Preview: Game Connection

Q Are new platforms having an impact on your operations?

Travian Games has a remarkable expertise in browser based online games. That is where we have our core competencies and the platform discussion does therefore only have little impact on our general operations.

On the other hand, the opportunity to play our games on (new) online platforms that are using standard browser technology is always interesting and we will carefully analyse them. As for all online games companies, every online platform delivers a bonus value for us and more flexibility for our users to play at any time and any place.

Florian Müller, CEO, Travian

New platforms bring new challenges, but also new opportunities. The first half of any platform's lifecycle is always a good place to bring new IP to market and I find that exciting. I think that next few months will be about the platform holders making big splashes and setting out their stalls with Move, Kinect and the 3DS.

Then in the second half of 2011 the emphasis will shift towards the third party publishers driving growth for these platforms. I also expect to see business models from the social gaming space begin to have an impact on and be adopted in more traditional games.

Caspar Gray, acquisitions manager, Square Enix Europe

The launch of new platforms is always an exciting period, especially when doing business development for Ubisoft. Move, Kinect, 3DS - we have plenty of good reasons to look forward to this new edition of Game Connection.

Sébastien Tasserie, business development manager (Europe/Asia-Pacific), Ubisoft

The downloadable platforms are offering a type of arcade renaissance for both Konami and the industry. Companies can take the risk of launching new IP in an array of genres on a variety of platforms targeted different segments of the market.

The cost of entry is low enough that if the title is not successful, the risk is manageable. If the title is tremendously successful, the return on investment can be substantial. We are excited to see the amount of innovation and creations that results from this investment!

Careen Yapp, VP of acquisitions and franchise development, Konami

Q What are you overall expectations of the event?

We are looking forward to introduce the benefits of Travian Publishing to potential new partners and want to set up new promising business opportunities. The meetings at Game Connection are of course only the first step and leads into more details when the follow-up needs to be done to evaluate and finalise deals.

In this context our expertise in free-to-play online games will be the common ground to get the games of tomorrow worth playing even today!

Florian Müller, CEO, Travian

We always look forward to Game Connection and this year is no different. Given the expanding platforms and opportunities, we expect to meet a number of studios with excellent prospects to build something going forward.

Martyn Brown, business development director and co-founder, Team 17

MGS wants to continue to attract top talent, whether an indie start-up or established developer, and offer consumers great games. My goal is to find and fund some of those games at the event, but at a minimum meet some good developers that we can partner with now or in the future.

Cherie Lutz, senior business development manager, Microsoft Game Studios

Naturally I'm hoping to find some new titles that we end up signing and taking into full development; certainly that has been the result of previous Game Connections, and I'm optimistic that this year will be the same.

Fundamentally however I find it fascinating to see the levels of creativity and fresh thinking that is coming from the various development teams I get to speak to at the event, so on a basic level you could say that I'm looking forward to seeing as many pitches as possible.

Pete Smith, XDev Studio Europe, SCEE