Interview

Connect2Media's Hobson on Java, Lumines and cracking the App Store top 25

'There's plenty of life in the conventional carrier market'

Connect2Media's Hobson on Java, Lumines and cracking the App Store top 25
Created from the European division of US publisher Hands-On Mobile, as well as various other bits and pieces, Connect2Media has been carefully building up its presence in recent months.

It signed a European distribution deal with mobile publisher Magmic, as well as picking up publishing rights for Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer (other titles are expected), as well as gaining the mobile rights to future versions of Lumines.

Over the past six months, it also released some innovative mobile and iPhone games such as Go Go! Rescue Squad and Timeloop.

Time to catch up with CEO Eric Hobson to find out his views are on the direction the industry and the company are headed.

From your recent deals, would it be right to assume you think there's plenty of business in the Java mobile market?

Eric Hobson: Yes we certainly believe there's plenty of life in the conventional carrier element of the mobile games market. Initiatives such as Vodafone's 360 concept show that far from lying down and dying, carriers are fighting back. Plus many players have exited the market, leaving more potential for those who remain.

But it's hard to say whether this sector of the market is going to be only about Java going forward, as Android features high on the plans of most handset manufacturers. Whether it's Java or Android though, the mainstream mobile games market has plenty of potential.

Do you think other mobile companies have switched their focus to iPhone too soon?

Certainly iPhone is a lot easier to manage and develop for: one handset, one customer, high end development stream. Plus there's been a lot of hype around the initial results for first movers and the sales they achieved. But now, you have a very crowded market. In some ways it's reminiscent of mobile games through carriers in 2003, before market consolidation and customer rationalisation took place at the carriers.

I think iPhone represents many of the facets of the future market model for mobile games. However handset manufacturers and carriers are starting to adapt to and adopt elements of this model, so too much of a switch in focus could once again leave many players wrong footed.

Why do you think Lumines is a good mobile brand?

First and foremost because it's a great game. I'm not much of a gamer, and my preferences are toward casual games. With Lumines the first time I picked it up and played it I was hooked.

We've also been looking for a game to replace Guitar Hero in our portfolio, and we wanted a game in the music space that did something different, as there are now too many Guitar Hero clones out there chasing a diminishing opportunity. Lumines ticked all the boxes for us - music, casual/puzzle, addictive, and an avid fan base. I've been amazed by the response to our licence announcement with fans writing encouragement on message boards.

Connect2Media has put out some creative iPhone games which haven't received equivalent commercial success. Do you think this is because it's still a US-centric market?

Our first attempts hit the Top 100, and by our third attempt we've hit Top 50. I'm hoping on fourth attempt we'll hit Top 25, which seems to be the key metric of success.

I don't think it's down to being a US-centric market, as our games address that market. It's much more about a learning curve on what we need to do to ensure we stand out in a very crowded market. I've a sneaking suspicion that our upcoming title Arachnadoodle might be the one to do it. It was specifically designed for iPhone, and takes into account all our learnings to date

How can you overcome such issues?

That's our secret sauce. I'm not about to share our hard won learnings with the competition.

How are other mobile platforms such as Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Ovi playing out, and do you expect this to change significantly in 2010?

These new platforms have massive potential, but they've failed to realise that potential in 2009. Nokia needs to sort out the store and purchase structure of Ovi, so the try-and-buy conversion rate goes up. I'm sure it'll crack this in 2010, as the latent potential to buy has been shown to exist.

RIM's store needs Premium SMS billing, and again I believe this is coming. Android's a hard one, as currently I'm not sure Google is heavily focused on selling content versus free content and the traffic it brings. Hopefully this will change. Windows? It's too early to say, but I'd never write off Microsoft.

Are you still looking at TV convergence, as well as supporting Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, PC, DSi?

TV remains on our roadmap. It's simply that short term, there's some lower hanging fruit i.e. DSi and WiiWare (we were recently accepted on to the Nintendo developer roster), PSP Minis, and XBLA, plus PC.

Thanks to Eric for his time.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.