The Puck Stops Here!

I like this post and SR&ED program which helps to business in Canada

i managed to park myself next to the West Hall hot...

2009-03-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

i managed to park myself next to the West Hall hotspot long enough to blog all five days:

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/tag/gdc-09/

i have one more follow-up post to do. That basically sums up my experience this year.

Here's an addendum to your well-advised comfy shoe...

2009-03-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here's an addendum to your well-advised comfy shoes tip: if you've never been to the show, check the map when planning your schedule. The conference is split into two rather large buildings. Bouncing from one summit to the other may look clever on paper, but be prepared for a haul if there's a ten minute break between two session in two different buildings.

Email sent - awaiting return transmission.

2009-03-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Email sent - awaiting return transmission.

Why ... how opportune! i happen to have a spicy-h...

2009-03-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Why ... how opportune! i happen to have a spicy-hot press release sitting right in front of me. But your Blogger ID isn't working for me. Hit me up here:

info (the at symbol) untoldentertainment (dot) com

i'll be happy to send over our release! ... And thanks!

The press (most press) won't care - and can't care...

2009-03-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

The press (most press) won't care - and can't care - unless you tell us you're there. I spend hours on the internet researching, looking for Canadian studios or tie-ins, and I have never had your studio's name come up. I didn't know your studio existed until I saw it on this blog. However - now that we know of each other's existence, I can (and have) bookmarked your site, and you can send me your press releases for publication.

Good luck at GDC, one year I will make it to San Francisco, but for this year I will content myself with GDC-Canada in Vancouver.

This issue came up during the Canadian government'...

2009-03-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

This issue came up during the Canadian government's GDC prep camp a few weeks ago. Nathalie Bergeron from High Road Communications (a PR firm) asked the group about their plans for speaking to the press at the conference. There was dead silence.

i chimed in and asked "why would the press care about anything i'm doing? My game is too small, and my company is too new."

i heard someone from the Montreal side of the telecast say "typical Canadian attitude".

i confess, that moment changed my mind about marketing my company. i, for one, am shy about promotion because it feels like boasting. Maybe that IS a Canadian attitude? i don't know. But being so small, and with the chips stacked against me, i now plan to do as much boasting/marketing/shouting from the rooftops as possible to squeeze as much possible love out of this world as i can for our upcoming game launch!

We've just received a comment on this topic from J...

2009-02-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

We've just received a comment on this topic from Jason Della Rocca, the long-time executive director of the the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). Please note that these are his personal thoughts, and do not represent those of the IGDA:

Scarberia brings up a lot of interesting points in his(?) analysis of the current state of the game business, but first reaction I have is, “Who’s business are we talking about exactly?”

Thinking of the game industry as a complex ecosystem is a good one, but often the lions of business neglect to recognize the full spectrum of cohabitants within the same environment. To say that many of the big companies in the game industry are hurting right now is a no brainer. However, that’s a limited point of view that fails to recognize that games, as a medium, are more vibrant and interesting and broader than they have ever been – and, in fact, there are tremendous business opportunities for those willing and able to grab at them.

Scarberia seems to lament over how the business was so easy back in the day. Well sure, the good old days are over and now we’ve got to really earn it. Sticking with the ecosystem metaphor, it is indeed survival of the fittest. And, in the fast changing game industry, fitness is more directly correlated to the ability to adapt than corporate might per se.

A recent analysis from DFC looked at the profitability of publishers across the West, Japan and the rest of Asia. In summary, the Western publishers are growing revenue, but profitability has been taking a nose dive. Conversely, publishers in Asia (Korea in particular) who are more service oriented may not be grossing as much, but are maintaining decent profitability. In part, this is due to their abandonment of the old ways of doing business. Or more precisely, they never bothered to adopt the old ways to begin with.

Korean publishers, as we all know, were quick to exploit online subscription models and leverage game café play, largely as a way to jump over the piracy hurdle. Now they are pioneering the micro-transaction model (aka “free-2-play”). And, it is through these innovations in business and distribution models that tremendous new value has been created. (No disrespect to Korean developers, but from a design/content point of view, they’ve essentially been cloning the West.) As game biz veteran Mitch Lasky recently echoed at the Game Business Law Summit, Western publishers have not given innovation in business/distribution models much attention.

And why would they? The EAs of the world are the entrenched players – the lions at the top of the food chain – that are now trapped by their own success. This dilemma is not unique the game industry, but is one that is faced by all successful businesses in a changing marketplace. In order to embrace new ideas fully, they must abandon their current revenue streams (e.g., selling discs in boxes at retail, or selling shooters to young males, etc). Thus, a dilemma between what works today and what will work tomorrow is created, along with the ensuing aversion to the risk of switching. To reiterate, it is the very success that got EA (and the other big publishers) to where it is, that is now holding it back. In short, it is a species that is overly optimized for the old ecosystem, and is now struggling to adapt.

And so, it is often left to the new players – or the existing ones that are most adaptable – to dive into the chaos and succeed. Again, largely by pioneering the business and distribution side of things.

Bigger is not always better, and blindly following the tech curve for tech’s sake is not the answer anymore (refer to the anemic horsepower of the Wii or the dominance of Flash online). True talent will always find a market – not because they deserve to, but because they’ve earned it.

Much like the failings of the music business to hold onto their monopoly of pressing CDs and pushing them to retailers, I’m not much interested in maintaining the status quo within the game “business”. The music “business” (i.e., selling CDs at retail) may be on its last gasps, but music on the whole is booming and exploding with countless opportunities for talented artists. If the current economic climate forces the game ecosystem to evolve a little more rapidly than some would hope for, well too bad. On the whole, I see that as a good thing for the evolution of games.

More thoughts from Scott...

Two items i...

2009-02-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

More thoughts from Scott...

Two items in the FTC Report require a little further discussion.

First, the Report establishes the principle that any "material" change in privacy policies requires affirmative consent. Hmmm, sounds like a basic principle of contract law? Well, the FTC thinks so:

"It is fundamental FTC law and policy that companies must deliver in promises they make to consumers about how their information is collected, used and shared. An important corollary is that a company cannot use data in a manner that is materially different from promises the company made when it collected the data without first obtaining the consumer's consent. Otherwise, the promise has no meaning."

Accordingly, the principles require notice and consent for a "material" change, if is to be applied retroactively. That is, if a web site collects information for one purpose it cannot use the information it collected for a materially different purpose, without obtaining actual consent. Notably, the principles do not require the same level of notice and consent for prospective changes. But, while the principles may not directly require assent to a change of terms, case law may. For example, See Douglas v Talk America, No. 06-75424 (9th Cir. July 18, 2007), in which the 9th Circuit rejected an attempt by Talk America to enforce revised contract terms using the standard "if you use the service after we post the new terms you are bound" approach. The point being: if you want to change the terms of the contract, you better make darn sure that your customers know about the change and consent.

Second, the focus of the new principles is on "second party", not "first party or "intra-site" behavioral advertising. According to the FTC, "first-party behavioral advertising practices are more likely to be consistent with consumer expectations, and less likely to lead to consumer harm, than practices involving the sharing of data with third parties or across multiple websites." As a result, the principles apply only to the later – which would include sharing data between and among members of an ad network and may include data sharing for such purposes between affiliated companies. As above, this is not the end of the story. As the Report notes, companies "engaged in first party practices may still be required to provide reasonable security for the consumer data it collects and maintains. Additionally, depending upon the specific circumstances, a company may be precluded from using previously collected data in a way that conflicts with the privacy promises in effect at the time the company collected the data." In other words, regardless of your status as a first or second party, changing the rules after the data is collected will require compliance with the principles.

that's great

2009-02-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

that's great

In a previous life, I was a junior executive at an...

2009-01-28T09:31:00.000-08:00

In a previous life, I was a junior executive at an upstart, er, start-up game publisher. Wait... lemme add that I'm of the female persuasion. We enjoyed wild success with an early multimedia title thanks to tons of pre-release promotion and the phenomenal relationships I worked very hard to build with magazine publishers and editors...all of which was nearly completely undone when our CEO dressed down the editor of a major magazine in front of god and everybody at Comdex (when comdex still meant something to the gaming industry). It's a long story, but in a nutshell, our CEO was wrong about something he thought was supposed to happen, and rather than asking ME about it, shot off his mouth on the show floor. At dinner that night (In Caesar's rotunda) I lit into him. His excuse was that he thought he was protecting me. I believe my, uhm, rampage ended with "I'm not your daughter, I'm not your wife. I'm the person you hired to make people know about and like our company, and now I have to start MY job from scratch."

I don't know that the paternal affectation really permeated the games industry at the time(he was actually pretty old compared to other CEOs, so it might have just been a generational thing), and I know it doesn't now, but after he successfully lost the company due to a squabble with our developers, I moved to a different industry. It probably wasn't a conscious effort, but I didn't try very hard to stay in games, either.

However, I still have pretty strong ties to the industry via a number of avenues, and have observed an executive trend that's kind'a sad, really. Unfortunately, the worst example of that observation happens to be a woman, one of the few female game company executives, and that makes me feel the need to respond here.

Ridiculous financial success led to the "hollywood-ization" of what used to be an incredibly fun, humble, and passionate industry, drawing ambitious folks out of the woodwork. ...Folks who craved the "easy" route to a jet-set lifestyle of expense accounts and hot tub meetings.

It's so incredibly easy to claim to be a die-hard gamer - especially when you want to suckle at the teat of a swollen cash cow. What’s a little more challenging is keeping in mind gaming’s roots – the garage companies, college roommates creating future blockbusters between mid-terms – and how gravely important respect for those roots and the grandfathers of the gaming industry is. This is an industry with a real and palpable soul. Boards of Directors, NASDAQ, and executives from other industries (who think they can teach a thing or two to the gamers) have been trying to suck that soul away.

What’s beautiful is that the “NEXT BIG THING” keeps coming not from the giants (both of the industry and wanna-be giants sleazing into the industry) but from humble folks with a little idea. The giants that the wanna-be’s seek so desperately to emulate can only rehash, repackage, reword and ultimately destroy the jewels ‘real’ gamers mine.

My hope for the future of the industry is this: the economic downturn will separate the wheat from the chaff; Those with a passion for games will endure, while those with a passion for glitter will find someone else to annoy. The “girls in gaming” thing? Bah, that’ll sort itself out too, without the aid of gold-bracelet-clad fist pounding. Our education systems have been working hard to tell girls that math is fun, and it’s okay to say that out loud.

Out.

"Yah, I just said men can’t make great games for w...

2009-01-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

"Yah, I just said men can’t make great games for women."

If this is true, then why, as a man do I care? This statement says to me,"Don't bother even trying to make games for women. Don't bother making games that appeal to both either because game mechanics are, apparently, not universal." So does that make "rock, paper, scissors" a boy game or a girl game? If this is true then I must assume that women can't make great games for men either. So are you arguing for segregation in the games industry?

I've read some very useful articles discussing the preferences that women have in games. They leave you with tangible information you can use. A statement like "men can’t make great games for women", beside implying a very simplistic concept of game design, doesn't leave me with anything useful. It tells me that the only people who can sort through this are women and that as a man, I'm neither responsible nor accountable for the lack of games that appeal to women.

I think it would be great to see more women in the...

2009-01-27T13:39:00.000-08:00

I think it would be great to see more women in the games industry. And I do believe the earlier females get into games and technology, the more likely they'll want to pursue a career in it.

Before becoming a female game designer, I went to school for Computer Science and later on went to Vancouver Film School for game design. Both were very male dominated, and I was the only female in the Game design course (as I am the only female game designer at the company I work for).

If I hadn't been exposed to games and showed such an interest in computers at such an early age, I wouldn't have pursued my career in the games industry. Up until I started to research schools out West, I didn't even know of the positions available to work for in the games industry asides from being a programmer.

Knowledge is key here-- and if we want younger generations of females to want to work within the games industry, we must share what positions they can aspire for, and what they can study in order to get that position.

I don't think technology is the only factor as to why women don't get into the console game market-- I think generally the lack of knowledge of positions in the industry is also a factor. Women can be producers, testers, project managers, designers, artists (among other positions)-- many positions which won't deal with having a very heavy technical background.

It could be true that there are more women in the casual games market because the technology barrier is less than that of the console market. Also, perhaps simply that's the market they want to make games for. Personally, I want to design and work on great games-- which ever platform that may be.

And I hope that's what younger women who want to get into the industry realize-- that if they work hard enough they too can create great games alongside the many males within the games industry.

i'll never forget one of my first meetings when i ...

2009-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

i'll never forget one of my first meetings when i joined the web Interactive team at a large Canadian media conglomerate. One of the poor women you describe was there. She was hamepered by the glass ceiling, trapped in her lacklustre position as the head of marketing with a huge department of people and a six-figure salary. (My heart nearly broke).

i was brand new, and though i had no real experience to bring to bear on the conversation, i was trying to speak her language - trying be involved by referencing my hands-on understanding of the company's kid/tween demographic. i started talking about my experiences as an instructor at a board of education-run technology camp for kids and tweens, where i had taught game design.

The woman interrupted me, and mockingly said "tch - you went to COMPUTER camp?" And then, ten years after i thought the ordeal of high school had ended, the pretty and popular yes-men working in her marketing entourage all laughed at me. The board room may as well have been a schoolyard.

Nerds have historically gravitated to technology. An by "nerds", i mean male social misfits, who were often teased and mocked at school - boys who didn't interface well with people, and who found it easier to push code or pixels around a computer terminal. And now that their chosen pasttime has become popular and profitable, everyone wants a piece. Forget the fact that popular girls and athletic boys used their love of technology to further ridicule nerds - now that we're all adults and everyone wants to make a buck, the kids who were too cool for video games in the 80's want in.

i know i'm painting broad strokes here. It's almost comically stereotypical. But these stereotypes are accurate! i lived them.

i don't buy your access argument. The kids i knew in high school - girls and boys alike - all had equal access to the same technology. They just chose to be interested in other things, whether for personal or social reasons. We may be raising a new generation where it's more acceptable for girls to study technology (i'm raising my two girls to be very tech-savvy), but please don't begrudge male nerds growing up in the 70's and 80's, who were long considered losers at life, their victory.

Professional sports are extremely popular and profitable, but i don't hear anyone saying "we need more nerds in football."

The $0.99 devaluation problem in the App Store is ...

2009-01-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

The $0.99 devaluation problem in the App Store is very much the iPresent, not the iPast. It has us wondering if we'll be able to make any iMoney whatsoever with our upcoming App Store venture.

Were you pressured to kick it all off with a quote...

2009-01-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Were you pressured to kick it all off with a quote from a Canadian? ;)

The fan ranks on the Joystiq boards and others are already muttering about the "death of hardcore gaming". i'm not sure why this comes as such a surprise. Every year, and with every new system, the expectations of gamers just grew and grew and grew. Each new blockbuster game had to be twice the scope, twice the length, as the last one. Yet game prices have only gone up $10 with this last generation of consoles. Is the solution to double the cost of games and pick development up at the same rate? i hope not.

i'm a lifelong gamer, and i run my own studio (Untold Entertainment Inc.). i have two young daughters now and, to use a requisite Canadianism, i can't be arsed to plod through an 80 hour game any more. It's cold comfort for AAA developers, but smaller, quicker hits of fun are what i seek to play and seek to create.

The last great example of this kind of quick hit was Wurdle on the iPhone:

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2009/01/05/wurdle-and-the-brilliance-of-done/

- Ryan

The Puck Stops Here!

I like this post and SR&ED program which helps to business in Canada

i managed to park myself next to the West Hall hot...

Here's an addendum to your well-advised comfy shoe...

Email sent - awaiting return transmission.

Why ... how opportune! i happen to have a spicy-h...

The press (most press) won't care - and can't care...

This issue came up during the Canadian government'...

We've just received a comment on this topic from J...

More thoughts from Scott...Two items i...

that's great

In a previous life, I was a junior executive at an...

"Yah, I just said men can’t make great games for w...

I think it would be great to see more women in the...

i'll never forget one of my first meetings when i ...

The $0.99 devaluation problem in the App Store is ...

Were you pressured to kick it all off with a quote...

More thoughts from Scott...

Two items i...