Mobile + Social

The Case for

Games

Social Media World Forum

London - 15 March 2010

Volker Hirsch (@vhirsch)

Mobile Games...

... can be a bit of a nightmare

You do everything right...
on the inside...
... on the outside...
... and on marketing
Something is still missing...
THe $ Dilemma (carrier model)

after overheads

after production

after porting & QA

after License

after distributor

after carrier

after VAT

total revenue
THe $ Dilemma (app store model)
What is Social?
Social refers to the
interaction of organisms
with other organisms and
to their collective co-
existence [...]

Source: Wikipedia
A social network is not a
community!
You need Context!
Concept: Object-Centered
Sociality

Prof Dr Karin Knorr-Cetina,

Sociologist

Jyrri Engestrom,
Founder Jaiku
A game is a Social Object?
It always was!
It’s about Engagement

- Gamers Interact by the nature of

the game.

- Gamers can be Fanatics!

- A game and the environment in

which it is set matters to its fans.

games are powerful social

objects
-Interact with players in
context, i.e. in the game
-Let players interact
between them (they have
a common object!)
CwF + RtB = BM

Mike Masnick, TechDirt

WTF ?
 Trent Raznor

WTF ?
Nine Inch Nails
- All Music free under CC license. CwF
- All videos by fans aggregated on
website.
- Free iPhone app: Fan Finder.

- Double Album for $10 RtB

- Deluxe Edition (Double Album + Photo
Book + BluRay + DVD) for $75
- 2,500 limited edition signed luxury sets
(with Vinyl + prints) for $300

Limited Edition sold out in 30 hours !!!

$750k revenue in 30 hours, $2.3m in week 1.

 Object

Let’s recap:
Social is interaction
in context
make sure that mobile
levers the Social Object
(that is: your game)
towards Your Users...
Mobile is the most
powerful digital medium
to date.

Why?

1. It’s Big (numbers)

2.It’s Personal (nature)
3.It’s really personal
(Identification of needs)
 475,000,000
circulation of newspapers
825,000,000
registered cars
1,700,000,000
Internet users (PC, Mobile, Web Cafe)
1,800,000,000
unique credit card holders
2,250,000,000
tooth brushes in use
4,000,000,000
FM Radios
4,600,000,000
mobile phone subscriptions
various sources
Mobile is a 1st!

• Personal mass media

• Always carried
• Always on
• Built-in billing system
• Always present at the point of
creative impulse
• Accurate audience identification
• Captures social context
• Enables Augmented Reality

Tomi Ahonen, Mobile as 7th of Mass Media, 2008;

Alan Moore & Jonathan MacDonald, The Glittering
Allure of the Mobile Society, 2008
It’s VERY personal...

• 91% of people have their mobile within arm’s reach

24/7. Morgan Stanley 2007

• 64% of Americans are not willing to share their

mobile with anyone. 60% of married people will
not share their mobile with their spouse!
Wired Magazine 2006

• It takes an average of 26 h for a user to report

a lost wallet but only 68 minutes to report a
lost mobile phone.
Unisys Survey

• 8 out of 10 German men would rather lose their

wife than their mobile phone.
Jonathan MacDonald; Survey of 10 German
men at 1am in a bar...
OK, it’s huge, I get it.

But what do I do
with it?
Address the unique
propositions only
Mobile offers.
Value Levers: the 6 M’s.

Movement

Me
Moment

Multi-User Money

Machines

Source: Tomi Ahonen

Mobile is a 1st!

• Personal mass media 

• Always carried 
• Always on 
• Built-in billing system
• Always present at the point of
creative impulse
• Accurate audience identification
• Captures social context
• Enables Augmented Reality 
We need Tools
What
- Create Fanatics.

- Provide avenues for players’

passion.

- Incorporate players’ strongest

community: his friends!

- Allow Choice: if, when and where to

share. Just offer the path.

- Keep it in context, i.e. in the game.

Examples of how
- High-Scores (Reward) but make
them customizable (context).

- Connect to the community

(Avenues of Passion).

- Person-to-Person Challenges &

Tournaments (Playful contextual
interaction).

- Awards / Rewards (Fanatics).

- In-Game transactions & Virtual

Currencies (Contextual
Monetization).
74% of all buying decisions are made
on a friend’s recommendation
Source: Bain Consulting
Real Cross-promotion

- General ads disregard the power

of context & relevance (“Spray-
Can”).

- Players = Fanatics = Ambassadors.

- Promotions by friends in context

are genuine cross-promotions.
One last thing:

123,296,966,069,453

The Law of Big Numbers

The Mass Market is here:
don’t forget
the “other”
smartphones!
Choose a tool that
delivers all that.

Scoreloop does... ;-)

 So...
Where’s the Money?
Where it always was:

in your pocket...

Catchy phrase nicked from

Jonathan MacDonald
Summing up:

• Facilitate engagement.

• Offer avenues to activate the

player’s passion.

• Deliver, and in big numbers.

Got all that? You have a winner!

And if the user wins, the rest (incl. $ $$) comes almost on its own...
Image Credits
http://biodisplay.tyrell.hu/2008/09/24/experimenting-with-resolution/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Numbers_grid_in_NY.jpg
http://gapingvoidgallery.com
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Petanque_players_in_Cannes_(France)_2003.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Bhgs_crowd.jpg
https://svn-create.freedesktop.osuosl.org/public/create/docs/logo/images/light_bulb_off3.jpg
http://www.easy-access.com/garagelo/coloring/tools.gif
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f-4eoJyuiitoJIPDaqrMJQ
http://blogs.fayobserver.com/faytoz/files/2008/10/davinci_toothed_gears_original.jpg
http://www.adsinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/1100109100-1.jpg
http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/video-game.jpg
http://www.foldingbikehut.co.uk/images/Toolbox%20Travel.jpg
http://ridgestonecondos.com/images/istock_000003282632medium_dollar_sign.jpg
http://cdn2.libsyn.com/sellinggeek/mobilepic.jpG
http://www.footballpictures.net/data/media/75/River-Plate-Fanatics.jpg
http://pervasivegames.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/124659356_bbe1e5b661_o.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/FIFA_world_cup_2006_-_Rome_circus_maximus_flag.jpg
http://www.wallpaperez.info/wallpaper/movie/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-1939.jpg
http://www.thisfabtrek.com/journey/africa/egypt/20100112-egypt-desert/desert-road-egypt-4.jpg
http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/old.images/tr_tdspromo2.jpg
http://www.wright-brothers.org/TBR/Information%20Images/Photos/1903%20First%20Flight.jpg
http://www.uwrf.edu/library/arc/images/diary.jpg
http://news.msu.edu/media/photo/2009/12/2c305035-52be-4906-b034-022eadb86877.jpg
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/sold/1414/big/Micro-Pave-Engagement-Rings.jpg
http://www.cartoonary.com/madagascar/images/madagascar-marty-alex-gloria-melman-penguins-
julien-2048x1536.jpg
http://writeontheinternet.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/superman.jpg
http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Lever/leverBig.gif
http://www.ruralmarketingservices.com/images/marketing_road_sign.jpg
http://cnx.org/content/m23853/latest/Picture%201.png
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/museumimages/thumbnail1.php/p2j200749041149arc_pht.jpg
+44 7843 599 678
(@scoreloop)

@vhirsch

me@vhirsch.com

http://vhirsch.com

http://scoreloop.com