The first main day of the World Gaming Executive Summit in Barcelona, following yesterday’s Regulation Day, kicked off with a discussion between Facebook’s Sean Ryan and Rick Brownlow, the CEO of Bonza Gaming.
Ryan, global games partnerships director for Facebook, highlighted a strategic focus on mobile: “There are parts of the world where people are getting online for the first time via mobile – those people may never use a desktop PC. So we have re-oriented [the Facebook business] to focus on mobile.”
“You should be on iOS, Android and desktop - and your apps should sync across all of those,” said Ryan.
“Low-end Android phones, often built by Chinese manufacturers, are taking over certain markets in the world, especially in south-east Asia. That’s the focus.”
Brownlow added: “The problem for us is that you can’t put a native [RMG] app in the Google Play Store. So you have to create a mobile website for Android but a native app for iOS.
“Mobile web on Android – everyone always puts it down. But the feedback we get from users that have two devices - an iPad with a native app and an Android phone with a mobile website – is that they basically run the same. Once players have been educated and embrace the technology, the experience is very similar.”
“The interesting thing for us is the tablet – everyone is going after the high-end mobile devices. I don’t think people are really focusing on developing something specific for tablets.”
Ryan agreed that tablets were a different challenge: “We look at tablet as a separate beast - a tablet user is worth 50 to 100 per cent more than a phone user.
Asked what developers should do to succeed in social real-money gaming, Facebook’s Ryan was clear: “In a crowded system the value of brands really matters. You need a multi-platform strategy across desktop, tablet and phone. You need features such as a robust tournament feature. Ask how much social can you build into the game.”
He continued: “There are four main categories of games – slots only, bingo only, casino games, which is tables and some slots, and then you have poker.
“Four distinct games and four distinct apps but with very different audiences. You don’t have to have all [platforms] but you need to address a wide audience by segmenting your business - then you can cross sell.”
Image: Bonza Gaming CEO Rick Bucklow addresses the World GES conference, flanked by Sean Ryan of Facebook (L) and Roger Withers of Playtech (R).
