Marketing, deals and money – Martin Wilkes

Presenter

Martin Wilkes

Addictive Agencies

Games association Victoria board member

Presenter Outline

Martin talks about how important making deals in the games industry can be. The idea of finding a solid fulltime position in a games company is not as lucrative, as partnering with other like minded individuals and developing a product or service to publish independently. This is made possible through the use of mediums such as the Apple app store. Another way of partnering is in the form of a contractor to a company. By offering specialised high level skills, one becomes an appealing asset to have. Martin talks about the importance of having a promo or demonstration of your work ready.

Journal Entry - week 5 - Bridh Athanatos 1365312

E3 being the “Mecca” for gamers is having a fair on in “June 7-9, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center” - http://www.e3expo.com which martin recommends as being an extremely useful appointment, discovering what the next 3 years holds for the games industry condensed down into 2 day exhibition.

How does the topic relate to the Games Industry?

Currently game publishers have a “beautiful window” to take advantage of, with game consoles tapering off; handheld devices are beginning take a strong hold on the market. People wishing to break into the games industry should be ready to leave Melbourne. Internationally it will be easier to find a job, especially in USA or Europe. Shanghai, China has a developing games industry and growing exponentially. English speaking westerners are a rarity and the western culture is at times misunderstood, resulting in a struggle with the western market. The Chinese games market has been constrained to subscription based services. Games connected through servers on the internet work, to prevent piracy. Piracy is a big issue for games industry. Retail shops selling games is nonexistent. Developers have access to millions of subscribers in the pc sector, with game consoles rare and the smart phone devices yet to hit, makes china a sheep waiting to be sheared.  China, envious of its neighbour Korea, with its love of World of Warcraft and Starcraft is ready to be a part of the global market.

This makes sense to be looking for a partnership with China, however keep business ideas to yourself as the Chinese are known for this type of business dealings.

How does the topic relate to my own ambitions in the Games Industry?

As a game developer, finding the ability to self publish my wares is a very feasible opportunity. On the “22^nd of March 2011” - http://androidcommunity.com a partnership between the android phone and amazon.com announces, the beginning of another opportunity for dedicated hardworking game publishers to survive.

Film Victoria has a digital media fund classified for “film and video games”; proprietary limited companies can apply for funding based upon a business plan. The MMV website hosts the information to gain access to the trade fare grant. This assistance involves several levels of grants, for example an individual can receive approximately $2,500 for an event like the Games Development Conference http://www.gdconf.com

Several points I would like to apply to my career is to show how important my ideas are by concreting them:

• Put your plans together
• Find the people I want to work with
• Learn who the people are that want me
• The games I want to build
• What am I trying to achieve

Martin left the impression on me that I should forget resumes, rather do promos to demonstrate what you can do. E.g. If your skilled with audio, borrow some pre made video game footage and drop your awesome audio track. Martin also advised not be scared and to go straight to self publishing, EG: get to top ten of the Apple app store, through marketing and keeping people up to date by dealing with the media.

Having a game summary is a key aspect to gaining success. Summarise the game idea to be as succinct as possible making sure that it gets to the point of the entire game.

Fmod is an Australian business that provides audio to video games; with 12 people they currently hold a huge 30% chunk of the world market for the audio engine in games. This shows that it doesn’t matter where your based you can still compete on the global market.

When asked “If you were at the start of your career as a game student and had to self publish a game from scratch what game would you make?”

Martin responded with these key points.

• Triple ‘A’ console game!
• However the need to make money begs the question why not these platforms that have great money making potential Ipad2, Iphone, Android and XBLA.
• Have in the back of your mind the three games you would love to make.

Bridh Athanatos

References:

E3 Expo: June 7-9, 2011, viewed 15^th April 2011, <http://www.e3expo.com/press-release/post/282/e3-expo-2011-attendee-and-media-online-registration-opens/>

Amazon Appstore for Android Launches today | Android Community, viewed 15th April 2011, <http://androidcommunity.com/amazon-appstore-for-android-launches-today-20110322/>