Being Mike Bithell

Simon Byron, director of games/social, Premier

@byronicmanTiny disclaimer: I really like Mike and all this ribbing is meant affectionately

Session objective

To observe the phenomena known as ‘Mike Bithell’ and identify six rules for

being him

Introductions• Simon Byron:

– Director of games at Premier– 2,600 followers on Twitter

(@byronicman)– Co-authored two books on

videogames– Present One Life Left, a weekly

radio show about videogames– Videogames PR since 1994– Won CTW “PR exec of the year”

• Mike Bithell– Well, he’s Mike Bithell– 22,000 followers on Twitter

(@mikebithell)– Worked on a fair few

videogames– Wrote Thomas Was Alone, is

writing Volume– Is basically a child (I think he is

about 30 or something)– Won a fucking BAFTA

Mike is winning

Reasons to be Mike

Reasons to be Mike“...it will be well nigh impossible to reach an

audience unless you are at least as good at public relations and marketing as you are at

game development.”Greg Costikyan, game designer, author

GDC 2014

|A wider view• Good games aren’t guaranteed to sell• Review scores often don’t matter• The industry view is frequently at odds with the consumers’• People literally like free to play• It’s not who you know, it’s what you say

Time

Impo

rtan

ce

Metacritic:

61 per cent Xbox 360

57 per cent PS3

Metacritic:

60 per cent PS3

Metacritic:

No-one reviews

Facebook games

“[I’m] shit at coding, I'm not a very good programmer, I've

never had any training”

#1

Lesson one: Share it

#1

#2

Perfect opening

Brilliant introduction

Recognises we are lazy

Absolutely no fucking about

One Life Left exclusives!

Earliest example of an actual, Mike Bithell in the wild!

First ever mention of Thomas Was Alone!

#2 Lesson two: be opportunistic

#2b: Turn up for interviews. I could have been doing this talk about you.

#3

17 – 23rd June 2012

24th – 30th June 2012

24th – 30th June 2012

1st – 7th July 2012

#3: Lesson three: Be prepared

#4

“Mike Bithell” 12 months to 20/5

“Thomas Was Alone” 12 months to 20/5

“Godus” 12 months to 20/5

“Peter Molyneux” 12 months to 20/5“Peter Molyneux” NOT “Curiosity” 12 months to 20/5“Peter Molyneux“ and not “Curiosity” nor “Godus” 12 months to 20/5

A month in Tweets

A month in Tweets

A month in Tweets

A month in Tweets

A month in Tweets

#4 Create personality, but don’t

dominate

#5

#6

#6

Thank you

• Google• Twitter• Sysomos (paid)• Topsy

• Google Trends• Metacritic• Mobygames

Resources used in this talk: