Reality Panic

A recent interview I did with Mathew Kumar on tax breaks and game industry economic development was posted to Gamasutra, and got some good comment traction. A related article by Nicholas Lovell was posted as well, questioning the true value of tax breaks.

As I clarified in my own comment to my interview, I’m not opposed to tax breaks. They are a valuable tool. I’m opposed to thinking that providing a tax break is the only way to build/grow the game industry in your country/region. For example, listen to the language that Singapore uses with regards to building an ecosystem, creating original content, supporting education/talent, having players involved in all aspects of the value chain, etc.

In the UK, they just can’t stop complaining about Canada being a threat and fighting for a “level playing field”. I’d say their number one threat right now is their attitude! Instead of fighting for something they will never get and complaining about it, they need to look at the bright spots and clone those. Who is succeeding; who is persevering; who is growing; who is being innovative? How and why are they able to do this, despite not having a “level playing field” with tax breaks. Figure that out, then emulate. It’s more about amplifying the positive than getting stuck in the negative.

For example, I’m a big fan of incubation - in all its various forms. At the end of June, Joystick Labs was announced. Based in North Carolina, they are currently taking applications for their game-focused incubator program (deadline is August 13th). I was so pleased/impressed to see this initiative happening that I agreed to serve as an advisor/mentor.

That said, the UK has one of the best incubation programs around: Dare to be Digital. Instead of wasting energy complaining about some figurative “playing field”, get behind that and drive it even farther. Similarly, instead of complaining about UK culture minister Ed Vaizey’s non-committal language on tax breaks, folks should be jumping all over the fact that he announced a £5m investment fund.

There is no reason why the UK cannot return to its game industry powerhouse status. They don’t even need tax breaks or government support (though, sure, would be nice) to do it. They mainly just need a new, more positive mindset.

Wow, I’m shaking from eating too much meat!

Went to dinner with local indies Ken Schachter (Trapdoor) and Vander Caballero (Blue Lizard) to talk shop. Ken suggested Le Milsa, a Brazilian churrascaria style restaurant. Of course, we took the “rodizio” option… Too. Much. Meat.

There was even a carnival style samba dancer that come out to get the crowd revved up. Ironically, when I was in Rio last year, I meant to hit a churrascaria, but never got the chance..

Vander and Ken and lots of meat!

Ken and Vander attacked by the samba dancer!

I recently signed the ECA’s “Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Game” petition. And, somehow, it’s making me feel even better about clearing out all the crime from Crackdown 2’s Pacific City ;)

Ok, more seriously, freedom of speech and creative expression for game developers was always one of the big topics I dealt with while at the IGDA. Now my work is much more business/strategy focused, and I don’t really get to wrestle with stuff like censorship anymore. Though, I will often bring it up in terms of governments who are keen to support/grow their local game industry, need to be thinking about the overall “atmosphere” for games and removing as much “friction” as possible. In fact, a critical success factor is embracing games as art and culture.

Anyway, takes all of 20 seconds to sign the petition. Do it!

The first time I got to visit New Orleans was for SIGGRAPH 2009. Was so busy with work that I never made it out of the warehouse district (where the convention center is). Last week, I popped in for some client work, and despite only being in town for a single full day, did have some time to finally check out Bourbon Street and wander around a bit.

A few quick thoughts:

• Damn, as a burly Canadian, I’m just not made for that kind of humidity!
• Bourbon Street is insane/overwhelming, but why does it smell so odd, and half the girls look like Kate Bosworth?
• All the food is super crazy delicious!

And, a few quick photos:

The start of Bourbon, at Canal.

And boom, right away, intense police “tools”.

Well, with Transformers roaming the area, I can understand…

A tame day-time snapshot.

St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter.

Yummy shrimp po boy :)

My triumphant return to E3 was an exhausting affair. I skipped the past two years, but with the expo back to its former format (almost) and client work to do, I had a valid reason to bask in the neon glow of the LA Convention Center.

Admittedly, attending E3 in past years (as IGDA guy) was a relaxed situation compared to this year. In four nights and three days, I covered 27 meetings and about a dozen social functions and parties (including a visit to the Canadian Consul’s house) and a lecture at the collocated Game Education Summit. Sadly, this left little time to check out the expo floor itself – probably less than an hour total in both halls. But after a dozen E3s, you start to realize that the game news sites and blogs, etc, do a better job of covering the games/news than you possibly can. So, I just check out all the highlights once I get back ;)

From a personal work-process point of view, this is the first event where I never had to boot up my laptop (to do email, check meeting info, scheduling, etc). I’ve been getting more and more proficient/confident with my Android phone, and it enabled me to do everything that was needed (though, wow, they so have to work on battery life). Also, quick note that only 1 one the 27 meetings got canceled – which is quite impressive for the always frantic E3.

Regarding E3 itself, I have mixed emotions – just as I always have had. One the one hand, it’s great to see all the action in one place, garnering massive amounts of attention and enabling ancillary activities to flourish (lamprey style) around the big show. Plus getting business done, meeting with industry friends, etc, is all good. But, on the other hand, all of the glam and fanfare (booth babes, super star appearances, etc) largely comes across as inauthentic and just a ruse to get (wasted ephemeral) attention. And while the event is not quite as big as it was before the previous implosion, you get the sense that the budgets and marketing spend to “do” E3 is right back where it used to be.

Here’s what caught my eye:

Deputy Consul General of Canada, Marcy Grossman, kicks off the Canadian sponsored networking breakfast.

Super cool life-sized Halo Reach statues/diorama.

Ooh, can’t wait to kill more zombies in Dead Rising 2! This guy clearly wanted to eat my brain.

Always nice to see IndieCade giving indie/experimental games a presence at the big show.

An odd sight, hairstyling game including in-booth make-overs…

Cute go-cart style “holder” for your Wii-mote.

One of the few examples of the exploding free-to-play/social gaming market, tucked away in the SOE booth. With 10million users, FreeRealms currently enjoys more success than the vast majority of the games at E3 will ever hope to achieve…

The acclaimed USC School of Cinematic Arts, host of the 2010 Game Education Summit.

Bill Shribman (WGBH Education Foundation) and Nina Walia (PBS Kids) discuss lessons learned with kids/educational games for iPhone at the Game Education Summit.

EA CEO John Riccitiello gets “attacked” by WWE athlete (and game blogger) Gerard Williams at the Wedbush/EEDAR party.

Fire eaters at the Nexon party. Reminds me of similar performances at the old Sony parties…

My favorite piece in this year’s Into the Pixel collection: “Knight March” by Richard Anderson from ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2.

Driveway up to the Canadian Consul’s house.

Chris Swain (USC) and Emma Westecott (OCAD) enjoying a cocktail, thanks to Canadian taxpayers ;)

The path to The EP.

Even at such a Hollywood-style party as The EP, the gamers can’t keep from gaming! FYI, Nicola totally whipped my butt.

Epic Mickey got a lot of attention. Kudos to Warren.

As did AC: Brotherhood. I bet the Ubi PR folks got really tired of answering why Patrice left…

Obligatory fast car shot!

Billy Cain (Sneaky Games) belting it out on Rock Band 3.

Folks were raving about Dance Central as a great Kinect game. I didn’t watch long enough to get past giggling over the goofiness of seeing the folks gyrate with less-than-Britney skill ;)

Was back in Ottawa to speak at the opening Generator event. Generator is the game/digital media cluster support group under the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) umbrella.

My presentation was focused on economic/cluster dynamics, related to my consulting efforts. Another lecture, by the director of PlayReplay (game marketing specialist), covered the evolving nature of the business, along with the impact of digital distribution, and how it is/will shift the balance of power to developers.

That last point incited a good deal of discussion among the audience, with a key  point being that developers want to develop - and not worry about all the business dirty work. Meaning, many devs are simply not interested in taking back power, if that means they gotta worry about marketing and distribution and customer service, etc, etc. Let alone stuff like cashflow management, funding, and not getting screwed on contracts, etc.

Interestingly enough, we are starting to see the rise of new “small game” specialists that will handle that for you. From PlayReplay’s guerrilla marketing/PR services, to traditional AAA game agents now servicing the casual/social/download space, or specific advice on funding and business support from industry veterans. The services are out there, and you’d be wise to leverage them so you can focus on the dev part of the equation.

Amazingly, so many devs are either outright hesitant to get help, or are concerned about trust issues with using a consultant (or often, more realistically, they just don’t have the money for it). One bit of advice I give to start-up studios is to hire a biz kid straight out of school. Find someone who just got a business/finance/management/MBA style degree, who is super keen on games and get them to come on board to take charge of all the business bits. They may be a complete game industry rookie, but even just their textbook knowledge of business will be a massive help! Bonus: They won’t be completely jaded about the games business… yet.