Interview

Scoreloop's Hirsch: iPhone is only the start for social networking

Taking your connections cross-platform

Scoreloop's Hirsch: iPhone is only the start for social networking
Last week, German/US social networking company Scoreloop announced it was bringing mobile gaming guru Volker Hirsch into play as a strategic advisor.

With previous stints at Connect2Media and Hands-On Mobile, and now also involved in the reboot of UK developer Blue Beck, Hirsch certainly has plenty of game experience.

How will this play out in the context of being Scoreloop's strategic advisor? We called him to find out.

Pocket Gamer: Why are you interested in the social networking space?

Volker Hirsch: I've been a strong proponent of playing socially for a while now. I always look at games and think, before personal computers, no one in their right mind would have wanted to play on their own. You played with other people and this only changed because of technical constraints, not because people didn't want to play socially.

Now those constrains are falling away, I would like to bring the social element back. It's also the reason that lead to the foundation of Blue Beck, which I resurrected with Pete Scott. We want to focus on social games.

Were you already using Scoreloop?

Blue Beck only started two months ago, so our first game isn't out but yes we will be using Scoreloop. Technically we had been looking at Scoreloop and its competitors, and the verdict from the tech guys was Scoreloop was the slickest, most robust, and most comprehensive solution.

Which features in particular stand out?

There are a couple of features I think will drive a larger infusion of sociality - challenges and friends' recommendations. Scoreloop is a much more organic and natural way of discovery and engagement from a user's perspective.

For example, surveys suggest three quarters of all purchases are being made via personal recommendations. So if I know you love football and I play an iPhone football game, I could challenge you, either via email, or your mobile number or Facebook profile, or within Scoreloop. You'd think, I trust Volker and he knows what I like. I'll try that game out. That's much more likely to work than someone standing next to you and shouting 'Buy Me!'

The fact Scoreloop provides an infrastructure for this is something I find very exciting. So when they approached me to see if I would join up as a strategy advisor with a view to providing a broader foundation with respect to the games space, I was absolutely delighted.

How does that strategic focus work?

Well, I need to point out I'm not replacing Marc [Gumpinger CEO]. I'm complimenting him.

When you look at the Scoreloop team, it's stellar when it comes to the technology and platform side. The only thing they were lacking was deeper insight into the ins-and-outs of mobile gaming. That's where I've spent the past decade, so it makes a lot of sense.

I think I'm able to contribute a slightly broader view on the sector as a whole, rather than just focusing on a single platform. I would also like Scoreloop to look other platforms and broaden its business model to allow people on different steps on the value chain to make use of those functionalities.

How do you think competition in this area will play out?

The big picture is that the applications and the environment in which these tools are being deployed at the moment are only the tip of the iceberg. As well as games, we're seeing people trying to use social network tools for corporate communications.

On the gaming side though, there have been many attempts to shoe-horn ideas about social networks into game concepts that don't make much sense. You need to look at things on their own merits. Not all games and genres play well in these area, so what we're seeing is a lot of trial and error, as well as a lot of innovation.

I think what will start to happen is that people's social footprints will become connected together, and to an extent, unified. To use recommendations as an example, when you can see other users' profiles and see what their friends are doing, your chances of making contextually relevant suggestions increase significantly.

The next thing will be to connect across various platforms, which is why we're so excited about the technical expertise Scoreloop guys have. They are capable of executing very well on that front.

So iPhone is only the start?

Yes. How we address other mobile platforms was one of the first things I discussed.

It's funny because in mobile games, we always used to moan about the restrictions of the carrier model, pointing out that users weren't interested in only interacting with their friends on Vodafone. They wanted to interact with all their friends. It's exactly the same when it comes to cross-platform gaming.

Certainly for smartphone, I don't think there's a good reason why this should be so, so I'm hopeful this will be one of the first areas in which Scoreloop can change the game.

Thanks to Volker for his time.

You can keep up to date with Scoreloop via web and twitter.

Volker's mobile blog can be found at vhirsch.com.

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.