Interview

2013 In Review: Fireproof's Barry Meade

'Users want to be transported by entertainment'

2013 In Review: Fireproof's Barry Meade

As we come to the end of 2013, it's time to look back at the events that dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.

As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give their take on the last year, as well as predicting the trends that will come to pass in 2014.

Barry Meade is the commercial director of Fireproof Studios, the UK developer responsible for the award winning The Room and its successor, The Room Two.

Pocket Gamer: What do you think was the most significant event for the mobile games industry in 2013?

Barry Meade: Argh, that's a big question. My own thoughts - I'd say that on the one hand revenue rose and more people than ever were playing games on their mobile devices which is always great to hear.

On the other, more and more games didn't see commercial success and its clear a lot of dev studios will go under in 2014 because of a pretty horrendous 2013. But I would also think that F2P as a business model for every game ever may have seen its peak.

I'm sure F2P revenue and gaming will go strength to strength but I'd hope developers take note that the model only works for some and is not the gold rush everybody treats it as and - more importantly - is certainly not the only model the platform can support. And if developers go with this, over time it should mean more original, more interesting games get made and generally a maturing of mobile as a gaming platform will follow.

So, though we have some pain now I hope it will mean better games and stronger devs in the future.

What was the most significant event for Fireproof?

Undoubtedly it was the success of our wee game The Room.

It was minor stuff compared to the big leagues but we got featured and our relatively few days of sales at Clash of Clans levels was enough to feed our company for a year. This gave us the freedom to halt our outsourcing work for good, or at least until we fall on our arses.

So for us the major change was wrapping up working for other folk - lovely as they were - and working on our own games full time. After five years of slog it doesn't get better than that.

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?

I don't really have favourites to be honest and I certainly don't get to see all the best games that come out, but even from my perspective so much good stuff came flying out this year that the best part was just seeing serious quality and individuality coming out on the platform.

I even swung the other way and started playing some great F2P games like Puzzle & Dragons. But even with the F2P tide going against them we had mobile games of real confidence and swagger like DEVICE 6 - surely up for game of the year, Frozen Synapse, Rymdkapsel, Ridiculous Fishing and many others - too many to name.

I hope more and more devs get inspired by their success and craftsmanship and belief in mobile as a platform.

Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing

What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2014?

I honestly have no idea. I can tell you what I hope though - that more original, solid mobile titles and perhaps more - gasp - paid titles get made as that side of the market really needs nurturing and deserves to be catered to.

Mobile has already won children and seniors over but we will not get gamer-gamers attracted to mobile if we just carry on making endless energy-based pay-to-win click fests.

The fact that there are so many games that went F2P in 2013 is not a sign of edgy business nous to me but just the opposite - a sign investors, publishers and developers are not still taking the platform seriously and are not seeing the possibilities of it.

It isn't just on-screen d-pads that mark half-cocked mobile game, it's a lot of other, bigger decisions too.

What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?

Erm I'll pass on the personal resolution as I'll only break it, whatever it is. But passing judgement on the industry, hey that's risk free and a licence to be a smartass, so here goes...

Honestly I would just like to see games makers have a bit more belief in themselves and their gaming audience and a bit less in marketeers/data/monetisation as a route to success. Certainly this investor influenced get-rich-quick attitude has not helped a number of developers make workable businesses.

There's nothing wrong with aiming high creatively but aiming small in terms of revenue; it feels to us here that too many devs are asking too much from the market and from themselves, betting the farm when really they need to think about building up their reputation and fans over time with spending and investment kept to a minimum.

The good part is that there absolutely is millions of actual gamers out there on mobile but they're being served too much of the F2P stuff and not enough of anything else. But I'm making it sound easy and it's not, as a developer it can be really insanely difficult to know which way to turn. I can only talk about what makes sense to us.

Our view is that many users want to be transported by entertainment - there's a lot of value in trying to give them that, just as much as giving them something quick to play on the train. Mobile is not written. We all are writing it ourselves every day and 'new' is just as cool as 'best' or 'slickest'.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.