We are a PR agency. We are constantly learning. We also dig gaming.
Wednesday evening, PN gamers Lincoln, Emil and Tera attended a Q&A panel about Washington’s video game industry that was hosted by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA). The panel featured the who’s who of gaming entrepreneurs including THE Alex St. John (WildTangent), Harold Zeitz (Real Networks), Paul Thelen (Big Fish Games) and Pete Parsons (Meteor Solutions).
Because we were a bit jealous of those panelists, here’s a quick Q&A with Emil and Tera about their impressions from the event. Take it away Lincoln…
Lincoln: One of you games often – you know, like plays D&D on weekends and stuff – and one of you is more of a casual gamer, how did your experiences differ?
Tera: I don’t speak fluent gaming yet–you can call me a N00B (?!?!) if you want. I’m learning about many of these companies for the first time. Hearing the panelists discuss the business and marketing strategies they created to survive in today’s economy was fascinating. What was most impressive is their confidence. Granted, you don’t run a multi-million dollar business by hiding under the covers, but these men (seriously, where were the chicas?) seemed utterly fearless.
Emil: Actually Tera, its spelled n00b. For me it was more of an affirmation of things to come. The lack of interest or support for the console market was pretty interesting to me since that’s what I’m immersed in all the time for work and as a consumer. But I can’t tell if that’s because WTIA couldn’t book anyone big from the console industry, or if the PC gaming market really is as strong as the panel made it seem. I think most of my fun was derived from quietly refuting Alex St. John’s numerous exclamations of doom… and contemplating the consequences of ripping open my shirt and reveal my PlayStation Home t-shirt underneath.
Wednesday evening, PN gamers Lincoln, Emil and Tera attended a Q&A panel about Washington’s video game industry that was hosted by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA). The panel featured the who’s who of gaming entrepreneurs including THE Alex St. John (WildTangent), Harold Zeitz (Real Networks), Paul Thelen (Big Fish Games) and Pete Parsons (Meteor Solutions).
Because we were a bit jealous of those panelists, here’s a quick Q&A with Emil and Tera about their impressions from the event. Take it away Lincoln…
Lincoln: One of you games often – you know, like plays D&D on weekends and stuff – and one of you is more of a casual gamer, how did your experiences differ?
Tera: I don’t speak fluent gaming yet–you can call me a N00B (?!?!) if you want. I’m learning about many of these companies for the first time. Hearing the panelists discuss the business and marketing strategies they created to survive in today’s economy was fascinating. What was most impressive is their confidence. Granted, you don’t run a multi-million dollar business by hiding under the covers, but these men (seriously, where were the chicas?) seemed utterly fearless.
Emil: Actually Tera, its spelled n00b. For me it was more of an affirmation of things to come. The lack of interest or support for the console market was pretty interesting to me since that’s what I’m immersed in all the time for work and as a consumer. But I can’t tell if that’s because WTIA couldn’t book anyone big from the console industry, or if the PC gaming market really is as strong as the panel made it seem. I think most of my fun was derived from quietly refuting Alex St. John’s numerous exclamations of doom… and contemplating the consequences of ripping open my shirt and reveal my PlayStation Home t-shirt underneath.
Tera: Shoot.
Lincoln: Biggest takeaway?
Tera: Culture was a big deal to these companies. Many feel the imposing threat from larger companies such as Amazon and Microsoft was weak because they could never touch the level of service and quality offered by the smaller “boutique” gaming shops. Also… next time I won’t take the mini-burger with the toothpick sign that tells everyone what they are eating. Oops.
Emil: That losing your debit card is kind of annoying.
Lincoln: Coolest person you met?
Emil: Skylar, a classic startup story; Essentially started a computer game modding company in his garage, has produced some solid content but is looking towards loftier goals. Has great ideas of where the PC market can go, but no means to get there yet.
Tera: Alex St. John’s little brother - Rex. He works for a consumer software and web services company based in Sammamish. I bet he follows his brother’s entrepreneurial footsteps.
Lincoln: What was the audience like?
Tera: Uh… hmm. Emil – you want this one?
Emil: Well, not surprisingly, the female-to-male ratio was pretty low. There certainly wasn’t any focus to who was invited so we met a wide variety of people; Accountants for tech companies, staffing agencies, small-time developers and more. Not many other Mar/Com peeps.
Lincoln: Was it worth the investment?
Tera: I think so. Many of our clients are in the gaming arena and currently face similar challenges to the issues the panelists discussed. It’s important for us to understand our client’s business climate so we can communicate on the same level.
Emil: Definitely. Those sliders were awesome. And I know that both Lincoln and I have already used some of the messages and insights from the panel to BS our way through more than a few conversations with others. It was incredibly validating to hear the importance of downloadable content and virtual worlds reiterated by many of the panelists. Also, many of them felt that Seattle is an important hub in the online gaming market, if not the most important, so that’s great considering our work, clients and expertise.
Lincoln: So, tell us, did you meet your goals?
Tera: Yes 2 and 10
Emil: Wait, Goals?!?!
Lincoln: Shooot… who didn’t I meet? I mean, between eating all the broccoli and grapes, I was a mingling machine.
Lincoln: Biggest takeaway?
Tera: Culture was a big deal to these companies. Many feel the imposing threat from larger companies such as Amazon and Microsoft was weak because they could never touch the level of service and quality offered by the smaller “boutique” gaming shops. Also… next time I won’t take the mini-burger with the toothpick sign that tells everyone what they are eating. Oops.
Emil: That losing your debit card is kind of annoying.
Lincoln: Coolest person you met?
Emil: Skylar, a classic startup story; Essentially started a computer game modding company in his garage, has produced some solid content but is looking towards loftier goals. Has great ideas of where the PC market can go, but no means to get there yet.
Tera: Alex St. John’s little brother - Rex. He works for a consumer software and web services company based in Sammamish. I bet he follows his brother’s entrepreneurial footsteps.
Lincoln: What was the audience like?
Tera: Uh… hmm. Emil – you want this one?
Emil: Well, not surprisingly, the female-to-male ratio was pretty low. There certainly wasn’t any focus to who was invited so we met a wide variety of people; Accountants for tech companies, staffing agencies, small-time developers and more. Not many other Mar/Com peeps.
Lincoln: Was it worth the investment?
Tera: I think so. Many of our clients are in the gaming arena and currently face similar challenges to the issues the panelists discussed. It’s important for us to understand our client’s business climate so we can communicate on the same level.
Emil: Definitely. Those sliders were awesome. And I know that both Lincoln and I have already used some of the messages and insights from the panel to BS our way through more than a few conversations with others. It was incredibly validating to hear the importance of downloadable content and virtual worlds reiterated by many of the panelists. Also, many of them felt that Seattle is an important hub in the online gaming market, if not the most important, so that’s great considering our work, clients and expertise.
Lincoln: So, tell us, did you meet your goals?
Tera: Yes 2 and 10
Emil: Wait, Goals?!?!
Lincoln: Shooot… who didn’t I meet? I mean, between eating all the broccoli and grapes, I was a mingling machine.
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3 comments:
this is the best recap from one of these events ever... we should adopt this format for all our events where we participate. nice job, guys! and of course, we'll be expecting these gaming prospects to turn into real leads so go ahead and work on that, will ya?
This was a fun event, and a fun way to recap it while still highlighting the important takeaways. Moreso than that, was Tera's ability to capture the way Lincoln talks (she wrote his lines).
Ha! Thanks Emil. It's just one of the perks from sitting between you guys.
Agreed on the recap sentiments.
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