Feature

San Francisco Week: The city that puts local rivalries aside for the sake of global superstardom

GREE, Pocket Gems and Chartboost speak out

San Francisco Week: The city that puts local rivalries aside for the sake of global superstardom
During our first look at San Francisco published just back in May, some of the city's most successful mobile gaming studios - from giants like Zynga to flourishing indies like Storm 8 – detailed the role life in the Bay Area has had on their success.

This week, in our return trip to the self-proclaimed Golden City, we're exploring the history of another select band of Silicon Valley success stories.

On our radar this time is the American arm of Japanese social gaming platform GREE and indie outfit Pocket Gems, with both parties highlighting the sense of responsibility the city's leading lights feel for its status on the global stage.



As was the case during our first Frisco frisson, both outfits have quite a bit to shout about right now.

Pocket Gems' animal theme Tap series has helped the studio make a name for itself in San Fran's ever-competitive mobile scene, while GREE's base in the city is key to the firm's ambitions to expand its previously Japanese-centric social gaming network across the globe.

However, it's not just developers, publishers and social networks that operate within the Bay Area.

Attracting talent

Cross-promotion and monetisation specialist Chartboost is also one of the city's stars, with co-founder and CEO Maria Alegre telling us that it's San Francisco's very culture that attracts the kind of creatives games development thrives on.

"The hardest part of starting something is taking it from zero to one, not from one to one million," says Alegre.

"Entrepreneurs can have the 'think big' mentality anywhere but, often, they come to Silicon Valley to learn it or to find a team that thinks like them. This is why there are so many startups in general and game studios in particular in San Francisco."



That's a view shared by Pocket Gems CEO Ben Liu.

He claims it's not only San Francisco's talent base that attracts companies to the area, but also the access to industry leaders in fields like advertising and the crucial funding required to get new ideas off the ground.

"San Francisco was a natural fit," says Liu. "The proximity to many great partners including ad networks, platforms and venture firms, made the bay area a great place to be.

"Ultimately, a major reason we grew the company here was due to the amazing tech and engineering talent that exists here."

Education in the community

Crucially, the openness of the games community in San Francisco means that developers and publishers can share experiences to help the city maintain its competitive position throughout the world.

GREE's main base is naturally in Japan, but the decision to open up in Silicon Valley office has presented all sorts of opportunities for the gaming social network, as its VP of Marketing, Sho Masuda, explains.



"There are so many opportunities available here to developers of all shapes and sizes," says Masuda.

"Those resources and that community offer devs the chance to really grow and expand as they work together to evolve the industry.

"We really believe that being at the centre of all this mobile activity allows us to learn from our peers as well as help lead and grow the industry as a whole."

Throughout the rest of this week, we'll be sampling all three firms' relationships with the San Francisco scene – not only how they've benefited from its vibrancy, but also the obligation they feel for pushing forward the Bay Area's global reputation as a gaming super hub.

Check back on PocketGamer.biz over the next few days for the full in-depth interviews with all three outfits – GREE, Chartboost and Pocket Gems.

Plus, if you're reading this from within San Francisco itself, why not pop down to our Mobile Mixer in the city on 26 June to chew over any issues raised with your compatriots.


Have you worked in video game development in San Francisco? What was your experience of the area and what do you think the future holds? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Joe just loves to go fast. That's both a reflection of his status as a self-proclaimed 'racing game expert', and the fact he spends his days frantically freelancing for a bevy of games sites. For PocketGamer.biz, however, Joe brings his insight from previous job as a community manager at iOS developer Kwalee. He also has a crippling addiction to Skittles, but the sugar gets him through the day.