winning the war: how to build a great game company presentation at casual connect seattle 2012

WINNING THE WAR:

HOW TO BUILD A GREAT

SOCIAL GAME

COMPANYLloyd Melnick

Agenda

Background

Success in social gaming

How to succeed

The Melnick Conundrum

Summary and QA

BACKGROUND

Lloyd Melnick

fiveonenine games

More stars than the Miami Heat

★ Ex-Studio Head of EA’s North Carolina office

★ Member founding management team at Motricity and Appia

★ Team lead at RIM’s NC studio

★ 20 year veteran of IBM/Microsoft/Citrix

★ GM Europe and LATAM at Disney/Playdom

★ Gardens of Time

★ Asheron’s Call 1 & 2

★ Shutter Island

★ City of Wonder

★ Dungeons & Dragons Online

★ Madden 3DS

★ Nascar Kart Racing Wii

★ Woodland Heroes

★ Lord of the Rings Online

Publishing and Developing

Launching publishing program this week

Campaign Story launches next month

SUCCESS IN SOCIAL GAMES

The odds

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25 % of games

succeed

Success is

Exit

Profitability

Survival

10

Investors see success as

Exit ROI

11

Investors criteria

ScalableHow

quickly you can grow

Unique Why youWhat is different

Valuation Potential return

12

If institutional investors pass

Organic

Friends and family

Strategics

IP holders

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HOW TO SUCCEED

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LTV

Monetization

Retention

Engagement

Virality

15

Monetization

Free-to-play

Part of the design

Support high-value customers

16

Retention and engagement

17

Virality

Hooks Reasons

Collaborative or PvP

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THE MELNICK CONUNDRUM

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Diversification versus Focus

Focus Diversification

20

Portfolio theory

21

Multiple titles

Reducing beta

Asset Allocation

Diversification RebalancingRegular

Investing

Platform diversification

Facebook

iOS

Android

Win 8

22

Focus

Competitive landscape

Free-to-play

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SUMMARY

Odds against you

Improve odds

Make great products

Focus and diversify

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Feel free to contact anytime

Lloyd.melnick@fiveoneninegames.com

http://lloydmelnick.com/

@LloydMelnick

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