Square Enix Montreal on the hard learnings going from console to mobile success

so I might as gotta go so I'm basically I want to talk about barbarian I might be exaggerating just a little bit just to a dramatic effect but I come from console game as many developers I come from was old games and we're talking about their journey from making console games actually making a passport yet um so but me I wonder looking once I came rather University and had a chance to are getting myself cut you off I started working there 98 spent 14 years there from junior producer to associate to senior to make significant sir lately working a lot with with licensed project and last my lasting project was bringing back the Far Cry lights and photography but had a chance to start history of a job so I had a chance to go and start this new adventure and I'm in 2012 15 we were working on hit been six ARCA we're

building is big gigantic Triple A student Montreal to take over today famously over the next hitman game we were working again all can do Polly developers bringing this new hit back and expiration castle you might remember I told 13 it was little little backlash we're basically none of the games from the square nice portfolio achieved their objective and this got us to reflect at the whole studio as to what do we doing what everyone the group is working on third-person action-adventure console games no one was working on mobile no was worth working on online pc and different business models so we decided to go all in and take over back by then it was sabotage so what can we do with our brands are untethered obviously from their game hit men go head men's life and learn Rothko so it was a pretty good you that's putting it so why would stalk

is is is this our journey is a are idealist approach to making mobile games because honestly we were yeah kazoo playing console developer so mobiles in the right should be a breeze should be a breeze because we're bringing it offers we are amazing developers they all have 12 15 20 years experience in making video games we don't gamers we know what they like you know how they play they love our brands they're super passionate they're willing to put $60 us 40 great on a console game they all have mold home I mean everyone has a business phone and you know what you just need to not be evil all right the console games they don't like timers they don't like up I paywalls you don't like to get a purchase thing they don't like it to be forced to pay you don't like to be

forced to play online I mean so we just need to avoid this and will succeed right obviously not right obviously it's a as we always say um we're amazing we're smart people but we cannot achieve at a level that we don't know about so we came in with a very idealist approach and I want to talk about all of it when we learned on the white right as i said i'm adding a little bit dramatic effect one that blew this way makes a better birthday but just quick note about studio so we went again from game just developers to developer publisher so take care of everything we bring own games to market we imagine life so was pretty interesting learning for us and in these are just a few things that again we understood all the way we don't like to come in knowing a little bit more about that the first one is pretty simple all right HR 101 get people that believe in what you're doing so I love

in general your Montreal is the home of some of the biggest console present world to Assassin's Creed rainbow six do sex Mass Effect I mean all these titles of development young and most of the developers we all come from that background we all come from that we're boarding teams of gazillion million people that are delivering the biggest game in a mark so the developers that we had in the studio at that point on coming from that fat mindset we're coming with that approach and and many of them didn't adjust or didn't yeah we're not able to come into that that little agile and exotic world that was move on so our first thing actually is that honestly even if you have the best developers of the world if they don't believe in what you do it over especially in the mobile space when we have team of 10 12 people if you have one or two that aren't into it it'll

show right it's super funny facebook reminded me two weeks ago I was working in a presentation all by the way do you remember three years ago this is the studio we had the studio is still in development is still in destruction amazing team 12 plus year experience I mean all these people are still heavily working in the industry I'll have super big roles in concert with route 46 line yeah actually I myself the two producers that I start still with us came from there the Korean guys behind Paco and turkey burgers are behind in that slapper everyone else are working elsewhere again all great developers but it didn't quite fit what would I do second point is yeah you need to focus and do what you do best I mean it's not everyone that has all their skill maxed

out when they start the adventure so as a studio we had strengths with so good so that's why we focus on on controls our game playing on amazing part on getting the most out of the engine and not only these devices so that's why actually when you look at it been going hitman sniper or death that was a force by the way he'd met celebra started at the same moment acid metal but along the way we decided to say you know what we can do that pretty plaything right through everyone can do it I'm gonna force smart you can do this too soft lunch later we kind of went back to say you know what let's focus on what we do we repackage everything we have into makin em for you took six weeks actually but we have a really good success in a previous base with ms library where in the free-to-play space we not fb different responders so my first yeah

focus on what you do best will learn all the way right and we all learn i do it and we might know all the theory you might be read all the blog's we might go to all these conferences and understands i work but until you go through it and i'm still need you to journey you only get me eighty percent you don't get a full extent waiting cricket it's obviously same audience right I mean these console guys that they're usually paid sixty dollars per game why wouldn't they pay five dollars for great mobile game right super simple obviously not right even if we work with the three million Facebook fans and we have even if we have amazing communities social channels that are talking about our brands we are very very very far in terms of downloads from the number of console games that were sold on in and again game goes really well we're heavily profitable but still

we're far from that number and it's the same pattern for la república versus tomb raider I mean people didn't convert but okay 50 years and what about space is like that consumer behavior is a little bit different than from Console mobile a good example is something I wanted to share with you i hope you see as well we are related servings to wit with some more players to better understand how to discover the game where did we come from is something I want to show you guys it's an average of our dreams it's an average of the three games but what comes out is that so discovery is more than fifty percent from the guarantee people discovering the games in the store and again we're gaining we're making these games on super hardcore friends we have because of the brands because it's grannies we have probably over index and impress we probably only got a lot more or coverage

and a lot more people are you impressed but still it's only twenty four percent and I can tell you that hitman sniper came out a good morning don't release a game a core game before e3 or else had any coverage all right we had that to him regarding thank you but that's about it so yeah what about between ten and fifteen percent social channels this is a YouTube videos ready and stuff like that and others in there we have obviously oh yeah corporate news on actually works yeah 1.5 per second oh that actually coming to begin because of that and harasses is very seriously but I just fine interesting to share because it's uh obviously what number we're expecting again we're expecting this to be a lot of it again clue this only um you can't buy private ring when you're in console space you can work with Sony

and Microsoft you plan ahead this is the kind of coverage we want to have one work together on the bundle so that at e3 will be on your conference and then we'll work on this campaign together and so you know Gotye featuring obviously of an apple Jennifer your new editors choice you know what you probably know on thursday mr. refreshes i hope we're deck the hope for Derek and I'm also saying it to the defect that you can buy featuring because these are the numbers of actual clicks that we got on the app in the first so what if breakfast rain gave us again if we go back to numbers from previous life look at if we say that 51-percent of people discovered a game for the App Store let's say let's say that half of these place and again I think it's a lot more that half nice place come from people that how much what kind of campaign would give us 5.5 million flakes on her apt

how much would that cost and honestly that I don't think we can faithful so it's just interesting on to your showcase that and again I think there's a obviously the brand is probably more appealing this site on this side so that's why we have a little more place but you haven't then you got any PR so I think there's also a big a reason why you have that yet we were a little bit judgmental of Windows obviously window Ruth was mom but I had a recommended we actually for us what we're going to give me so it's fairly simple but we're making 15 an eight percent of our revenues every month on ominous this ecosystem they've been great partners they want to have content so they're really eager to bushwick content and a new Windows 10 platform is actually the new portal it's fun to work with if you

shift on Windows 8 it was around this Windows 10 is actually but one thing don't forget Xbox achievements players in the window system they love their achievement and if you don't put them in don't tell every group all right something I need to talk about my just super interesting in terms of stats so we're looking we've got the number four on the best of 2014 for his mango a number 140 are dropped off and was interesting to see that all right the compound press coverage that we got out of the game under here with Mark Rothko but it when it gave us because it was amazing yeah hit man go last year when released two years ago getting that dad yeah that additional featuring from given a year number four but still got a 2.2 % x 2.2 the number of dollars and we got the previous month just for that that week of featuring the

lara croft goes oh yeah a little bit more but work with 0 is that the that that number one spot or that the credibility of being a game of the year gave us three times a revenue that we got on hit pangoro previous year again when there's some somewhat similar feature and in terms of use a lot about use but that featuring gave us an additional two million views only during death that that week of game you're featuring so think about it i got got 11 million views in the first week in two million when we regularly future cooking be here launch is important that launch Windows 10 the critical bar / so it's something that normal is that how can we better off device for four o'clock window so and that's how bad we need time so I can ramble for a while because I kind of like just what we do so yeah again the best people

focus on what you do best and all this is yeah but the only thing I can tell you is that we love kids we're all gamers do something that you could even have fun making it it'll show I mean I'm a game where you're gamers we all love playing great games so I hope I i somewhat I wasn't doing for 40 minutes and that you have a few things that you got out of it but yeah it's possible to do great console game bring great hustle renta mobile it's possible to actually make money with premium it's not easy and it made a romances i sold the internet we did but it's really fun so i encourage anyone that has a chance to work with on these Hebrides it's interesting to follow up on that the previous talks about but walking death

because there's so much are infinite thank you very much we were just a little girl time but we've got a proof one question and there's a lot of interesting stuff that's just anybody your question Square this is quite it's releasing I be it's very visible the three mins dimensionally no questions I'll be around anyway there anyway okay fair enough well Walker's head people are people at I simply okay um next up on take over would still turn TV I be we've talked about a big game I'm dealer successful brands don't have to be massive game of these a proxy pouring out earth stars or moving license is done and now to see if I hope the branch room on the young is gonna share success the rights of children segment so please welcome home in stages