Creative Mobile CEO Vladimir Funtikov said App2Top.ru about how the current 2017 year has passed for his company.
Vladimir FuntikovHow was 2017 for you?
At the beginning of the year, I chose several areas where I needed to keep my focus, and tried to stick to them. Improving communication has become such a priority within the CM.
Our structure gives a lot of autonomy to teams, which allows them to move faster, but creates prerequisites for isolation, double standards and the invention of bicycles.
The HR team already uses many tools for information exchange, from its own magazine to two full-fledged conferences, but some things are still in my area of responsibility.
From what I implemented in 2017, the most interesting thing is a monthly video blog in which I comment on the KPIs of the main projects and calculate the success index using a special formula. So far, I’m completely dissatisfied with how I’m doing, but retention and engagement rate are at a high level, so the idea itself is quite working.
Outside of the office, my main goal was a deal on a new joint project. Here everything was an order of magnitude more complicated than any previous process in which I participated: there were many dramatic situations and unexpected twists. But at the last moment everything turned out the right way. The caliber of the participants and our ambitions justify the difficulties we faced, and gray hair seems to be not visible.
As usual, working moments dominated everything else, and if I somehow coped with maintaining physical fitness, then in relationships with others and searching for life / work balance – an untilled field. Fortunately, the tickets I bought spontaneously in the spring forced me to disconnect from the routine at the end of the year and live a completely different life in Cuba, which I must definitely write about, but this is already the goal for 2018.
How was the year for the company?
For me, the main result is that we have strengthened the team and have not lost key players. We are sure that a good environment (people, processes, atmosphere) creates good products in the future, but the realization of this vision is a thorny path, so I put the rather trivial working aspect in the first place in importance.
In development, our efforts were more focused than before, as a result of which the two main products in operation (Nitro Nation and ZooCraft) grew by 50% and 300%, respectively. This is below our goals, but in both cases there is a profit and a growth trend.
ZooCraft
The X-Files game was announced, although most of the work was done back in 2016.
We have signed a lucrative contract for a new product for a top brand for 2018-2019.
Such joint projects are part of our long–term strategy; in addition to risk management, they force us to meet higher standards.
The X-Files: Deep State
We have created a rather interesting case of the publication of the Beholder paid game.
The main merit, of course, lies with the developer, but we confidently hit our revenue forecast, which is very important for publishing.
Despite all the positive, we still have a lot of unresolved issues that will not let us sleep peacefully, but this is a given for any company with ambitions.
What event of 2017 do you consider the most important for the industry?
I probably won’t be original if I highlight the insane commercial success of PUBG, an ultra-hardcore game with an unpronounceable name. Perhaps there is nothing fundamentally new in the mechanics or in the success story, but few people remained indifferent to the records broken in early access and the glorified masochism of the players.
What trends of the outgoing year would you note?
1) Increasing pressure on the gaming industry both from the regulatory authorities (GDPR) and from the community (a drama based on Star Wars: Battlefront II and several smaller events). To many developers, any interference seems a priori negative, but I welcome moderate regulation that will increase transparency in the relationship between players and developers of free-to-play games.
2) Hype on cryptocurrencies and ICO will affect all areas of business, including game dev. You can laugh at crypto-cats and traders from the plough as much as you like, but now there are changes in the mass consciousness that will leave their mark regardless of the BTC rate in a year.
3) Obsession with the battle royale, which will successfully hide the next hit mechanics from the eyes of most developers.
4) The continued cooling of interest in VR in the absence of technological leaps.
Name the third-party projects of this year that you liked the most.
Crash of Cars is a game I’ve been playing all year and will definitely continue. It has a rather problematic meta, but the basic gameplay is a balm for the soul of those who skipped classes for Twisted Metal 2.
PUBG – very strong emotions, comparable to playing airsoft + a huge number of WTF moments + the similarity of each session with a story that I want to retell.