- The World of Entertainment Redefined

Let the game begin…

NEW GAME

CAREER MODE

Trip Hawkins

• Born on Dec 28, 1953

• Nationality : American

• Alma mater: Strategy and applied game theory at Harvard University

• B- School - Stanford

• Known for: Founding Electronic Arts and founding 3DO

• Awards: Hall of Fame by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences

Traits:• Promotes multi cultural environment• Flat organizational structure• Promoted creativity• Wants people to take ownership• Updated with industry trends

600 unique titles and millions of games sold

200 million dollars revenue

In 1982

Founded 3DO in 1991

Designed devices with video and audio features$599 price tag was considered expensive

Launching …

Energy, Inn

ovation, Ex

cellence, In

tegrity, Ow

nership

Exploring Options for Acquisition

• Reduced cost of operations•Mature telecom market• English speaking workforce

Sumea

3 year old Finnish

company,

Developed mobile games,

high quality game titles ,

existing relationship with

leading Cell phone

carriers,

Broad geographic

distribution– Core set of game developers in

organization

– English speaking multicultural staff

Illka Paananen

• Sumea’s CEO

• Age: 26

• Alma Mater: Industrial management at Helsinki University of Technology

• Finland Team grew from 25 to 150

• Games were good but cost was high

• DC successfully raised a loan of 43.8 million dollars and it became profitable for the first time

Repercussions in 2006

More Acquisitions

• In 2007 they acquired Small

Device, Bangalore based company

–Multi device adaptability

Small Device - Dikshant Dave

• English speaking college graduates

• Mature understanding of capitalism

• Blend well with west • Inexpensive

• Responsibility : Adapting games to work on all devices.

More Acquisitions

• Acquired Creative development team in Barcelona, Spain (cater to Spanish speaking markets) – energetic, young creative and passionate

Journey with iPhone

• 2008 : iPhone entry

Initial Phase : Apple gave more airtime for applications than games

Perceived to be similar to Social Media

Initial Hesitation

• 2009 : launched 5 games

April 2009 3 of the first 4 games made it to No1 on the download charts

July 2009, all the games were being made both for iPhone and standard platforms

Redirected resources to the iPhone game development team.

Social Gaming

Lets take a Step

Back and see the

Options

1

2

3

Acquisition

Social Gaming Office

Social Gaming Team

• Expensive

• Synergy

• Culture differences

• Strategic errors

• Quick solution

• Grow expertise

• Build new relationships

• Globalization/Expansion

• Attract developers

• Successful experience

ACQUISITION

Benefits Drawbacks

Merge with a start-upWinner of several social gaming titles

• Demotivation

• Expensive

• High Attrition rate

• Decision makers hub

• Dedicated team

• Synergy

• Increase in productivity

• Geographical proximity to the cutting edge developers

SOCIAL GAMING OFFICE

Benefits Drawbacks

Have a single office location for Social Gaming game developmentsConsidering San Mateo as the office location

• Tedious process

• Knowledge transfer

• Coordination issues

• Personal interest

• Motivated employees

• Appeal to global customer base

• No demotivation

SOCIAL GAMING TEAM

Benefits Drawbacks

Forming tracks of group of employees at each locationA social gaming team of volunteers

Mobile Gaming

Industry

Business Overview

• 2009 Gaming industry estimate at US$34 billion

• Split across Asia, Europe and the United States

• Target customers are “hardcore gamers” and “omni gamers” (convenience gamers)

• Mobile games generated US$5.4 billion in 2008

• Predicted to reach US$10 by 2013

• Major rivals – Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Namco, Glu Mobile, Oberon Media.

• Cumulatively generates 70% of worldwide revenue

Game Distribution

• Present games to wireless carriers months before release

• Carriers choose games and present it on download listings

• Thousands of platform devices available

• Digital chocolate covered 1500 of the most popular devices

• Built relationships with major carriers to gain visibility

• Compensated according to number of downloads and negotiated revenue share agreement

• Fees received 30-90 days after downloaded

• No reliable feedback provided

Through Consumer

Marketplaces

• Mid 2008 – launch of Apple’s App Store• Gains access to tens of millions of preset Apple App accounts• Launch of Google Android Market, RIM/Blackberry (App

World), Nokia (Ovi)• More difficult payment procedure• Different systems (operating, touch and swipe features)• Predicted to gain proper presence by 2010

Our Take !!!

Game Development ProcessCreativity Model

Commercialization

Planning for innovation

Consolidation (YDC ?)

Ideation

Analysis

• Fall in efficiency (no.) & effectiveness (quality)

• Loosing focus

• Inadequate competency for Social Games

RecommendationCurrent Situation

Increase development work for other platforms (Android/RIM)

Idea and game development contests

Increase productivity

Initiate creative game development in Bangalore

Increase capacity of skilled developers

RecommendationSocial Gaming

Merge the operations of the acquired firm and social gaming team

Acquire a firm with correct technical capability and cultural blend

Wait and watch for an opportunity to acquire the correct firm

Increase capacity with related skilled developers

Form few tracks of group of volunteering employees

Open for Questions

Open for

Questions