Managing Game Development Process and Creativity Across Regions and Cultures

Andy Zhong CEO, FunPlus

Agenda

Beginning

Next

Future

• Multi-national Studios: lessons learnt

from cross-border development

• POD Structure: effective operation

and distribution

• The Future: best global developer

and publisher in Facebook Connected

Mobile Markets

• Funplus is a social and mobile gaming company founded in 2010

• Game developed in collaboration with a 20-people team in Canada and China offices

• First game “Family Farm” grew from 0 to over 3 million global DAU in 1 year w/o marketing cost

Successful Cross-border Development from the Beginning

Ranked No.6 globally by Facebook

DAU in 2012 and 2013

No.1 Farming simulation game in

European and Middle East

by DAU

•Text

• Farming machines, production chain,

trading and crafting, engaging

storyline showing a deep

understanding of local farming

culture

• We build a team of 20 people from 10

countries in 2011 to support this

game’s global expansion and its 12

language versions in the first year

Unique and fun game

mechanics

Strong distribution and operation ability

Dedicated community

• Family Farm has over 15M fans and

one of the biggest gaming

communities in Facebook

Why Family Farm Can Beat Farmville?

The game makes over $3M monthly revenue even by today (4 years history)

• We built another 4 games in 2012~2013

• 1 game got killed and 3 games have

been released • Each release is doing well: making

on average over $1.5M monthly revenue for more than 1 year until now

Repeated the Success Afterwards

What We Have Learnt

The Good:

1: We have a large simulation player

base and community (over 5M DAU

and 20M fans)

2: We have the best talents in the

industry to build great games

3: We know social and understand

players’ needs very well and we can

provide local authentic content

The Bad:

1: The team is formed by

assignment and only executes

games company wants to build

2: The game is built with must-to-

ship mentality from the beginning

3: It is a hard decision to kill a game.

Kill a game is not usual or normal

One Year Ago, We Started the POD Process

Find the right

idea and a lead

designer who is

treating this as

his/her dream

IDEA POD 1Day DEMO

challenge Decision Production

Build an initial

POD team with

5~6 people who

are passionate

about this game)

After 3 months,

the team will

showcase a demo

and a group of

designers and the

CEO will challenge

this demo and give

suggestions

The POD game

designers will

work with the

team to decide if

they will continue

to build this game

If they decide to

make the game, we

will expand the team;

If not, the lead

designer will hold a

session to share the

decision and any

lessons learnt

• Lead designer passionate about the game vs. Recruiting a team to execute the

game

• The leaders handpick members to form the POD team

• All members in the company can join the Demo Day and provide feedbacks

• POD team has the final decision power to continue with the game and pursue

their dream

Benefits of POD vs. Before

After POD Builds the Game, Now What?

Source: brainpickings.org

How to Operate and distribute the game successfully in multiple regions?

Each Country Has Its Own Preference

23% 24%

12%

45%

24%

19%

26%

43%

14%

23%

30%

10%

18%

43%

16%

32%

25%

9%

Strategy RPG/Adventure SIM Puzzle Social Casion

American

Chinese

South Korean

Source: Inmobi

Motivation Also Differs by Regions

24%

29%

24%

13%

11%

5%

26%

16%

23%

12%

22%

25%

30%

13%

25%

12%

16%

29%

Beat tough

level

Unlock new

level

Upgrade Purchase

virtual currency

Others Don't

remember

American

Chinese

South Korean

Source: Inmobi

China

Japan

United States

South Korea

Hong Kong

Russia

The East and the West Have Different Definitions of Successful Games

iOS Top Grossing

N/A

Source: AppAnnie as of Aug. 2014

Android Top Grossing

Key Successful Factors for Global Operation and Distribution

1.Loyal community

2.Global distribution and operation team

3.Strong BI and performance marketing team

4.Great games with longevity

Strong Community-#1 in Middle East and Top 3 in Europe

1

• Over 20% of Netherlands

population installed our games

• Over 10% of France population

installed our games

• We operate locally in main

European countries including

Germany, France, Netherlands,

Italy and so on…on

Global Distribution and Operation Team FunPlus has more than 22 nationalities among employees worldwide

International employees account for 40% of FunPlus professionals

All members are from top universities and leading companies

2

Strong BI and Performance Marketing 3

Right games are good games with longevity

4

The Future: Tap Both Mature and Emerging Mobile Markets

Source: VisionMobile

FunPlus Vision

Why FB-connected helps

• Effective

marketing – adapt

to players’ needs

• Open graph

strategy

Why we are the expert

• Overseas operation

experience

• Multi-language

capability

• Powerful publishing

ability

To be the best global developer and publisher in Facebook connected mobile markets

Effective Marketing – Adapt to Players’ Needs

Case study: Texas Poker Pro’s open graph strategy

12,000 daily active users translates into:

• 5 million impressions

• 80,000 clicks per month

• 2x our top marketing campaigns’ CTR

Why FB-connected helps 1

Open Graph Strategy

Our open graph strategy

Poker Players are competitive

• OG of player’s results

• OG of a win vs. a better

player

• OG of a big pot win

(with amount)

• OG on lottery, slots,

wheel of fortune etc,

to show they can win

• OG with “Mystery” free

prize

Poker Players are gamblers

Solution

Open Graph

allows us to:

• Reach players we

cannot reach with

ads

• Find out popular

functions that are

not “sharing

material”

Background

Poker players love

tournaments, but they

don’t care about

sharing them

Why FB-connected helps 1

Overseas Operation Experience

Experienced Local

Operation

Powerful Publishing

Ability

Good Localization

Why we are the expert 2

Multi-language Capability Increases Downloads Significantly

c

Why we are the expert 2

Powerful Publishing Ability Ensures Successes in Different Regions

Dot Arena’s Publisher in SEA

In Depth Research of the

Market

Swift Execution

Carefully Planned

Marketing Campaigns

Localized Content

Distribution

Why we are the expert 2

Top Publisher in SEA Markets

• Launched at the end of Aug.

• In 1 month, Top 3, and keep climbing

• Launched in the mid of Sept.

• In 1 week, Top 10 grossing

Why we are the expert 2

Publish Games for a

Global Audience

Co-Develop

Invest

Our Win-Win Approach