How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 4)

Sramana: Would you talk about some of the smartphone games you have brought to the market and the business dynamics behind those games?

Niccolo de Masi: When I started with Glu, I was cognizant of hardware and gaming preferences. Both tend to trend upward rapidly. Consumers demand higher quality content that shows off their new devices. During my first quarter at Glu, I stated that I wanted to build games for 2011, even if we launched them in Q4 of 2010. You have to look around the corner to succeed in this industry.

When we looked around the corner, we saw social gaming and free-to-play games coming to smartphones. There is a great convergence of experience and behavior there. Accordingly, our first titles have held up very well this year. Games like Gun Bros, which was launched October 10, have now been out for a year. It was the first successful free-to-play, freemium, action adventure game on iOS. It was voted one of the five most influential games by Compugamer last year because it was the first 3-D high-production action adventure game and it was freemium. Everyone else was still building farming games.

To date, we have launched five more action adventure freemium games, including Big Time Gangsta, Contract Killer, Eternity Warriors and most recently Contract Killer: Zombies. That title was actually our first simultaneous launch on Apple and the Android ecosystems. We are working hard to cater to consumer preferences, which means catering to experiences which offer the best bang for the buck, or the highest performance possible on the cheapest device possible. Often that is in the Android ecosystem. In the past year we have increased production values. We very much believe our skills are at the high end of the market and we are going to continue to push the envelope on that front.

Sramana: It also sounds as though you have moved to a slightly different genre than what you had done in the past, or what others had done with farming games.

Niccolo de Masi: That is our focus. Contract Killer: Zombies has a 300 MB client. This is not something you can play in a browser or download over the air. You need a Wi-Fi connection. We very much believe we are playing the game where the future is going to be. The direction of handsets, bandwidth and Wi-Fi is more, more, more. Our titles will stand the test of time, at the same time we are not resting. We are building something for the new generations of devices and the new countries coming online.

In 2008, Glu made 50% of its revenue outside of North America. We very much believe that we are going to be the only listed company trying to have that kind of exposure overseas. We are definitely looking to capture that revenue growth.

Sramana: Outside of North America does not necessarily mean developing countries. Those countries do not pay as much, they are cheap markets.

Niccolo de Masi: True, but incomes are rising very quickly. There are a lot of users there as well. I am not saying that we will make 50% of our revenue in one country, just that 50% of our revenue will come from outside of North America. That will come from European countries, Japan and other countries.

This segment is part 4 in the series : How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile
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