Riccitiello: "Precious little to indicate mobile is building long-term brands"

In a "fireside chat" at Casual Connect, ex-EA CEO John Riccitiello sat down with journalist John Gaudiosi to talk about the state of the business.

Gaudiosi asked what Riccitiello thinks of the state of the industry today and who the winners are in mobile. "It's shocking how long titles stay in the Top Fifty," Riccitiello said. He also noted that there's no publisher with broad, long-term success on mobile. "Most publishers have only one or two titles in the Top Fifty," said RIccitiello. "Almost no one has a title with more than a year in the Top Fifty, and there's never been a successful sequel."

Riccitiello's solution? "Mobile needs to build brands," he said. "Madden is in its 25th year. So far there's precious little to indicate mobile is building long-term brands." The touchstone for Riccitiello is how well people do version 2.0 of a successful mobile game. Can publishers create brands that will last for multiple years? He feels that is going to be a key towards creating a valuable mobile publisher for the long term.

Gaudiosi asked what the role of a publisher is in mobile games, and Riccitiello said that's still developing. Classically, he explained, publishers do three things: Provide capital, turn content into money (transactions), and provide editorial service. Mobile developers still need capital (especially as budgets increase), and help improving a game (both technical and design help) is always useful. What's not clear, according to Riccitiello, is how helpful publishers can be in handling transactions when the platforms provide much of that mechanical assistance. The conversion of content into money is a mix of technology, marketing, and design, and mobile games are showing themselves to be different in many ways than games on other platforms.

"I've visited with many developers since I left EA... I tell them investing in better [mobile] graphics without a better game is a road to ruin"

What needs to change, according to Riccitiello, is the balance of revenue between the distribution platforms and the content providers. "For Apple and Google over the last five years, perhaps half or two thirds of their increase in shareholder value is directly from mobile products. That's about $300 billion of capital created by the distribution platform," said Riccitiello. On the other side is content. "Games are about 75 percent of all mobile app monetization; perhaps $25 billion of shareholder value has been created by content. That's ten times more value created by the platform creator. That wasn't the case in console." Riccitiello feels that there's great potential for game creators to change that equation and generate a lot more value from the content than from the platform.

Gaudiosi then asked Riccitiello what mobile can learn from console. "I've visited with many developers since I left EA," Riccitiello said. "Many have told me they want to bring console level graphics to mobile, and that will make them better. I tell them investing in better graphics without a better game is a road to ruin." Riccitiello feels that while mobile power is increasing, the rewards will go to developers that generate more satisfying games, not just better-looking games. "One bit of advice as you're looking at more powerful mobile," said Riccitiello. "Think about how that allows you to create an experience you haven't seen before. What game mechanic wasn't possible before?" Developers that find good answers to that question will do well.

Finally, Gaudiosi asked if Riccitello had any thoughts on how second screen gaming is impacting the business. "No one really knows the answer," said Riccitiello. "I sit on my couch looking at my email, playing a game on console, and playing Candy Crush on my tablet. I'm using mobile screens all the time. I have seen some absolutely stupendous dual screen experiences with console and mobile. I don't think we're scratching the surface so much as we're waving our hand above a surface that we're yet to scratch."

Riccitiello said that some of us would argue that all you need is a tablet or a phone and wireless HDMI out, but he disagrees. "TV is going be used for mobile games and dual screen will be a really big idea when you figure out a gameplay experience that is better."