Interview

Speaker Spotlight: Kolibri Games' Daniel Stammler

Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd

Speaker Spotlight: Kolibri Games' Daniel Stammler

Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.

For more details on PGC London and to book a ticket, head to the website here.

In today's Speaker Spotlight we're talking to Kolibri Games CEO Daniel Stammler (Pictured, main), who will be giving a talk called "Rapid Development For Idle Games". 

PocketGamer.Biz: Could you tell us a bit about the company?

Daniel Stammler: Kolibri Games is a vibrant mobile games company based in the heart of Berlin, and our goal is to be the most player-centric games company in the world.

We are confident that this objective will be achieved through the power of idle games. We have embraced the iterative development process for producing our games.

We allow our game design to be guided by the wants and needs of our community. This method enabled us to achieve over 60 million downloads worldwide.

What does your role entail?

As the Co-CEO of Kolibri Games, I am responsible for leading the business team as well as the product management team and consulting with our engineering team.

I take an active role in making decisions about our product roadmap, strategic focus and partnership opportunities. I love attending events to meet new people and spread our philosophy of development.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

I always found that games are an exciting and dynamic field with constant change and opportunities for start-ups to reach great heights.

On top of everything, I love playing games and unlocking the best of what this entertainment medium has to offer.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?

If you have an idea that you are passionate about don't be afraid to set it up on your own. However, and more importantly, be prepared to kill ideas that cause you to lose focus or distract you from your goals along the way.

Failure is inevitable. Managing these failures is what sets apart the mediocre from the magnificent.

We are also hiring, so please take a look.

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?

2018 was an exciting year; From GDPR redefining the rights and responsibilities of analytics-savvy game developers, the growth and excitement around hyper-casual games, to the vast wave of consolidation among studios like our friends at Wooga, Small Giant and Gram Games.

The business aspects (regulation and corporate development) have matured while creative opportunities such as those around genre remain a blue ocean of possibilities.

What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?

Tools and the development process will continue to be democratised. Strong marketing and Live-ops have already demonstrated themselves as essential for successful developers.

It's only natural for vendors to offer more of these tools out-of-the-box. Further, developers will get better at responding, managing and reacting to community feedback about their game.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

More companies are adopting an iterative process developing their games. This is particularly true as talented developers find their voice in the mobile space.

Additionally, and we partly owe our success to this, players have whole-heartedly embraced the idle genre.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?

The best part of the Connects is always the people. I look forward to sharing our experiences and meeting knowledgeable people who are excited about their craft.

Find out more about Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 on the website.