1. The Five Mind-Myths of the Micro-Mobile Studio
Charles Cox Founder/CEO, 4gency

2. Who is this guy? Mobile + Tablet Games
“Weekend warrior” mobile devs, 2 teams of four people
$25k initial investment, 1.5 years in operation
2 games, 75k users, 4 platforms, 3 revenue models

3. Why is he here?
Alternate Titles for this Presentation: “How Not to Spend Your First $25,000” “The Incredible Shrinking Revenue Share” “I Screwed Up But You Don’t Have To” “$1 Wines for CEOs on a Budget”

4. Why is he here? (continued)
I’m here to share my experiences. If you’re just getting started… or if you’re near launching… or if you’ve had a few scrapes too… I’m with you. Let’s see how we can do better together.

5. 4gency’s first year: hopes & harsh realities
OMG a profitable month!
Node.Hack Released
Armored Drive Released

6. The Five Mind-Myths that nearly sunk us
We’ll chase the market
Forget marketing, it’ll sell itself
Our game will totally go viral
Ignore that metric, it’s lying to you
One more title and we’ll get a hit

7. “The tablet market is super hot, you guys.”
Success starts with a clear, articulated, supportable vision. Passionate. Backed by data.
This wasn’t it.
– Actual CEO quote

8. Myth #1: We’ll chase “the market”
“The tablet market is super hot, you guys.” – Actual CEO quote
No such thing!
Micro-markets!
Do you know yours?
What do they like?
What do they hate?
What do they spend?
Where do they find new games?
Room for innovation
Lead your market from something they know to something they will like
Talk to them early!
Our genres. Whoops.
Could have used this about a year earlier, thanks

9. “Nah, I’d rather put my money in R&D.”
– Actual CEO quote

10. Myth #2: Forget marketing, it’ll sell itself
“Nah, I’d rather put money in R&D.” – Actual CEO quote
You can’t have a product without development.
You can’t have a successful product without marketing dollars.
Better R&D wouldn’t have pushed the arrow further up the curve.
Why didn’t we answer this question: how are people going to find us?
Where we ended up
I saw it in postmortem after postmortem, founders kicking themselves for not having marketing dollars.
One day, in my most down moment, I stumbled on an old 2002 GDC binder of presentation slides. Back then they printed them.
And one was from Kent Quirk of Cognitoy. In it he had the postmortem for MindRover.
And right there: “Have a dedicated Marketing budget!”
Why do we do this?
A lot of us come from engineering backgrounds. We believe in the power of R&D.
I come from that background.
But it’s not the only thing we need these days.

11. “They’ll hit the Share button. A lot.”
– Actual CEO quote

12. Myth #3: Our game will totally go viral
“They’ll hit the Share button. A lot.” – Actual CEO quote
Users are not an acquisition strategy.
Acquire
Retain
Monetize
Share (maybe)
Yeah, that’s like 2% 1%
This doesn’t mean “share button”

13. “IAP % can’t be that low. The metrics are wrong.”
– Actual CEO quote

14. Myth #4: Ignore that metric, it’s lying
“IAP% can’t be that low. The metrics are wrong.” – Actual CEO quote
Pre-Release Test (Canada)
Global Metrics Post-Release
Forget statistical significance – zero is still zero
Gee whiz, think you could have predicted that?
CEOs may need a reality reminder from time to time.
Numbers usually work, but sometimes…
If in doubt, keep testing.

15. “We learned a lot. This next one will be big.”
– Actual CEO quote

16. Myth #5: One more title and we’ll get a hit
“We’ve learned a lot. This next one will be big.” – Actual CEO quote
There’s a reason investors want to see recurring revenue.
Keep asking: where will your loyal user base come from?
Virality from title-to-title is even less than on a single title.
How will your games influence and lead into one another?
50,000
Node.Hack Users
25,000
Armored Drive Users
250
Crossover Users
How is this going to pay the bills?

17. All together now: the Five Mind-Myths
We’ll chase the market
Forget marketing, it’ll sell itself
Our game will totally go viral
Ignore that metric, it’s lying to you
One more title and we’ll get a hit

18. $25,000 = one damn good education.
Did anything go right?
We’re still here, aren’t we?
75k users, good ratings on App Stores
Pocket Gamer Silver Medal for Node.Hack
Valuable post-mortems on
Fodder for portfolios and resumes
A commitment to risk harder and smarter
In all…
$25,000 = one damn good education.

19. The “Anti-Myths”: how to get it right
Find your niche and serve it
Have dedicated marketing budget
Acquire, acquire, acquire users
Test, verify, and trust your metrics
Think beyond each title

20. Thank You! Mobile + Tablet Games We’d love to hear from you!
Visit us and Node.Hack at the Indie Showcase
Charles Cox
Founder/CEO, 4gency