SANTA MONICA, Calif.-In years past, the E3 Media and Business summit was a catch-all for geeks, gamers and everything in between, but this year the conference organizers tightened their traditionally welcoming arms-so much so that mobile was all but completely shut out of the affair.
Mobile gaming CEOs couldn’t get past the gates, many more were shunned, and invites were so limited that even the largest of gaming companies couldn’t get many people in.
“It’s by invitation only, and again I can understand why the organizers have done this. It’s more focused, it’s more elitist, but we’ll have to see how successful it is,” said I-play CEO David Gosen, one of many gaming veterans shut out from the event. “There are a lot of people that I think would like to be there that aren’t there.”
E3 was the pre-eminent video games forum in the world, and it has lost a significant opportunity for further collaboration by snubbing its mobile colleagues and counterparts, he said.
“As the early-stage pioneers of casual gaming, we haven’t really been given an opportunity to get on our soapbox and talk about it,” he said. “My hope is that next year when E3 plans the event, they give mobile the recognition as a sector that it deserves. I just want mobile gaming to get the recognition it deserves.”
Separate summit
Not to be outdone, Gosen and about 150 others still made their annual pilgrimage to the Los Angeles area to meet for an exclusive mobile gaming event all to their own-Mobile Games Insider. Ironically, the mobile event took exclusive to the next level by picking a private ocean-side Santa Monica club for the venue and limiting the total headcount to about 150.
Nonetheless, they had their soapbox for mobile gaming all the while enjoying a view of the beach and Santa Monica Mountains to the north. Perhaps the funniest part about having the event at such a posh locale, however, was the fact no one was allowed to use cellphones on the property grounds due to the club’s policy.
“It was a great opportunity for us to discuss the industry; in no way is it meant to compete with E3,” Gosen said of the event across town from E3.
“Video games aren’t just console, it does include mobile,” he said. “This is an absolutely critical channel for anyone who is looking to access the mass market and the true casual gamer. Mobile is a critical platform for the future growth and expansion of people’s brands.”
Tying in the brand
Jamba CEO Lucy Hood talked about the importance of brands in gaming in her opening keynote interview at the summit; And what perfect timing. The Simpsons is all the rage these days with a full-length feature film set to open July 27, but more importantly for Hood and others at Jamba was the wide-reaching suite of subscription-based content they were preparing to launch around the brand by week’s end. Few brands have more recognition or a larger fan base than The Simpsons, and Jamba can’t wait to see how far that will propel its new product offering.
“Our big guy this week is the guy saying ‘Doh!’ ” she said.
“A mobile gamer is anyone,” she told the audience. “We fill those moments, those five minutes when you want to kill time.”
She said the growth of mobile gaming will pivot around quality and improved discovery. “It’s important that this category grow,” she said.
“I think we have to keep making the gaming experience better,” Hood said. “Really, it’s about people being innovative, being adventurous, being crazy.”
Jamba has been very successful at sparking fans’ interest via fives-second tags on TV ads and other promotional material for big brands. “What you do is find out what they’re watching and you tag it as much as you can to go after that fan,” she said. “We’re constantly refining how we reach different audiences.”
In Gosen’s interview with RCR Wireless News, he said people need to think about gaming without borders.
“It’s this concept of casual gaming without boundaries that I think is really driving this off-deck, direct-to-consumer market.”
