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EIF 2012: 'If you have a game people want to play, your business model doesn't matter' argues Seamus Blackley

#edint Don't sweat monetisation. Focus on fun

EIF 2012: 'If you have a game people want to play, your business model doesn't matter' argues Seamus Blackley
Despite being the headline speaker at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2012, Seamus Blackley, president of Innovative Leisure and co-instigator of the Xbox couldn't make the event.

He did, however, dial in with a pre-recorded video presentation - on The Future of Fun.

"You can analyse yourself into a hole about what's happening to Zynga or the drop of subscribers for World of Warcraft," Blackley said.

"But it's impossible to consider the dynamics of a business if you only consider it as a business."

The heart of the matter

Continuing his theme, Blackley argued a key advantage of the games industry is the creative experience it provides players.

"They are incredibly passionate about what we do. We spend a lot of time complaining about what they say about us on forums, but the reason it's hard to satisfy our audience is it's so passionate."

Indeed, despite the growth of digital distribution, he said the fact people will still drive to a store and pay $60 for console games demonstrates this.

"We are almost the only packaged goods business left, because we have a such as passionate audience," Blackley commented.

"The future of fun is to harness that passion and not get distracted by the latest billing mechanisms."

Fun in everything

In this way, Blackley proposed a thought experience in which we should think about successful games companies, as well as those which have failed, through the prism of how they engage with their players.

"It's easy to be distracted by the new excitement of having a direct business relationships with these fans," he said, harking back to our focus on business models and payment methods.

"But this makes it more important for us to keep in our minds whether the audience loves our game. If you have a game people want to play, it doesn't really matter what your business model is."

Focus on fun

Of course, when a game is successful, many other aspects of business - sales, marketing, HR, business development etc - 'all that mush' - comes into play.

"Every interaction you have with your customers has to be fun," he argued.

"Is everything you put in front of your customers fun? Is is fun to be your customer?"

Blackley hoped that the new wave of game designers and makers are more aligned to this because they have so recently been game customers themselves.

But he said, he thought maintaining this focus is hard.

"The loss of focus on the fundamentals is endemic to all human endeavour from the pyramids to the space program," he pondered.

But in terms of a conclusion, Blackley was forthright.

"I don't think we spend enough time talking about how much our audience loves games," he said.
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.