VGU

New Sessions Announced for F2P Summit

PapayaMobile’s Chris Hanage and 4T2 Multimedia’s Mike Hawkyard are set to join the talks in this years F2P Summit, organised by Tandem Events.

They will be joining the likes of Peter Molyneux for the third one-day Summit, which takes place on 18 April at RickMix in London. The purpose of the F2P Summit is to give delegates an insight into the creative, marketing and business issues driving successful F2P development. The event will also feature discussions and debates on the future of the industry.

Chris Hanage, Europe’s general manager at PapayaMobile, is set to lead a session called ‘Back to Basics: What It Takes to Market a Successful Game in the Free to Play area’. This will shine a light on challenges and opportunities facing developers with a new free-to-play game to promote. The session will present the importance of intelligent games design, compelling gameplay and an honest approach to monetisation using both consumable and durable goods in order to build a royal (and paying) customer base for free to play games. This is a particularly important issue within this area of gaming.

“In today’s free to play era, the successful marketing and promotion of a game lies in its planning, its gameplay and its monetisation model. In my session, I’ll show developers how they can build ‘discoverability’ into their game’s structure and design from the very beginning. I will also identify the limitations of current app marketing techniques and set down an alternative ‘back to basics’ approach that incorporates conventional marketing techniques alongside a closer, more intuitive relationship with a game’s target audience.” – Chris Hanage

The second session, entitled ‘Juggling Digital Bricks’ and run by 4T2 Multimedia’s Mike Hawkyard, will look at the challenges and opportunities of taking a casual title to smart device platforms where marketing, licensing and commercial opportunities can all meet in one place.

As well as these new sessions, Tandem Events have also confirmed Jon Jordan, editor of PocketGamer, and Will Freeman, editor of Develop, as speakers for F2P Summit. Jordan will be presenting ‘Morality in a Big Data, Frictionless Payment, Free to Play Mobile Gaming World’ and Freeman will be hosting a panel debate on where the future lies for F2P.

Registration for the F2P Summit is now open where you can purchase early bird passes for £195 (a saving of £100) until 20th March. You can also find out more information on the general program as well as a comprehensive list of companies currently attending.