(To learn how Game Data Pros can help you optimize your games, contact us)
The legendary newsman Scoop Nisker, when confronted by people who didn’t like his reporting, would tell them, “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own!”
Inspired by Scoop, we did exactly that. We didn’t like that there were very few revenue optimization talks at GDC and that, in general, the idea of “Game Revenue Optimization” doesn’t seem to get much, if any, mindshare at conferences.
So, instead of grousing, we organized the first annual Game Revenue Optimization Mini-Summit. We rented the American Bookbinders Museum (a really amazing space close to Moscone), ordered a few thousand dollars worth of crab cones and coconut macaroons, invited the world, and put on a show.
And what a show it was!
First and foremost, we had a set of world-class talks
Talks began at 2:15. We had four speakers.
- Our CEO, Bill Grosso, opened the show with a presentation about recent developments in Web Storefronts entitled “Setting the stage for Game Revenue Optimization.”.
- Then Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid and Grit, presented “The Future of Monetization” — a talk about new and interesting monetization techniques that his team has recently written in-depth research reports on.
- Joost Van Dreunen, SuperJoost, followed Brett and presented a sweeping overview of the gaming universe entitled “Life after live services: The next era in game marketing and monetization.”
- And Julian Runge closed the presentation part of the day by presenting both a theoretical framework and a set of illustrative case studies entitled “Building the Basis for Monetization: Optimizing Player Engagement.”
Second, we had an amazing audience
We were slightly nervous about this — GDC has a reputation for “One hundred people registered. Eight showed up.” In our case, 170 people registered, we issued 140 tickets, and 80 people showed up (which, since the room only held 100 people, was perfect). The audience included, among other luminaries, at least 4 PhD’s in Statistics and the entire staff of the Game Economist podcast (note that the Game Economist did a special GDC podcast including an interview with Julian as he headed to the airport— give it a listen and hear him school the economists on the true value of cross-promotions).
Third, the happy hour was delightful
“That was fun! I thought the crowd was really engaged and knowledgeable. And it sure was nice to spend a few hours away from the circus to have a more functional networking event.” — Joost Van Dreunen
The combination of the incredible speakers and the amazing audience meant that the happy hour was more than just an excuse to have reuben croquettes and duck mole tacos while downing plastic glasses of red wine. The food was good, but the conversations were excellent and lasted until the museum closed.
David Nixon