SGN on gaming and the mobile challenge

SGN on gaming and the mobile challenge

January 23, 2016



Aber Whitcomb, chief technology officer of the multiplatform game developer and distributor SGN, on designing games for a multiplicity of mobile devices and the importance of identifying who the gamers are.

In this video from The Open Mobile Summit San Francisco 2013, Aber Whitcomb, chief technology officer of the multiplatform game developer and distributor SGN, talks to OMM’s Robert Gray about the challenges of designing games for a multiplicity of mobile devices and the importance of identifying who the gamers are.

When designing for mobile devices, Whitcomb advises to think early about multiple screen sizes, multiple operating systems, multiple devices, and what impact these will have on user experience. Operating systems are a particular challenge as they require completely different code bases, Whitcomb says. Still, SGN tries to find a common ground to develop a game once and then to create extensions that make it fit a particular platform.

According to Whitcomb, this has taken SGN two years to get right. “You have to think about having a common back end for your games, where every device and platform can plug into,” he says. “You have to think about developing art that can handle different screen sizes. You really have to integrate it into the DNA of your company to develop a truly cross-platform game or app.”

A key driver in the growth of games is identity, and SGN goes out of its way to encourage gamers to authenticate, whether through Facebook or other means. This not only allows SGN to serve up a more personalized gaming experience but also improves monetization and reduces churn.

“Cross-platform game players are much more engaged than regular players who are not authenticated,” Whitcomb says. “We tend to see monetization go way up when you are playing on multiple platforms; pretty much every KPI you can think of goes up when you get people to authenticate and play on multiple platforms.”

To conclude, Whitcomb touches on mobile providing new opportunities for user acquisition, particularly through advertising. “The big low-hanging fruit is just that there is so many more people to reach right now with casual games, people who don’t consider themselves gamers, but they are going to start playing games,” he says. “We are very excited about digging into KPIs and getting into real-time bidding systems to acquire a lot more users for our games.”

Robert Gray is a regular contributor to Open Mobile Media.

For more information and analysis on the mobile sector, visit: http://analysis.openmobilemedia.com/.

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