Session: Live Events & The Multiplatform Future - Brendan Fraher, GameRefinery, a Liftoff company

[Music] [Music] [Music] I would like to uh kick off our next monetizer track with uh by introducing uh Brendan from uh LOF a uh a game uh game Refinery company uh sorry game Refinery a liftoff company got that the wrong way around didn't I uh and uh brendon's going to be talking about Live Events and the multiplatform future so one of the main competition um areas for developers and big small is for player

engagement uh live events are the real Battlefield uh we're all chasing the same audience and then we need to think well what gets the players there and then of course what what keeps them there uh what we need for Success here is um not more fire Firepower or not more content uh what we need is intelligence and we can go in with more intelligence so we can Target our Market to the right people at the right time time uh I'm going to share with you a couple of examples uh that'll give you hopefully a Competitive Edge let's say on this battlefield okay a little bit let's say about uh game Refinery uh we work with all of the tier one developers uh worldwide uh and Beyond uh all of the data you see here is ours and has all been used in live environments uh and also uh we're also mainly known let's say globally for uh mobile but we're for the insights but

we're also multiplatform so now we're also tracking the top Xbox games Playstation games Steam games and stuff like that and why well it's because all of these games and all of these platforms all have live games and obviously the the number one let's say test lab let's say for live games let's say is mobile I mean it's one of the main things let's say that keeps let's say um the the games alive primarily let's say you know for the progression vectors let's say a monetization but what's really interesting thing is that audiences are being trained to expect a lot more impactful engaging uh content and that's where we're seeing like a lot of let's say uh reduction let's say in um in usage or or user time let's say in the bigger games because they're mainly going you know to mobile because it's a lot it's it's a lot more um engaging so the harsh reality is if you don't have the right framework you're really going to find it hard to make it let's say on the on the market so uh what we can do is is uh do

what the Japanese say which is it's he it's okay to be heavily influenced by what's working so we would advise let's say all developers definitely do your market research look at let's say what's let's say working on the market and then optimize what's also Happening Here is is that audiences are being trained to expect a level of Engagement uh as one developer said uh an empty game is like going from 3D movies let's say you know to you know to silent movies yes the the the this the frame of the experience is there but there's no engagement the entertainment let's say isn't there uh it's going to be tougher and tougher so we need to make sure that we're building the right event Frameworks for the right audiences uh HD they're not on the same level as most mobile games let's say in terms of Frameworks but they're definitely starting to move there move there oops um for example we give the example here let's say of this let's say um Big developer who recently um owns now uh

80% of the mobile market since the since the um acquisition let's say of of Activision Blizzard King and they all have let's say uh Studios that are creating live service games so even though many mobile developers would think well you know Microsoft and Xbox that ecosystem it's not actually going to be let's say a competitor of ours um but imagine xcloud power touch enabl game games on phones powered by best-in-class login bonuses win streaks and stuff like that um that it's definitely going to be let's say something that's going to be there let's say in competition let's say for audiences time because that's the main thing is that the audience web is big and I guess as the panel was saying earlier as well right there there there are multiple different genres and there's multiple different let's say regions and different types and stuff like that but then there is let's say that spread in audiences and stuff so maybe I watch you know Fallout let's say

on U Amazon Prime and then suddenly I'm playing let's say fallout shelter let's say on mobile and I'm playing let's say Fallout let's say on on uh Xbox let's say as well completely different platforms and stuff but people audien is looking let's you know for the same let's say uh experience uh you also have to make sure let's say that your framework is attractive enough to engage and entertain the people let's say at the right time uh we're always trying to optimize for the greatest chance of success uh many companies are doing it in a vacuum um but what developers will have to do is look for a wider set of um data now I'm definitely dating myself here right but there's a very famous let's say Ad let's say by Nike I think goodness is about 25 years ago now we have all of these soccer players looking going on this mission to get this football and the reason why they're looking for it and so special is cuz it's rounder right and that was the whole point was that when developers are talking about let's say their live event framework is that how can we optimiz how

can we make it even better just keep making it let's say rounder as much as possible and that's the best live event structure it's perfect for the Right audience at the right time but as we know uh Mobile gaming and even let's say gaming let's say uh Live Events very much a moving Target all of these developers looking at let's say new opportunity spaces let's say and so on um I'll give you another example that you really do need to keep checking the space all the time um we need to start staying away from Red oceans here's an example um this big developer um who we were working with was wondering why at the start of the week their whole player engagement let's it was very Bleak well their biggest rival had everything going on on Monday but it didn't realized they just thought that they were just having that form of let's a am framework so and the thing is they had the same player base even though it was let's say different genes so they could have made great great offers could have a great structure and so on but it was just the wrong event framework at

the wrong time but they weren't aware of what was happening with their big biggest uh competitor so and if they knew that then they wouldn't have to go um head-to-head so big lesson here is understand the opp the opportunity space see what see let's say what the competition is doing and then either optimize or invert okay so let's have a couple of uh insights so we'll take you through a couple of examples uh from puzzle and midcore that I hope you find helpful uh puzzle games get a little bit short shifted um which blows my mind because it's the biggest piece of business and it's the biggest genre in the whole games industry uh one of the interesting things about it is is that at the audience it's primar predominantly female right not let's say like 9010 or whatever right but excuse let's say a little bit more H we all know let's say women enjoy gaming uh they also like competition right but when it's fr the right way they don't like toxic toxicity

they don't want toxic competition and so on and then if you're able to find the right event framework and you're able to keep that audience engaged connected and enjoying the experience when it's the biggest um genre in let's say all of gaming even talking let's say about PC let's say mobile let's say as well that is a very very power very very powerful thing but I guess what we need to do is we need to take a look what we really need to consider if we want to be competitive uh here's an aggregated view of live events that you need to have in your game to be competitive in the match tree space right so there is an an enormous amount let's say going on in these be it let's say you know just from you know monetization let's say your competitive things this even runs let's you know to two slides that even going into let's you know to different boosts and stuff like this there's an awful lot Happening Here much more let's say Than People realize let's say especially in the C in the Casual space

but then there's always constant new ideas let's say being generated driving engagement right and one of the main things here is is that competition events are something which is really rising up let's say in the Casual match Stree Match Tree space again something which is sort of seen let's say where it's like more of a casual even let's say dictionary definition let's say um definition of of casual let's say audience let's say predominantly female let's say as well and they are spending a lot of time let's say uncompetitive right uh Guild pvps uh very is very much let's say a weekend thing uh 40% of all Match Match Tree games that they have this feature now uh Friday to Sunday um Cadence and then they are also backed up by uh Guild uh tasks right so always let's say not only do you have the events but you always have new new let's say tasks coming in all the time keeping let's say the audience let's say engaged and then on the rest of the week you

have the competitive events you know the one the one V ones and stuff like that again keeping it let's say fresh and so on right uh this is definitely let's say this is what it is let's say at the moment highly likely I would say let's say next quarter it's going to be quite quite let's say different because of course the bigger let's say um developers start let's say optimizing and again moving away let's say you know from let's say what it is let's see that the that that the competition is doing and also in puzzle and Casual uh casual care players are very social as well right they compete let's say and cooperate let's say together so let's take a look at a couple of social event let's say structures so uh one of the newest interesting let's say social events is um the partner events you're seeing this let's say in all of the big ones let's say on the Monopoly go uh Royal match let's say and so on I got a couple of interesting let's say data points let's say on this and these new metas keep the game fresh on a creative side and motivate players to come in and let's say play um that what we're hearing let's say you know from let's say from scopely is is that

they're very happy to hear that especially with the with the partner events is that PE players say I can play Monopoly go and I can go and bake let's say with friends right um they're also the most impactful event types right so anytime there's a partner event let's say going on revenues let's say go up in addition uh and then what you'd see is they're they're they kind of let's say break up the week maybe a little little bit as well right again you can use them let's say like as different let's say t pole let's say events let's say insiden you know the um the the event calendars uh dragon nest another one again very similar to the same concept let's say of Monopoly go um uh you can play on play Pinko let's say on it and then the idea is is that give something fresh away let's you know from the core you know that that players that you can go and actually partner let's say with other let's say Players let's say as well

uh project makeover did the same thing as well but we in let's say camping with friends this is just recently let's say um uh recently let's say um added uh definitely the last let's say ones let's say to do it we're going to be really interesting to see how they do let's you know the event let's say framework are going to let's say copy let's say one to one let's say what it is let's say that the others let's say are doing let's say as well okay let's take a look at uh midcore maybe look at a couple of different interesting EX examples let's say from here right so no surprise mainly a male audience right uh definitely got a different attitude to uh competition uh they want a lot more competition uh progression let's say definitely let's say one of the biggest let's say things let's say on it uh if you look at all of the must must have uh events let's say in Shooters you know battle pass let's say for the um for the for the customization let's say and expression and then of course all of the other different let's say PVP modes let's say as well

uh but again lots of PVP but it's the interplay between these events that's the key they need to be able to support each other so midcore players they want to win they want to they want to level up but they also want to they also want to um have skins I always joke was it that the biggest fashion game on the market let's say at the moment people think oh is a prod product is a project makeover was it the Kim Kardashian it's like no it's Call of Duty mobile right with the amount of skins and weapon skins and emotes and things like that midcore players love Expressions right and then Call of Duty is the biggest fashion game let's say on the planet as one of my team members said uh Call of Duty has got the Wardrobe bigger than Barbie and then but with that the Frameworks are all connected and the key is the progression experience XP is King but then you also got to keep the fashion going let's say as well right but uh if we go and take a look let's say about what the main war zone let's

say on that is it's really all the content now this is what the last two weeks of Call of Duty mobile uh look like um just a huge amount let's say of limited time offers right and that's the other thing right get the fomo let's say on there that you need to start coming in you need to start let's say playing for the progression let's say for those skins let's say as well and then one of the main let's say questions let's say on developers Minds is that there's another Call of Duty let's say on the market let's say as well right Call of Duty war zone mobile where the progression it has a shared progression between the HD version and um the mobile right uh definitely way way behind let's say Call of Duty let's say mobile let's say um in terms of let's say uh the the re the revenue in the on on the downloads and then if you take a look at the events details let's say between them right an enormous difference right and it's one of the reasons let's say why players are actually referring to play a Call of

Duty mobile because yeah maybe I'll just go in and I'll play War Zone a little bit I'll just kind of let's say grind a bit from my skins but the real let's say um enjoyment let's say comes let's say from playing let's say uh mobile um and the monetization model inside in it it's got the it's it's got let's say the the bundles and stuff like that but it turns out let's say the motivator let's say for um for for for let's say the the the the mikor players is they want you know the gotes and stuff like that right so uh key takeaways um is make sure you check what's working on the market very very important don't work let's say in a vacuum there are many huge companies with a lot of let's say clever people working out let's say you know different let's say um and optimizing let's say event strategies you can absolutely let's say be heavily influenced let's say by them give the market what it is that it wants look to all the genres not just your direct competitors right uh a good example would be yeah if we have a casino game well look to Casual it's the

same audience right if you have an RPG game look to see let's say what strategy games are doing it's the same audience they're already being exposed to all of these right you can learn always learn let's say from best of breed I can't stress this highly enough start thinking of your live op strategy like now even I know let's say in this region there's a lot of let's say startups people are looking let's say you know at at new games and Concepts concentrate on the live event strategy now right if you don't have the right framework you're going to find out that's a really really difficult right I know a lot of a lot of companies here are talking about like you know user acquisition and stuff like that yeah incredibly important but when you get them in you want to keep them inside as well that's the engagement right very important incorporate social elements again look to see let's say what are the best to breed social Elements which ones are the most let's say impactful at this time and be heavily influenced let's say by them and then inconnect events for further engagement very very important as well right no event should be let's say like a a by off by itself it should

all let's say be let's say connected let's say and supported let's say by other ones so if I'm playing let's say a partner event I should be let's say creating let's say or generating some currency that allows me to do something let's say in the core game or if maybe there's a l let's say in the core game maybe there's a couple of other minu games let's say that I can play that'll bring me back into the core let's say as well and then it's okay to reuse your resources right in different parts let's say of your games and an event so like in in in the west you will see that in February right around Valentine's Day a lot of the events let's say have a pink feeling directly after that they turn green because of St Patrick's Day um you're going to find let's say lots of orange and purple let's say in for Halloween uh white and red let's say for Christmas and stuff like that you'll probably see that they're all reskins but the most important thing is that they're the event structures that work so that's a quick fire let's say for me I think we got let's say two minutes left I'm happy to answer any questions let's say from the audience yeah so we have a couple minutes uh probably have

time for one one question does anyone have any questions in the audience come on don't be shy Craig you've always got something interesting to say do you have a question Craig or even Craig doesn't have a question you you might have a question no no we don't have a question uh yeah so uh oh there's one over here yeah uh hi this is Ali har uh from UMX Studio we are gaming company here actually uh game ref it's really amazing we read your articles guys so um I'm interesting if you guys do some research in this region yet or not yeah yeah okay yep so um so I would say that every region definitely has its differences right but what I would definitely go to say is

or definitely say for people to look at if you look at all of let's say the top charts a lot of like you're going to have your Monopoly goals here right you're going to have your play RS games and stuff like that right if you look at let's say the top let's say 20 they are kind of let's say the same let's say all over which again are you know educating and training let's say the audience for their expectation and then of course when you get out of that then you get into let's say a lot more let's say um specific Regional stuff you know like as the as the you know the previous panelists were say maybe not a lot of gambling games over here not a lot of casino and stuff like that you know because of let's say you know Regional let's say you know things and so on but there's a different you know other different types I was on the plane over I saw a lot of people saying playing Cricket mobile games let's say on the plane right definitely we didn't see that let's say a lot let's say in northern Europe and stuff like that but those are just let's say I would say little flavors let's say and so on definitely look what are the most popular ones let's say throughout let's say the world right and those are the ones that are influencing let's say like you know the the audience let's say expectation and so on brilliant can we

get a round of applause for Brendan please thank you for having me [Music] [Music] [Music]