Which platforms should games be developed for, as well as which genre, setting and monetization to choose for a future hit, were discussed at a round table at the Higher School of Business Informatics by representatives of the Russian gaming industry.
The round table was held on April 12. It was conducted by Vyacheslav Utochkin, producer of the professional retraining program in the direction of “creating games” at the Higher School of Business Informatics. We offer a brief transcript of the conversation.
Which platform does it make sense to go to now?
Sergey Orlovsky, CEO of Nival
The choice of platform depends on how much money you have.
Small budgets (several hundred thousand dollars) – it is necessary to look at the mobile market and mobile VR. On the latter, however, it is still difficult to earn.
I wouldn’t go to the social market right now. It’s unclear what will happen with Flash technology there. How long will she live? WebGL technology, in turn, has not yet flown on the web. So it turns out that the social market is currently going through a transitional technological period.
If the budgets are decent, then you can make games for PC and consoles.
Consoles, of course, will not work right away. Our console market is small compared to other gaming segments in Russia. If it is the main one in the USA, then it is in fourth place here.
One of the consequences is that it is difficult to make console games in our country. Few people played them. Plus, the process of getting devkits on consoles is quite complicated. You need to already have experience and preferably a track record.
PC is a great platform.
Konstantin Sakhnov, Director of Rocket Jump Game Design Department
If we talk about platforms, our company is actively looking at the mobile market.
We all understand that if you have a certain budget, you can start development within this budget. For mobile games, this budget will be one of the most modest.
An example that I always like to give: my former colleague took and made a clone of the game 2048, called it 2048 cities. As a result, I received 1.5 million organic downloads in two months. The game was monetized on video ads. The money he received may not be very big, but it’s not bad for an indie developer. Now he has left from Mail.Ru Group to the village, makes other games there.
Vladimir Piskunov, founder of Bitbox Studio
I think PC is the best platform.
We all see today what products come out on it and how much they earn.
As for budgets, if you live on doshiraki, hundreds of thousands of dollars may be enough to develop a PC game. About $500 thousand was enough for us to launch the alpha version of Life is Feudal, which paid off in the first 49 hours of sales.
Therefore, I believe that if you invest in development wisely, do not alter anything, do not rebuild [at late stages], then you can shoot very successfully on a PC.
This is especially true for projects with an original idea. The organics in the Steam store are very strong. With a successful jump on the wave, success can wait. If you have developed a clone, then, most likely, nothing awaits you on Steam.
Marina Goncharova, Director of the publishing direction 101HR
The choice of platform depends, among other things, on the size of the team. If it is small, for example, consists of three people, then it is clear that you are limited in technology and scale of development. You will not have the working resources to create the same Call of Duty
Therefore, in this case, I would recommend looking at the mobile market.
In any case, it all depends on ambitions, on investments, on whether or not you are ready to enter the gaming market yourself.
If you know the answers to these questions, then you can already decide on platforms. In any case, if the game is good, then you can earn money on any platform.
I also want to note that the browser games market is doing well now, despite the fact that a couple of years ago many people said that it was dead. He definitely feels great in Russia
Ilya Flaks, founder of Fibrum
The mobile market may seem more interesting compared to others, but if someone thinks that it is possible to make a product and earn a lot of dollars in mobile, then this is not so.
They still need a lot of money. According to my ideas, it will take at least $500 thousand – $1 million to make a normal product. It will take a year to develop.
After this year, everything will not fly at once. Then the game needs to be finalized, analyzed, implemented a soft launch, spend another half a million dollars on advertising, since there is a lot of competition there, traffic is getting more expensive, it is difficult to buy it effectively.
If you are thinking about making a mobile game or a mobile game for VR, then of course I will say that the latter should be done.
Yes, there is no crazy money on mobile VR yet, but this niche is quite free today, it is at the nascent stage, it’s really possible to create the next Uber, Clash of Clans or Crossy Road for virtual reality in three months.
Pyotr Kharitonov, founder of the company “Rocket”
I don’t recommend looking at VR. Let everything settle down there first. I would look at mobile, social, browser platforms.
What genres of games should be developed now?
Sergey Orlovsky, CEO of Nival
In our country, it makes sense to make strategic games.
I believe that the same studios can make both role-playing games and strategies. And the same players play both.
And I see a cycle here. There is a fashion for role-playing games, then it is replaced by a fashion for strategic games, then back. A cycle of approximately 10 years.
The strategies had a long lull. And when mobile platforms appeared, it became clear to me that it was worth waiting for the revival of strategies. They are convenient to play on mobile devices.
And it happened. If you look at the main tops, then they just have strategies: all sorts of Game of War, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale.
But it probably doesn’t make sense to do classic RTS, since the genre has evolved into MOBA. It’s not worth doing as it was before.
Konstantin Sakhnov, Director of Rocket Jump Game Design Department
The choice of genre depends on the market you are going to enter.
If, for example, we are talking about the American market, where many of us want to sell our products, then everything is simple: I open the box office top, look at what projects were there a year or two ago, which are relevant now.
Here there are genres going away, like three-in-a-row. There was their peak, and now only some of them remain in the top, there is no big boom anymore. It was the same with clones of Clash of Clans, Heroes Charge, their number in the total share is decreasing.
There are more stable genres, like slots. There are quite a lot of games in this genre on the American market that enter the local box office top. But there may be a question of large marketing budgets.
There are other stable mobile genres – strategies, for example. I’m talking broadly about this genre here. These are not necessarily clones of clashes, there are many different ones. I also believe in Battler mechanics.
Vladimir Piskunov, founder of Bitbox Studio
The sandbox seems to me the most promising genre today. It is now very relevant on PC, but it may well go to other platforms. Moreover, she is already there. We all understand perfectly well that Minecraft and Terraria are actively played both on consoles and on mobile devices.
Marina Goncharova, Director of the publishing direction 101HR
Role-playing games continue to be the most popular genres among browser games. Other genres are also going well. I’m talking about strategies.
Which setting to choose for the game?
Sergey Orlovsky, CEO of Nival
Popular settings are those that, on the one hand, are recognizable, on the other, give off some kind of novelty. They should be based on existing references, on what is popular in the mass media, or what we are used to.
Even if we take fantasy, they are often built on references referring to the real world. But at the same time there must be a turn that brings something new, unexpected. Marvel has implemented this very well by placing its superheroes in the real world.
Fantasy is better not to do with us. Our fantasy does not go in the West.
It’s good to make historical games in Russia. There are references, historians are inexpensive, there is a massive patriotic treatment of the population.
Konstantin Sakhnov, Director of Rocket Jump Game Design Department
When choosing a setting, it makes sense to start from the genre. If you want to make shooters, take reality. A role-playing game or strategy – fantasy, some kind of the Middle Ages.
In 2014, we conducted a study of the Russian audience, found that a lot of people like such settings as World War II, tanks. This is a very popular setting with us.
Vladimir Piskunov, founder of Bitbox Studio
Realistic fantasy is the new zombies, a new very popular trend, the popularity of which was also promoted by the success of “Game of Thrones”.
What kind of gaming specialists are lacking in gaming teams today?
Sergey Orlovsky, CEO of Nival
The most popular profession is always a game designer. And a producer. But these are such very close, if not identical entities today. It is very difficult to grow them.
I’m talking here about a person who has vision, who knows how to keep focus and knows how to fix, who is able to keep the project so that it does not spread out, so that it comes out on time.
Marketers are also in demand today.
Promotion technologies are constantly changing. And there you need to constantly keep your finger on the pulse. We need marketers who correctly calculate game metrics. Nothing more is needed from them.
Marina Goncharova, Director of the publishing direction 101HR
Strong PM’s who know well how to manage projects are very much needed today. Also now in the industry, it seems to me, good HR is required. It would seem that it is not a gaming profession, but it is relevant today, because creative people in the gaming industry require a special approach.
What kind of monetization should you choose for your game today?
Sergey Orlovsky, CEO of Nival
Ideologically, I am a supporter of buy-to-play. Unfortunately, the market cannot accept this model everywhere. There is another extreme – hard free-to-play (pay-to-win), which loses its appeal.
The best option is what Riot Games does. In League of Legends, they sell not balanced things that affect persistent progression, but content that gives alternative ways to achieve the goal [cosmetics]. The only problem is low LTV: such games can live only due to high virality. If you are sure that your game will have a very high virality, it makes sense to look at this model.
It’s better not to release paid games on VR right now. We have collected more than half a million downloads on the free VR game. This is a very high indicator. On a paid game for VR, something like $ 10 thousand. It’s not serious. So there’s nothing to monetize on VR right now. You won’t earn anything anyway. It is better to recruit an audience now, which you will then cover.
Ilya Flaks, founder of Fibrum
Freemium is going well on VR. This is when you don’t pay for the download, but after a certain time or after passing a certain content, you are asked to pay to continue playing. This is much more effective than when you’re just trying to distribute a paid game.
I also want to note that if 10 months ago the average VR toy earned $10-50 a day, then three months ago at Christmas, the incomes of some could reach $700-$1000 a day.
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The full version of the round table can be found in the three videos below. Just be careful – it’s almost three hours here.