Toca Boca CEO Bjorn Jeffery On Expanding From Game Apps To Video

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Streaming services like Netflix and YouTube have transformed how kids define TV and video. Leveraging this trend, kids digital game and toy developer Toca Boca has hired former Sesame Workshop creative director J Milligan to lead company’s new video division based in New York City.

Toca Boca expects to introduce its first offerings from the video division in the second half of 2015. The new studio will be dedicated to the video division, which will complement the company’s popular apps. Toca Boca will continue to deliver apps for kids with new releases scheduled this spring and summer.

Toca Boca is a self-described “play studio” having released 27 apps so far. Your apps do not offer in-app purchases or external advertising. What is your business model and how will it translate into video?

The industry is shifting towards freemium apps, but for us it comes down to who is using our apps. In our case, parents are the customers and kids are the users. While I’m okay with charging parents who are making an informed decision, trying to sell virtual items to kids is more complicated — and often a little dubious. This means that we need to find business models that feel fair and natural, without impairing the experience for kids. For our regular apps this means charging an upfront fee once and for the video project it will be a subscription service.

What kind of video programming can we expect from the new NYC studio and how will you position your videos versus other players like Sesame Workshop?

The new studio is the beginning of a journey. We are going to experiment to see what video on touch screens can be. There are a lot of interesting and inspiring things out there, but much of it isn’t coming from the traditional TV industry. YouTube and Vine are interesting from the perspective of developing video formats that are completely different from what you can see on regular TV. This will be the difference for us too — we are starting completely fresh and without legacy. Thinking about the tablet as the first screen, we can design a new kind of video experience and explore new opportunities in areas such as format.

Since social media is usually catering to a 13+ year-old audience, how do you plan to build buzz for these videos as well as the apps when you can’t use Facebook retargeting and other user-acquisition tactics popular with mobile game developers?

Social media works to inform parents of what is going on, but as you mention this is harder for kids. We will be relying on the product itself to be a compelling enough experience that kids and parents will talk about and recommend it. And of course, we already have 85 million mobile downloads so that is a good start too.

Tell us more about how touchscreen device video is different from TV?

It is the former which is rapidly becoming the first screen as opposed to the second for kids (and some adults). Kids expect to be in control of the experience — and not just from the sense that it is on demand. I think feeling a sense of mastery is really important here, and making the experience do what you want it to do. It will be a balance between traditional narratives while keeping this interactive mastery at the same time. None of this is being done by the old TV networks. They don’t start with the touch screen and think “how can I make a great experience here “. Instead, they think “how can I get my existing video archive on a mobile phone “. This doesn’t make for an experience that really makes the most of the medium, as a lot of the existing services have shown.

Personally, what’s your favorite game right now? (and you can’t mention your own)…

Right now I’m playing a lovely little 2D side-scroller called Alto’s Adventure. Beautifully crafted in all its simplicity.

Connect:

tocaboca.com

Toca Boca on LinkedIn

@TocaBoca

Bjorn Jeffery on LinkedIn

@BjornJeffery

VIDEO: ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ Assaulting Gamers This November

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As promised back at E3 2013, Electronic Arts is bringing back Star Wars Battlefront in a big way.

The publisher officially unveiled a new gameplay trailer for the long-awaited sequel in the multiplayer action series, which features Rebels battling Stormtroopers on Endor before bigger and badder enemies, such as an AT-AT and Darth Vader, show up to wreak havoc. The trailer made its debut this morning at the Star Wars Celebration event in Anaheim, with more set to be revealed at a booth on the show floor. The trailer can be seen below.

 

As you can see, EA is very serious about making Battlefront the most spectacular effort in the series to date, with an unprecedented amount of focus on presentation. The development team at DICE went to great lengths to capture every bit of essence from the films, including visiting the LucasFilm archives and Skywalker Sound.

The game will not only feature an abundance of content from the classic films in the series, but also from The Force Awakens, as it’ll prepare a special piece of free downloadable content, Battle of Jakku, that will release in early December, weeks before the arrival of the film in theaters. Those who pre-order Battlefront will be able to access the content a week earlier, starting on December 1st.

With strong multiplayer support (up to 40 players online, along with local and online co-op for friends) and a second-to-none presentation, Battlefront could easily be one of this holiday’s bigger system sellers — especially since it opens up the Star Wars spectrum to players. This includes battling enemies on foot with legendary characters like Darth Vader, hopping into a vehicle like a Speeder Bike or AT-AT, and taking to the skies for epic space battles in TIE Fighters and X-Wings.

The game will release on November 17 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC — a full month before Force Awakens debuts. It appears the Force will certainly be strong with players.

Vessel, Twitter, GoPro Execs To Keynote VidCon 2015

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by Jessica Klein

VidCon has named its 2015 keynote speakers, coming from major video-focused companies like Vessel, Twitter, and GoPro.

Specifically, keynote speakers this year will include Vessel CEO Jason Kilar; product lead for TV and video at Twitter, Baljeet Singh; and SVP of media at GoPro, Zander Lurie. The major influencers are just three of 14 total keynote speakers at this year’s VidCon.

“We took feedback from last year’s attendees, closely monitored the current industry and assembled a dream team of online video power players to ensure this year’s attendees get the most out of VidCon 2015,” said Hank Green, YouTube creator and co-founder of VidCon (with his brother, John Green), which had its first year in 2010.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Playing The App Store Blues

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The rapidly growing mobile game market, now the largest single sector of the game industry, has a bottleneck that’s been pinching for a while: the App Store review process. Developer Kushal Dave wrote a heartfelt screed on Medium calling for reform of the App Store to speed up the process and make it more transparent. The response has poured in, and certainly it seems like many developers very much agree with Dave’s points.

Ironically, this call for reform comes at a time when the Google Play store has revised its process to include more oversight (and thereby lengthen it), because of to many apps slipping through that violated copyright or had severe content issues (like overt racism or other hate speech).

The issues are a mix of practical ones (the slow speed of approvals, lack of precise guidelines, arbitrary and often capricious enforcement) and free-speech issues (the platform holder dictating what’s acceptable speech and what is not).

While no one wants to see more copyright violations, generally objectionable apps, or endless arrays of poor quality apps, it’s also clear that both Apple and app developers would benefit from faster approvals and clearer guidelines, consistently enforced. Apple should be striving to improve its performance here — and let’s not even go into how much the App Store experience could stand improvement in general, from its interface to its ability to help customers find what they are looking for (or to find quality apps they don’t even know exist).

Yes, the free-speech issues are unlikely to see much change. Apple doesn’t want to get anywhere near subjects like politics or sex, drugs or gun violence or religious debate. Certainly there’s a set of things that any individual might not want to see in the App Store, but that list varies quite a bit from person to person. The App Store is just one place, even though it might still be the most lucrative place for apps. If you have a strong need to express yourself in an app, there’s always Google Play.

On the practical level, wishing for someone else’s business to be run differently is a waste of your time. Sure, sign a petition, express yourself in writing, carry a placard outside a building. But if you’re trying to make money through the App Store, you have to figure out ways to most effectively deal with the realities of how the App Store works now.

That means building time in the schedule for a lengthy approval process. If your app may have content issues, try to figure out in advance when that may occur and edit yourself before you get to the App Store process. If there’s a fundamental issue with the App Store you just can’t get around, you shouldn’t be wasting your time developing an iOS app. Instead, look to Google Play or doing an online app or some other outlet.

Apple has been quite successful with its App Store model as it is, with all of its restrictions, sometimes lengthy approval times, and the increasing difficulty of finding the things you’re interested in with the relatively primitive tools available. (Apple would be well advised to study how Amazon surfaces product recommendations to look for ways to improve the App Store experience.) Could it be a lot better Absolutely, and let’s not even start talking about how the iTunes interface could use a complete and utter rethinking.

However, Apple’s success with the App Store is no doubt a powerful argument, in their eyes, to keep going the way its. Changing things might make it better… but it might make it worse, too. Apple is very protective of its brand, and generally conservative when it comes to changing policies and procedures. We can advocate change, but we shouldn’t expect it.

Savvy marketers see opportunities where others see problems. Figure out ways to work around issues you have with Apple’s App Store. For that matter, a carefully chosen dispute over content or an app rejection can be an occasion for good press and grabbing some attention. There’s nothing like banning a book, for instance, to get more people curious about its contents. This isn’t to say you should deliberately court controversy — there are plenty of drawbacks to that course of action. Still, a whiff of the forbidden can be an enticing scent, when applied judiciously.

So by all means keep putting pressure on Apple to improve the App Store, but never let that get in the way of getting your apps out to the customers. Apple owns the playing field and makes the rules, and we all have to figure out how to play our best marketing game under those conditions. That may include things you do off the field, too. But let’s not lose sight of the victory conditions here as we complain about the refs and the rules and the condition of the field. Regardless of all those things, we’re out on the field to win — and that’s what we need to keep in focus.

SuperData: March 2015 U.S. Digital Game Sales

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Analysis from SuperData CEO, Joost van Dreunen, follows:

 

  • Sony’s Bloodborne surprises with 155,000 digital units sold
  • Pincus takes back the wheel as social gaming market drops 10 percent
  • Nintendo moves to claim stake in $22.3 billion mobile games market
  • Overall digital games market totaled $1.01 billion in March sales
  • SuperData events: Berlin, New York, San Francisco, London, Los Angeles

 

Overall the U.S. market for digital games totaled $1.01 billion in sales in March, a 2 percent increase year-over-year.
The free-to-play MMO market reached $136 million in revenues, translating to 9.6 percent growth compared to the same month last year. A string of announcements, including a release date for Infinite Crisis from Warner Bros. subsidiary Turbine (NYSE: TWX) and Magic Duels: Origins from Wizards of the Coast (NASDAQ: HAS) continues the momentum in the free-to-play segment. Spending on mobile games was flat (-0.4 percent) compared to March 2014, but has been steadily improving following the seasonal dip during the first quarter. Following its earlier success, Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) doubled down on the Kardashian family by signing a licensing agreement with Kim’s half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, hoping to target mobile gamers in their teens and early 20s. Meanwhile, the social games segment appears to be in a free fall, dropping almost 10 percent in revenues during that same period. Despite new releases by Kabam, the enthusiasm for social games is waning in favor of games on tablets and smartphones.

Sony hits home with Bloodborne, selling 155,000 digital units worldwide.
After the release of the beautiful but terribly short game The Order: 1886 proved somewhat of a disappointment, the March release of Bloodborne has the makings of a hit for Sony (NYSE: SNE). The combined sell-through of over a million units just twelve days after release is a remarkable success. (It is important to note that “sell through” refers to “units shipped” and does not mean “units sold.”) By comparison the game’s spiritual predecessor Dark Souls 2, published by Bandai Namco (TYO: 7832), managed to ship 1.5 million units in its first month, but this was across three platforms and a much larger install base. As consumers grow accustomed to downloading games directly to their consoles, publishers have started to notice an increase in demand coming through digital distribution. The latest installment of the Battlefield franchise published by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA), Battlefield: Hardline, performed well, too, selling just under 425,000 digital units across platforms in March. Overall the digital console market in the U.S. increased 20% in March compared to the same month last year, totaling $84 million in sales.

Pincus takes back the wheel as social gaming market drops 10 percent.
Following the announcement of Don Mattrick’s sudden departure from his position as CEO at Zynga (ZNGA), investors responded with a wave of questions regarding the company’s future. It’s not been an easy job, of course. During Mattrick’s tenure the overall social games market dropped 6% in size and the monthly active user base has been largely stagnant, hovering around 188 million. Under his leadership, Zynga’s strongest franchise, FarmVille, was unable to counteract the softening of the market and dropped more than $9 million in monthly revenues to just over $2 million. By comparison, King (KING) has managed to offset a similar decline in revenues and its Candy Crush Saga on Facebook still operates at the same monthly earnings from two years ago. Overall, the social games segment totaled $154 million (March 2015), 42 percent lower compared to May 2012, when the market was at its peak. And things are not looking up: current spending patterns indicate a year-over-year decline of 7 percent in social gaming for 2015E.

Nintendo moves to claim stake in $22.3 billion mobile games market.
The announcement of a partnership with DeNA (TYO: 2432), a $2 billion a year mobile games company in Japan, proved welcome news for worldwide gaming audiences. Initially hoping to generate a modest $15 million in monthly revenues by leveraging its best-known properties, Nintendo (TYO: 7974) has finally made a clear commitment to the mobile games market, which is on track to reach $22.3 billion in worldwide revenues this year (2015E). As a growing number of mobile game companies set their sights on Asia, and specifically China, building a strong presence in Japan may yet be the more convincing strategy on tackling this market as mobile revenue per paying user is more than three times higher there than in China. If nothing else, it will help offset the never-ending increase in marketing expenses, especially now that TV commercials are becoming the next frontier in user acquisition wars. It is to be expected that Nintendo’s existing franchises will continue to drive sales, as is the case of Super Smash Brothers on the Wii U. But it demands a sufficient adaptation to mobile platforms: one of the company’s more recent releases, Pokémon Shuffle, did manage to accumulate over a million players but still stands clearly in the shadows of titles like Puzzle & Dragons by Gungho Online Entertainment (TYO: 3765) despite their apparent similarities.

SuperData event calendar: Berlin, New York, San Francisco, London, Los Angeles.
With the coming of Spring, the conference circuit blossoms. In the approaching period we will be available at the following events. If you haven’t already, please reach out to schedule a meeting.

  • “How to catch a unicorn: de-risking creativity.” A presentation by SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen on April 22 at Quo Vadis in Berlin.
  • “Gamers are dead. Long live gaming!” A panel discussion on the changing nature of the gaming landscape, on Monday April 27 in New York in collaboration with Google.
  • “Free-to-play MMO retention, re-acquisition and their respective contributions to monetization.” Presentation by SuperData Director of Data Analytics Albert Ngo at the Game Analytics Summit on April 29 in San Francisco.
  • “Globalise your games.” Presentation by SuperData Senior Research Analyst Stephanie Llamas at Game Monetisation Europe on April 29 in London.
  • “Playing for real. How eSports is changing the game.” A panel discussion on competitive gaming on May 6 at the LA Games Conference in Los Angeles.

 

www.superdataresearch.com

Apple Is China’s #1 Technology Brand By Revenues

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Analysis by Newzoo, the international market research and predictive analytics firm, shows that Apple was by far the largest technology brand in China in 2014 with revenues eclipsing those of traditional powerhouses such as Samsung, Sony, Microsoft as well as all Chinese technology firms. According to Newzoo, Apple’s “Asian Pivot” in 2014 may end up in the history books as one of the greatest corporate strategic achievements of all time: The first Western firm to become the leading brand by revenues simultaneously in the two biggest markets in the world, U.S.A. and China.

Newzoo’s analysis reveals that in 2014, Apple generated over $37 billion in China. This is more than double the revenues of Huawei ($17.5 billion) and Lenovo ($14.7 billion) in their home market, and is almost three times that of Tencent and Xiaomi. Although these companies have very different core businesses, they are all competitors in the pivotal area of mobile devices and services. Huawei, with its roots in telecoms infrastructure, has a fast growing consumer devices business, Lenovo reduced its dependence on PC and laptops by acquiring the Motorola Mobility devices business from Google in 2014 and Tencent and Xiaomi are “mobile first” companies.

The analysis also shows that even though Apple’s competitors in the mobile devices market such as Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi may have a larger market share in terms of units shipped, Apple is in completely different league when it comes to revenues and profits. This is a direct consequence of its premium pricing and is often overlooked when market share statistics are published, statistics which are primarily based on unit sales and not revenues.

“With the introduction in September 2013 of the iPhone 5S and the less expensive 5C, many analysts believed the lower priced 5C was finally a product tailored to Asian markets, in particular China, said Newzoo CEO, Peter Warman. “Whether by luck or design, Apple’s blockbuster products in China are not the less expensive iPhone models such as the 5C, but the high-end 5S, 6 and 6 Plus, along with iPads and iMacs. If there was ever any potent evidence needed that Chinese consumers have money to spend and are willing to pay for quality and status, this is it”

In addition to the sheer size of its revenues and profits, one notable observation with potential implications for other Western firms is that Apple has achieved its unprecedented success by appealing directly to its Chinese consumers, using a more or less uniform global sales and marketing strategy. It did not abide by the conventional strategy of using a local partner to conquer China (with whom you must consequently share a significant part of revenue and profits).

For other leading technology firms such as Microsoft and Sony, China is evidently also a very important market, although Microsoft generated less than 10 percent of its FY2014 revenues of $86.8 billion in China. Sony generated 6.7 percent of its revenues, or $4.4 billion, in China in its FY ended March 31, 2014. Of the other tech titans, Google and Facebook have both been severely hampered by restrictions on their services in China, while Amazon faces a formidable competitor in Alibaba. Interestingly Volkswagen, the largest car manufacturer in the world and number one passenger vehicle brand in China, generated 38.1 billion ($46.1 billion) in 2014 in the whole APAC region, placing their Chinese revenues far below those of Apple.

Newzoo performs continued company analysis for a variety of its products including the Global Games Market Report {link no longer active}, the 2015 version of which will be launched in June.

Analyst: PC, Mobile Games Increase Share

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Research firm DFC Intelligence is readying a new forecast for the global games industry, and gave GamesIndustry International an advance look. The forecast has boosted its forecast for the mobile and PC game segments of the market, while lowering its forecast for consoles, to reach approximately the same $100 billion in software revenues for 2019.

DFC revealed that console forecasts are being lowered for Xbox One overall and for PlayStation 4 in North America, and DFC analyst David Cole expressed some concern about the importance of Sony and Microsoft going forward. “We have slightly lowered our forecasts for the Xbox One and Wii U. We see the PlayStation 4 remaining as the best-selling system with North America really being the only competitive market. Previously we thought the Xbox One could potentially outsell the Xbox 360 but now we don’t think that will be the case. The real issue is by 2019 whether Sony and Microsoft will still be relevant in the game space. That is a major question mark,” Cole noted.

“They really set unrealistic expectations for their systems and the issue is even as the gamer market grows they are really not growing their base in proportion. The PlayStation 2 was the best-selling console system ever and we don’t see the PlayStation 4 beating it, even as the market has grown substantially. In other words, instead of expanding the market they have focused on a core base of users that could be ripe for the picking.”

Cole sees competition increasing to deliver high-end games to televisions, from micro-console’s like Nvidia’s Shield to mobile games being sent to TV screens. Certainly the larger market for games is not as discerning when it comes to high-end graphics, and the differences will be harder and harder to spot.

DFC is also forecasting that the market will be about 85% digital by 2019, which will be largely driven by growth in the mobile and PC sectors. Retail will still be important for consoles in North America and Europe, but digital is inexorably taking over. Cole is not so bullish on VR as a source of games revenue. “When it comes to selling game software we think it will be a rounding error in the near future,” Cole said.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Debuts A New Trailer

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The Force is strong with the Star Wars Celebration event, which kicks off this weekend in Anaheim, California. We’ll be providing daily recaps of the event, with a big wrap-up on Monday, but we couldn’t help but talk about one of the biggest reveals that already took place during the opening panel.

Director J.J. Abrams and LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy talked during most of the presentation, which also featured a few new reveals, such as the updated Stormtrooper design, the debut of “rolly” robot BB8 and the newest cast members. In addition, some old favorites also joined the fun, including Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Anthony Daniels, among others.

After a large group photo opportunity, the presentation shifted to the debut of a new teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this one providing more of a glimpse of Abrams’ vision than the previous one that debuted back in December. The new characters from the film are in action, but there are also glimpses of old favorites, especially with Luke Skywalker’s opening speech. Some startling imagery also pops up in the trailer, including Darth Vader’s shattered mask and a desecrated Star Destroyer in the midst of the desert.

The new trailer, posted on the official Star Wars YouTube page, can be found below, and it’s bound to stir up plenty of nostalgia with fans.

 

YouTubers Kian and Jc: ‘The Viewers Are EVERYTHING’

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You may not be familar with Kian Lawley and Jc Caylen, but they’re seasoned YouTubers with over a few million subscribers each to call their own. Recently, they decided to join forces to form what you could call a YouTube supergroup channel. Unsurprisingly, this move has quickly racked up 27 million views and 1 milliion subscribers for them in just 3 months.

They’re putting their individual channels on a brief backburner to grow and scale this new channel, KianAndJc. This is a new place for them to give their fans content that is “100 percent completely” them. Right now they’re asking fans to submit their msot creative ways to say how much they love the new channel using #KianAndJcMillionContest {link no longer active} to win an all expenses paid trip to LA and more.

We not only got a chance to ask Kian and Jc some questions about their YouTube life, content and working with brands, but we also got a few in from their manager, Andrew Graham. Read on for some major insights.

Kian and Jc:

How did you guys meet? Are you best friends in real life?

K: We met over the Internet and connected because we made similar videos. No we hate each other

J: We initially met over the Internet but met in person at Vidcon 2011, and yeah, what he said.

You guys joined up to create one channel and have just reached 1 million subscribers. What does the 1 million mark mean to you?

K: One million people watch us now? That’s crazy! One million subscribers means that we have to push deeper and work harder to get two million!

J: It’s an incredible breathe of fresh air knowing so many people watch our stupid videos. Haha.

Since you’ve joined up for one channel, what is the state of your individual channels What motivated you to start a combined channel?

K: Right now, my main channel is on a bit of a hold to concentrate on building the KianAndJc audience, but I still make occasional videos. Jc and I have always made videos together, and we started to notice that those videos did better than the others, so we decided to start our own channel where we could make videos together 2 times week.

J: Same as Kian. I’m hoping to bring my main channel videos back soon, but for now we’re concentrating all of the content we’re making for the KianAndJc channel.

 

Nine Online Video Terms That Need To Die (Including ‘Online Video’)

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by Jessica Klein

The way we talk (and write) about “online video” often feels like we’re stuck in the past decade, when the concept of watching “good TV” on your computer was pretty alien. We love throwing around these words like “traditional” to make distinctions between Hollywood and Vimeo, when Vimeo content is often as high quality and more thought provoking than the stuff Hollywood doles out these days.

Was feature film “The DUFF” not a lot like the polished, teen-targeted content you see on digital platforms? Can you consider “The West Wing” episodes “online video” because you can now watch them on Netflix

These questions are either totally irrelevant or very deep. The only way to find out which is to determine the online video (whoops) terms that are plaguing our vocabulary and get at why they’re so annoying.

1. Online Video

A video is video, and often you can watch it on TV, Netflix, some sketchy free download site, and five other places. When you hear “YouTube video,” you know that’s an “online video.” When you hear “Netflix original series,” you know that means a series made specifically for the streaming service. “Online video” itself just means something you can watch online, which isn’t particularly descriptive.

2. Traditional TV

Is this a helpful umbrella term to cover all broadcast television and cable packages, or does it just make us sound like old fogies Does using the term “old fogies” make us sound like old fogies even more? Most importantly, this term is misleading in that it makes TV sound like a traditional form of entertainment, compared to, say, plays, or verbal storytelling, or the pet rock.

3. Traditional Celebrities

Kim Kardashian

Again, the word “traditional” here feels a bit out of place. The definition of celebrity is always evolving, perhaps more so these days because of the internet. Still, “Hollywood celebrity” would suffice in this case, or even “film or TV actor.” Yet the question remains: Where does Kim Kardashian fit into all of this”

Read on…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.