In just under two weeks, Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle takes place, and we’ve locked in a star-studded lineup of speakers for you to learn from.
On May 9th to 10th, the leading games industry conference returns to the US for the first time since 2019 for two days of insight sharing, debate making and thought provoking panels, seminars, keynotes and more. Alongside the fantastic schedule, there are plenty of networking opportunities each attendee can take advantage of to meet our expert speakers or other industry professionals.
In the build up to the conference and to give you a sneak preview of what to expect, we are spotlighting some of the leading authorities in the games industry that are sharing their wisdom next month.
In today’s spotlight, we spoke with Hyper Hippo Entertainment CEO Sam Fisher, a leader who supports the business through bringing talent together, encouraging creativity and growing the global portfolio of Hyper Hippo.
Join us at PG Connects Seattle on May 9th to 10th to hear Fisher discuss how you can engage communities to grow your business.
PocketGamer.biz: Please give us a summary of what you’re speaking about and why it’s important
Sam Fisher: At Hyper Hippo, we believe that we aren’t just building games; we are building games for communities. Our goal is not only to create great entertainment but to create strong worlds and stories that our players can engage in.
As game developers, our communities - our audiences and our players - are the biggest leverage that we have to grow our businesses. Being a creator in the attention economy requires shifting from the traditional ‘consumption’ model of entertainment (players finish a game and find a new one) to an ‘engagement’-based model (players keep coming back because there is a strong community for them).
This means that, if you want to be a creator in the next 20 years, building lasting engagement with your communities must be the goal; if it’s not, it’s likely you won’t be thriving as a business. Your communities are your biggest asset - cherish and nurture them!
Where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?
Giving players the tools to expand and grow their own audiences through your games. People want opportunities to create and share content that contributes to building their social identity, and social sharing platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram provide ways for players to broadcast content to their own followers to grow their communities. Making games fun to play and to watch can create new opportunities to entertain your audience’s audience.
What’s the most important key performance indicator (KPI) for you - and why?
Audience reach, audience value, and audience participation are all key metrics for developing lasting relationships with your players. Maintaining lasting engagement requires not only tracking acquisition and overall audience size, but also understanding what aspects/features of a game provide value for your audience and how they interact with your content.
What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?
Standing out in a crowded marketplace. The wide range of mobile games available today means that attracting and retaining players outside of paid user acquisition can be a significant challenge for mobile game developers. Creating content that stands out in the attention economy requires understanding your audience and what they are looking for from your games, in order to keep them coming back.
Is hypercasual gaming here to stay?
At Hyper Hippo, we believe in creating short-form entertainment as an alternative to hyper-casual games. This means that while our players are able to get the experience of our games in a short session, there is also deep, varied engagement that happens within that time. Whereas most hyper-casual games will cap out at a certain point, short-form entertainment includes a deeper level of engagement that keeps players coming back, while still respecting their time.
If you could give other mobile games companies one piece of advice, what would it be?
Prioritize building relationships with your audience, and thinking about how you can engage your audience over the long term. The casual game audience is becoming increasingly sophisticated and wants more variety in gameplay; meeting audiences where they are at requires creating deeper levels of engagement between your audience and your game.
Meet the experts in-person
There’s no place like Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle to connect with incredible industry leaders like Sam Fisher. Don’t miss out on attending our West Coast conference this May – you can secure your spot now and get ready to network with the games industry as the meeting platform is live.
