Swrve has worked with games since the beginning. We were founded by gamers to help other gamers turn more players into payers. And while our platform has expanded over the years to help other industries, from airlines to fashion magazines, and global telcos to home security, we’re always proud and eager to maintain our gaming roots.
And so it was a real pleasure to attend Casual Connect in London; a get-together of what is happening in the heart of the games industry. In between getting addicted to every fledgling game vying for the Indie Prize, there was still time for us to talk to lots of interesting people with their fingers on the pulse, and listen to great talks from some real gaming legends and up and coming stars.
Live Ops Continues To Grow In Importance
We’re huge advocates of live ops here at Swrve, and its growing significance in the games industry was on full display at Casual Connect, with a whole day of talks dedicated to it. Live ops helps to keep your games going strong after launch, and in many cases keeps them going strong for a very long time after launch!
There were talks on everything from frameworks for keeping live ops simple, to the understanding of player psychology needed to be successful. Our favourite talk was given by Matt Casey from Jagex, Senior Product Manager at Jagex, demonstrating the ‘living game philosophy’ of the legendary Runescape, which has been consistently expanded and updated for over 18 years, with its player community at its heart. It’s live ops at its finest.
Monetization Still Keeps People Awake At Night
Some things never change. London is always hectic, conference food is never great, and thinking about how to successfully monetize games keeps people awake at night. There were plenty of talks about increasing the LTV of players, maximizing user acquisition campaigns (and therefore minimizing wasted spend), and even tips for evaluating a monetization solution (pro tip: choose Swrve).
We noticed some of the gaming titans, like Unity, preaching best practices for monetization that we’ve been shouting from the rooftops for years, so it’s nice to see our methods becoming industry standard. And while you’re here, you may as well check out our fantastic Monetization Report 2019 for mobile games.
Mobile Games Are Maturing
Finally there was a palpable sense of maturity about mobile games at this event. Talks like ‘10 Years of Angry Birds’, ‘1 Million Years of Audience Watch Time’, and the oddly normal sounding ‘Mobile Gaming Today’, made us feel like what was once rapid expansion, exploration, and innovation has now become quotidian. It’s now an established industry, and we’re proud to be part of it.
