GDC: AI, Storytelling, and Surface Economy
You never forget your first time – and that goes double for me when I look back at my first Game Developers Conference GDC. And what a year to join the party!
It was much more than a must-attend gaming developer meetup and happening. To borrow a few words from my favorite (and practical!) visionary Frans Johansson, GDC marked a tipping point in “The Great Recombination” era.
It’s an exciting space where creativity explodes (and has far greater importance) because the cost and ease of access to platforms, products and services are dropping at stunning speed. As Frans puts it: “Because technical expertise matters less and less — creativity will mean far more.”
Nowhere is the impact more profound than in gaming.
Games industry veteran and innovator Chris Heatherly captures the zeitgeist in a post-GDC LinkedIn post. “The game-as-app era is ending, and we are entering the game-as-content era.” (I have not had the pleasure of interviewing Chris for the PocketGamer.biz podcast yet. But you can bet the farm I’ll change that soon!)
As Chris remarked, GDC showcased how Roblox, hashtagUnrealEditor, and Spatial (on top of Unity) are becoming content creation platforms, lowering the cost of entry and removing the hassle of making games and interactive entertainment.
In this scenario, AI doesn’t just unlock the potential of everyone everywhere on the planet to make engaging games at lightning speed. It paves the way for people to shape the storytelling.
And Guy Gadney — Co-founder & CEO of Charisma.ai and my recent guest on the PG.biz podcast with co-host Brian Baglow FRSA — offers us a glimpse into what happens when players are participants. Chatting with us (and continuing the conversation later in this interview with Dave Bradley), Guy tells us about his platform play and the impact of AI.
Against the backdrop of GDC, Guy positioned Charisma as THE platform that makes it very easy for writers to create two-way experiences. Players and characters can talk back and forth using natural language. Each influences the other, and both co-create an amazing and story-driven game.
An example of this is his immersive adaptation of the sci-fi classic novel The Kraken Wakes. AI powers characters and conversations, and everything in the game is managed by Charisma.
Guy calls Charisma a listening engine. I call it a game-changer.
And write this one down (courtesy of Guy): AI will not take your jobs, but someone who knows how to use AI will.
Bringing storytelling to life in the Creator Studio
GDC also marked the start of an amazing partnership with Savio Nguyen and Dimitrios Styliaras, the heart and soul of the experiential networking platform, The 5 O’Clock Club. We launched a series of high-quality, high-energy video podcasts with InMobi Advertising, Mintegral and Smadex.
- An insightful fireside with InMobi Advertising’s Dharak Desai underlines the impact of its decision to build a dedicated mobile DSP for SKAN-compliant campaigns and shines a light on Dharak’s passion for educating marketers and teaching programming skills to underprivileged children in economically poor parts of the world.
- A practical panel with Mintegral’s Shobeir Shobeiri and Kooapps CEO Chun-Kai (CK) Wang examined the shift from traditional waterfall to in-app bidding and explained the mix of formats that get the best results.
- A candid conversation with Kongregate’s Heather Gainer and Smadex’s Jordon Weissman reveals what marketers and ad partners can learn from each other – and shines a light on the swag that moves the needle. (Hint: Experience is king 😉
Yes, we were in The Groove at The Five O’Clock Club — and yes, it was a blast!
We are now deep into post-production and will launch the videos and companion content across various channels, including The Groove, in the next weeks.
Bringing storytelling to life in the Creator Studio was just the start, and the next stop is MAU Vegas. DM me if you want to know more about the show lineup or ways to get involved.
Mining nuggets of pure gold
Between co-working (at the T-Mobile space), networking and soaking in the talks, I also connected with some great companies and cool people soon to appear in articles on Pocketgamer.biz.
- Peter and Robert Curry from Dinosaur Polo Club shared invaluable advice for indies, including the do’s and don’ts of company culture, how to scale sustainably and the issue of clones.
- David Harold from Imagination Technologies took the wraps of new improvements to enhance (and democratize) the global gaming experience, allowing players with lower-end phones to enjoy a high-end experience and features.
- Chris Akhavan of Magic Eden talked candidly about how he’s building a “home for all Web3 games and their content.” Think games portal on steroids + social + shopping.
- Mike Levine of Mystic Moose explained how he’s reinventing the Auto Chess genre for mobile through agency, education and original IP. But the real story is the fresh approach to getting new players to warm to collectibles and wallets by “giving it to players in the background rather than labeling it as Web3.”
- Asbjoern Malte Soendergaard of Tactile Games inspired me with his clear vision and personal choice to champion storytelling for women. Characters are real, and players can relate. “Relatable stories are also relevant to players.”
Storytelling is a growth engine, powering UA and keeping players loyal.
It’s all about creating gaming content and themes that are engaging and meaningful. This is where AI can add real value, enabling us to make the games and worlds we want and participate in our experiences in ways we have yet to imagine. It won’t be long before games with the strongest storytelling (and most loyal audiences) challenge the biggest and best Hollywood, Netflix and Co. can produce and win.
Prepare for the Surface Economy
AI will open the floodgates of creativity. The barriers to creativity (and costs) will fall. But this means the number of games will increase exponentially, creating a Discovery Dilemma.
It will also increase competition for a prime spot on the lock screen, the beachfront property on the device that your device. I was intrigued to learn from Abhay Singhal, Co-Founder of InMobi Advertising Group, about efforts to give games developers and studios access.
“We are unleashing the mobile surface for people on the move,” Abhay told me.
The vehicle is Nostra (Glance), a gaming platform that lets users discover and play instant games on the screen. It reaches 200 million MAUs by expanding across more territories, and next on the list is North America.
The vision is to adapt to the player journey, shifting from the standard stages (Discover, Engage, Activate, and Return) to emphasize organic discovery and instant gratification. A big part of this is personalized recommendations to surface casual and hyper-casual games that match player types and tastes.
The challenge is to bake retention and loyalty into the experience from the start– by giving companies the ability to get in front of your players every time they view their lock screen.
The takeaway: Nostra is more than a platform to open a world of games discovery (and drive engagement and monetization for both advertisers and developers in the process). It’s a pathway to the player we will hear more about as more marketers look for new channels and ways to drive organic discovery and build a sticky experience.
I could write for hours about all the amazing people I met at GDC and their insights, but I am reminded this is a newsletter, not a book (although my 10th book is WIP). So, a heartfelt hat tip & great to catch up with amazing minds and awesome colleagues Jonathan Flesher, Kadri Harma, Sunil Thomas, Diane Schreiber, Sara Camden, Matt Widdoes, Matthew Vroom, James V. Linden, Cameron Thom, Randy Waxman, Boris Fourman, Simon Vishnevskiy, Momchil Kyurkchiev, Lawrence Hsieh, Josh Vowles, Tobias Edl, Michelle Webb.
If I missed you, then let’s make it a point to meet at:
MMA Germany Frankfurt meet up May 3rd
OMR Hamburg May 9-10th
MAU Vegas May 23rd -25th
ASO Conference Berlin June 1st
Gamesforum Hamburg June 14 -15th
App Promotion Summit New York June 22nd
