I've watched what happens when a game like 'DragonVale' gets to number one on iOS. Suddenly there's ten other versions of it that hit the store. As a gamer, that bothers me. I don't like those companies.
Snapchat's ramp reminded us of another mobile app Benchmark had the good fortune to back at an early stage: Instagram.
My kids download 10 games. They play them all for two minutes. They throw away the eight they don't like. Then they play those last two obsessively for a month. That's alien to those of us who buy a $60 game and play it for 40 or 50 hours. The discovery mechanism is completely social, and I don't think you get that genie back in the bottle.
There's a myth that free-to-play is cheaper than a $60 game. It's just elastic. For some users, it winds up being a lot more expensive. I would have paid $150 a year to get a better version of FIFA.
I've witnessed first hand the impact the Benchmark team has had on new ventures, and I believe their commitment to the entrepreneur and dedication to building companies of lasting value really set the firm apart.
The distributor used to get 10, 12, 14 percent in most cases, but the App Store or Steam - they're taking 30 points. So clearly, they're viewing what they bring to the table in the digital environment to be more valuable than distribution.
Everyone talks about discovery, but I really believe that great content finds its audience.
I really think the app store is kind of the killer app for Apple and for Google.
The ambitions for Thatgamecompany are very exciting to me.
I started hearing Snapchat in the same context as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. That got me curious.
Companies with aspirations to be larger publishers - Kabam, Kixeye, even Zynga - are moving aggressively off the Facebook platform to mobile and the open Web. Publishers aren't convinced that the costs of being on Facebook are worth it.
We are at a point in the video game industry that the industry is hollowed out. It is out of touch with the zeitgeist, creating sequels and formulaic games over and over again. The energy comes from the indies.
Free-to-play isn't a business model. Free-to-play is a marketing strategy. It's a way to get people over the hump of trying out your game. It gets rid of the friction that happens when you charge an upfront fee.
