During the discussion, moderated by Martin Rae, President of the Academy Of Interactive Arts, four major venture capitalists spoke about their vision of the future of the gaming industry. This is told by GamesIndustry.
Digi-Capital Managing Director Tim Merel, Signia Ventures Partner Sunny Dhillon, WestSummit Capital Management Managing Partner Raymond Yang and Madison Sandhill Capital Managing Director Lars Buttler took part in the discussion.
According to Buttler, the market is changing at a cosmic speed. Today it is impossible to innovate exclusively within your own company. Instead, it is necessary to apply a dynamic approach involving cooperation with a variety of startups. He also noted that now the market is ready to accept investors with different backgrounds.
Tim Merel from Digi-Capital admitted that his company focused on the mobile market. Mobile programs are cheaper, so investors can invest in more companies and expand their portfolio. Signia Ventures is also ready to invest in augmented reality (Mind Pirate).
Yang from WestSummit Capital Management noted that he sees a great future for large portals distributing programs for smartphones in China. According to him, 80% of traffic is controlled by three such resources. Tim Merel added that many Chinese companies now want to go beyond the borders of the local market, while local players and publishers are hungry for Western entertainment.
According to Merel, China and South Korea have a huge advantage over Western markets. The monetization of games in these countries is carried out much faster than in the West. This is largely due to the fact that there is no old console business in the country.