology officer of hi5.com, about the console wars. His opinion was that as eyes move away from one primary monitor, and people are able to own more than a single screen, whether it be with a computer, a smartphone, or iPad, the consoles will become less and less of a viable option for people looking for their gaming fix. He even hypothesized that this would be the final console cycle, even going as far as stating that none of the big three companies have said a thing about developing and releasing a new next gen system. I can prove him wrong simply by pasting these stories: here, here, and here; and although I’m aware those articles talk more about how each company is satisfied with their current product, they don’t explicitly comment that any future hardware is an impossibility or even a bad idea. So I’m not sure what Mr. St. John is smoking, but he clearly is drinking a little too much from the Social Gaming aspect’s side of things.
And when I caught up with Chris Petrovic of Gamestop after the session, his outlook was much more solid and defined. He went on to explain that although we may not see a new console generation anytime soon, we will get future hardware upgrades that give extended life to the current systems. “Maybe one day there’ll be an add-on for the Xbox 360 and you’ll take it to one of our stores. And after we take it into the back and work a little magic, you’ll have yourself a new console - Maybe something like that.” It’s an interesting idea to say the least, but he also added his confidence in the console wars continuing beyond this generation, stating that with 50% of total sales at Gamestop, we’ll see that pattern continue when everyone is able to own a 360 or a PS3. When I asked him “what about the Wii?”, he wasn’t all that excited about it; saying that it’s seen more as a toy than an actual gaming platform, which could translate into lack of sales as its popularity declines.
Before I let him go, I asked him one final question: “Will we ever see a time when we will sit on our couches at midnight of a game launch and just download it digitally to our consoles?” His response was something I had anticipated. “Yes, but it would have to happen with our help. We’d be involved somehow. Also, I think there’s a certain feeling to going to a midnight launch that you just can’t get when you’re at home waiting for something to install.”
Some interesting stuff
In a study done by USC, about 1 in 4 are interested in home 3D gaming, and 1 in 5 say that playing video in 3D would be their primary reason for purchasing a 3DTV.
A question was asked very briefly but not answered: Facebook may not last forever, so where do games like Farmville go next?
In the interview with the Executive Vice President of the Global Digital Media Group at Marvel, Ira Rubenstein, it was made clear that Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s XBLA and PSN port was a crucial point in deciding whether to go forward or not with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Sales of the games online last summer would dictate whether gamers would get the highly demanded title.
During the State of the Industry keynote, Sony’s Senior Vice President of Business Development at SCEA, Phil Rosenberg, kept using every opportunity he had to plug the Sony and Playstation brand; so much so that moderator, Eric Goldberg, had to ask him to answer a question without using either, which he slyly did so yet still implied heavily on the PS3. Oh, you gotta love’em.
Chris Petrovic, General Manager of Gamestop’s Digital Ventures, made more sense than anyone involved in the Digital Goods vs. Retail segment. Which I found particularly interesting considering that a lot of gamers find disdain with the big gaming chain.
Michael Pachter was one of the few who gave clear cut answers, specifics, and details - even saying that he could do so because he had no big ties to any of the major companies involved.
