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Indies ask for less money than they need, says our Slush 2014 Mobile Mixer panel

Helsinki gives the PG Mobile Mixer a warm reception

Indies ask for less money than they need, says our Slush 2014 Mobile Mixer panel

Having already rocked Finland with our Big Indie Pitch, Pocket Gamer's Mixer Tour - powered by Skymobi, and sponsored by GetSocial, Omniata, and InMobi - played host to a world-class panel of speakers, in front of a gently stewed audience of the games industry's brightest and boldest during the Slush 2014 festival in Helsinki, Finland.

The night was hosted by the one and only George Osborn of PocketGamer.biz, and the panellists were:

  • Petri Ikonen - EA (Track 20)
  • Pankaj Bengani - InMobi
  • Olli Laesvirta - Boomlagoon
  • Alex Arias - Omniata
  • Reinout Te Brake - GetSocial

After the brief introductions, the evening's discussion began proper - how do mobile games gain investment, and what should companies be doing if they're looking for it?

Money for future success

It was a warmly received discussion, full of insight into an often complex subject.

Alex Arias noted that investors "don't want one data point, they want several", that they expect to be able to see growth and be able to track it.

Petri Ikonen insisted that "it's always about game design.

"We need new innovation, we need retention, beautiful gameplay", and "not just another match-3 or Clash of Clans," he said.

Reinout Te Brake, an investor in GetSocial and iQU warned that "a lot of indies ask for way less money than they need" and that if "you go back and look at Supercell, you look at King, the founders had a history, they knew how to attract talent, and how to keep them, how to share, fail, and in the end succeed".

Pankaj Bengani added that, for investment success, while a great concept is essential, ideas are just 3 percent of the deal.

"It's 97 percent execution," he argued.

You can see photos from the event in our Facebook gallery.


Die hard Suda 51 fan and professed Cherry Coke addict, Peter Willington was initially set for a career in showbiz, training for half a decade to walk the boards. Realising that there's no money in acting, he decided instead to make his fortune in writing about video games. Peter never learns from his mistakes.