Seismic Waves

I think that might be the case for some people, but we've done very well. We can kind of work in any business we wanted to work in, and I think that's important thing. We chose social games because that's whats new, that's what fresh and interesting. Anyone who's a game developer, you ask any of the guys, they don't want to be stuck doing the same thing year after year and doing version three or doing version four, five or six, there's that creative spark that all great developers have and they want to be able to constantly refine and hone their craft, and take it to the next level.

So what attracted us to social games is not only that opportunity to be a little more... to take a few more risks. You can take more of a risk in this industry because the variables are much more reasonable, with traditional games... believe me, I've sat in so many meetings where everyone is completely risk averse, and you can see that is you look at the top ten. You have to go for what you know is going to hit it.

We've been making games for 25 year old guys for 15 years because that's who we were, and its very to make a game for yourself, but now we're all married, we've got kids, we see that wow, there's all these other people out here!

So as a developer, as a designer, as a creative team here we feel like we can really express our creative chops much more.

Another thing that was really exciting to us was actually reaching different demographics. We've been making games for 25 year old guys for 15 years because that's who we were, and its very to make a game for yourself, but now we're all married, we've got kids, we see that wow, there's all these other people out here! And the opportunity to make games that have a really broad appeal, way beyond that core demographic that we've been making games for for the last 15 years is something that's really exciting for us.

We love thinking about how we can take these things that we've learnt about how to make really compelling games, how can we take that and combine it with what the Zyngas of the world have done, like the analytic approach to designing games, and how can we take our more creative, entertainment focused background in console games and combine that with a more analytic approach to game design that Zyngas been doing, and create something that's really new and fresh.

Yes, and I think that's the opportunity. I think a lot of people can knock Zynga for their analytic approach to games but they've done an incredible job of creating something that is new and obviously has millions and millions of users who love playing. They've done something that's right, and honestly, something that traditional console and PC developers can learn a lot from. I'll tell you I've learned more in this last year of really diving into the whole idea of this analytical approach. But I think if you only approach it from analytics you end up with something that at the end of the day, people aren't really sure why they're playing it. They're playing it, they're addicted to playing it, but they don't know why. And there's that entertainment side, that soul, that needs to be infused. So we're hoping that we can learn from the great things that Zynga has done but then also draw really deeply on our experience and our entertainment and creative past and blend those two together to create something that's really really special.

I think that's what we're excited about, what are the things that you can do? What is it that this new platform allows us to do, and I think what you mentioned there is something that's really great which is, that kind of real time involvement and conversation you have with your game.

How can we take this idea that we're constantly connected to actually make the game a better game from a qualitative, entertainment perspective?

Gabe Newell at Valve has been talking about this quite a bit and games as a service in the traditional space, this isn't new, this has been part of the conversation for the last couple of years. And I think that the real time conversation with consumers is really exciting and we think we can actually incorporate that into the game play. Whether it's ripped from the headlines or actually drawing real time things that are happening in the world and pulling them into the game. It's using the advantage of having it always connected, to not be like "oh we can just keep tweaking this until we perfect the model" but actually use it as a game design feature. How can we take this idea that we're constantly connected to actually make the game a better game from a qualitative, entertainment perspective rather than just focus on constantly noodling little numbers here and there?

So that's one of the things that we're pretty excited about. It's interesting to think about how do we develop a product in 9 years, when you're developing products that take two or three years it's a different mindset, and it's about moving very fast, it's about getting something out there and testing it quite a bit, and trying it, and trying new things, and taking risks, and there's not necessarily the proven formula.

I should say one of the challenges is there is a proven formula. You can just do exactly what Zynga does, you can have it all about farming, and you can have it all about baked goods, and there's that formula that I think a lot of people fall into because Zynga's perfected a formula. That's why you have so many "me too" products.

So one of the challenges is what are the elements that are great about those? What are the familiar elements that you grab on to, what are those things that you ditch? To try and find that balancing act of making the game familiar to players, but something that's new and fresh.