By Meelad Sadat
Wanda Meloni, veteran analyst and founder of M2 Research, grants us this exclusive opportunity to talk about the firm and her outlook on the game industry
Wanda Meloni, M2 Research
M2 Research founder and senior analyst Wanda Meloni brings an interesting perspective to covering the game industry. Meloni’s background is analyzing the graphics software category, and as such her foray into games began with a focus on game technology and development. However, over the past year, Meloni and her firm have broadened their coverage from R&D to looking at all aspects of the game business. That was evident when the firm kicked off its freely-circulated periodic industry briefs in March of last year with Meloni penning an analysis of how box office revenues for 2009’s Best Picture Oscar contenders compared to sales for blockbuster games. Since then the firm has been out front in covering several trends. Meloni dedicated a year-end report to the surge in layoffs in game development in 2008 and 2009, a trend that continues today. M2 has also looked at a growing number of Japan game developers looking abroad for new markets. As the firm found, that effort is getting support from the Japan External Trade Organization, a government entity helping their domestic developers pair up with international partners at this year’s Game Developers Conference. Most recently, M2 shed light on an interesting development for a fast-growing segment of the game industry when analyst Louise Curcio predicted big entertainment and toy companies are increasingly entering the youth-skewed online games market.
Another area where M2 has established itself as a firm to watch is coverage of GDC and E3, dedicating thorough reports to both last year. With these events now on the horizon, the[a]listdaily caught up with Meloni for a brief Q&A.
Tell us about M2 Research and its areas of specialty.
M2 Research provides market intelligence for the entertainment and gaming industry. We are unique in that we look at the market from a demographic perspective, addressing gaming genres by the various demographic segments. We have a group of analysts who each brings extensive expertise, covering everything from: consoles, PCs, MMOs, virtual worlds, casual/social gaming, as well as development trends in 3D technology, middleware usage and development costs for the various gaming platforms.
Our primary goal is to help companies make the best business decisions they can by providing them with the information, tools and support they need. And as part of that goal we are currently working on a number of upcoming reports and resources that will be announced over the next several months.
Your firm just put out a report on the growing market for online games targeted at young children. How do you see the surge in online MMO and casual/social games affecting the game market in terms of size and segmentation
The online gaming market provides an exciting opportunity for companies. Online gaming enables game companies to have direct access to their customers, that itself is a huge shift compared to the traditional retail models where developers/publishers were one level removed from their customers. Online games have been responsible for the growth in many of the emerging demographics we are seeing now enter the space, such as kids and female gaming. That itself has had a huge impact on shifting development cycles, business models, and marketing strategies.
Speaking of Nintendo consoles and young gamers, what are your thoughts on the Wii’s position in the console market, is there still Wii business to tap for third-party publishers?
That is a good question. I think we are starting to see where different platforms target different demographics, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ultimately it will be Nintendo who has to decide what their growth strategy will be as we start to move into a maturation cycle for this generation.
M2 dedicated two reports to E3 last year, where you pinpointed some of the trends for 2009-2010 as motion controllers, 3D games and cloud computing. What are your expectations for these trends this year?
I personally love all the technology trends announced in 2009. I believe things like cloud computing will have a major impact on the industry over the next five years, as well the advances in motion controllers and 3D. Ultimately though, it will come down to the “perceived value” consumers place on these advances. Technology itself is the aid to some perceived need or want, so if consumers have a truly better entertainment experience then it will be successful.
