I had just attended the second WIGI event ever, a conference in San Francisco, about three weeks before GDC 2006. Event though at that time I had been working in video games for nine years and would always see old friends in the halls at E3, I didn’t recognize a single face at the WIGI conference. I thought about it and realized the likely reason was most of the attendees were women, and most of my colleagues in nine years had been men.

I thought to myself, “Wow, it can be really isolating to be a women working in games. If you’re working at a small developer, it could be just you and the receptionist!”

So a thought percolated in my head for a couple of weeks. I approached the WIGI folks at the Microsoft Women in Games event and told them my idea of an online community for women in the game industry.

They said, “Go for it!” and a few months later I started the WIGI Linkedin group. In November of 2006, I held the first WIGI networking mixer in Los Angeles. Through 2007 I helped coordinators in other regions create their own mixers and held additional Los Angeles and San Diego events. I also volunteered at all WIGI conference events.

By 2008, I was the de facto leader of WIGI as the organization grew into more regional chapters and events, collaborated with the IGDA Women in Games special interest group to create GameMentorOnline and started our annual GDC and E3 events. WIGI grew the community and created D-L-C panel discussions and WAM—Women and Men networking events. We built a lively Facebook group and started a quarterly newsletter.

We’re continually adding new chapters and building new corporate partnerships with sponsors eager to support diversity, education and career building events and programs in the game industry. WIGI has also collaborated with the Girl Scouts at their Girltopia event in Los Angeles and to create a game design badge.

Since I started with WIGI in 2006, the organization has grown from about 300 members to over 4000 members. In 2009, WIGI formally incorporated with myself as CEO. I have been a key volunteer for all our efforts and the leader and chief motivator of the second largest professional organization in the game industry. And WIGI does all this with no paid stuff—all the work myself and other volunteers do is in service to our careers and our colleagues in the industry.

Through my work in WIGI, I have been honored to be the featured interview subject in several trade and national articles. I am also the only member of the Healthy Media Commission on positive images of women in girls in the media from the video game industry.  People from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the British House of Commons, and C-level executives of major film, broadcast, online and print media populate the high-level lobbying organization.

I have also been asked to speak at several events including Casual Connect and the NAB show. In collaboration with the IGDA Los Angeles chapter, I was the intro speaker at an event called “Southern California Game Industry Initiatives: A Conversation Between Business & Government.” This event talked about creating business incentives for the game industry and included members of city of Glendale government and game industry leaders.

WIGI also has been working for a year on a joint project with the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles to create a groundbreaking workshop. The October 2011 event was the kick-off of an academic study of the game industry with the intention of learning concrete ways to improve diversity in the industry. We have academics from UCLA, USC, Simon Fraser University, the University of Toronto and other prestigious schools currently creating the study instrument and doing background research.

I’m very proud of the service WIGI provides to the game industry and feel lucky that my background in volunteering, leadership of non-profits and consensus building has given me the skills needed to lead the organization. I’m also very thankful that my entrepreneurship has given me the support time the group needs. We also have several regional volunteers and a Los Angeles-based Executive Team that leads the international efforts of WIGI.

WIGI is always looking for new volunteers. We need regional Chapter Leads and Associates, assistants at our conference events, speakers at our WAM and D-L-C meetings and corporate sponsors of all our programs. Contact info@getwigi.com if you have a bright idea for improving diversity in the game industry, want to help with existing WIGI projects or have sponsor leads. We need folks like you to step up, get involved and let us know how we’re doing! See you at our GDC party Wednesday night in San Francisco. Please introduce yourself if you get a chance!

Events and Media Partners

WIGI formed media partnerships with lots of old friends and some new partners. We offered a discount to the New York Games Conferencefrom our old friends at Digital Media Wire. Once again, we were privileged to partner with the Indiecade festival and even had several WIGI principals in attendance at the conference.

For the third year in a row, WIGI has partnered with The Guildhall at SMU for a networking party at GDC Online. We’ve been joined this year by additional sponsors Electronic Arts and Xaviant for our fourth annual event.

For the first time this year, we’re partnering with Digital Hollywood and Kissappgames to create an Indie Games Soiree associated with the conference. The event on October 19^th is open to all, not just conference participants.

WIGI’s media partnership program is on of the awesome ways we provide benefits in the form of information and discounts to major industry conferences while getting the WIGI name and opportunities to an even larger audience. Thanks so much to our media partners! Stay tuned for even more partnerships and discounts and an expanded WIGI reach in 2012.

GameMentorOnline—Re-Launch!

WIGI is outrageously proud to announce the re-launch of the groundbreaking GameMentorOnline program. Please see the article in the Fall 2011 Edition of the WIGI newsletter from program founder Karen Clark for more details.

In a nutshell, GameMentorOnline is open to every professional and student in the game industry. It’s a free online portal that connects experienced mentors with protégés and offers suggestions for goal setting and progress analysis for mentoring pairs.

I myself wasn’t planning on participating as a mentor in GMO (because I’m completely swamped with WIGI’s growth and myriad programs as well as my own work at GameDocs…), but I signed up as the first test mentor as we were testing the system. Since then, I have been approached by a protégé who’s interested in me because of my skills and experience, and I’m excited about the relationship because she has a lot to offer to me as well! She’s got plans in place in areas where I want to grow my career. Her goals and objectives are things that’ll expand my own knowledge and abilities through just talking out what I already know and seeing how it can apply to alternate but similar business models and growth plans.

WIGI is very proud of our association with GMO and the return of founder Karen Clark. This is a valuable, vital service for the game industry and will help move our business forward into a more mature form of collaborative career building and help create relationships between senior and junior folks that are beneficial to both—and therefore the industry as a whole going forward.

GameMentorOnline is proudly sponsored by 3DVIA.

Alliance with the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles

WIGI has partnered with the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for a groundbreaking workshop with participants from both the Canadian and U.S. game industry and academia. The workshop will look at the role of women in the game industry, specifically demographics, quality of life issues and other key factors.

The workshop will be a day-long event on October 20 at the Official Residence of the Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles with U.S. and Canadian industry and thought leaders, academics and researchers. This workshop is intended to be the first step in a process that will generate a study on statistical and demographic information on women in the game industry workforce.

Some key outcomes of the workshop will be partnerships between Canadian and U.S. industry representatives and researchers resulting in a study to generate hard data on where the industry is going, why the current workforce imbalances exist and how they can be corrected.

We hope the results of this event will provide long-lasting information to the game industry, academia and others to strengthen the work methods, hiring standards, higher education opportunities and economic strength for a powerful future of interactive media. Stay tuned for news on the results of the event!

This workshop is proudly sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

We have an awesome lineup of professionals and academics:

Canada:

• Judith Beauregard, Executive Producer, ODD1 Studios, Montreal
• Suzanne de Castell, Simon Fraser University
• Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, CEO, Silicon Sisters/Past Chair, Women in Games International, Vancouver/Faculty Great Northern Way Campus
• Professor Jennifer Jensen, University of Toronto
• Mare Shepherd, Principal, Metanet Software, Toronto
• Professor Emma Westecott, Games Design, Digital Futures Initiative, OCAD University

United States (Academics):

• Tracy Fullerton, Director, USC Games Innovation Lab, Electronic Arts Endowed Chair in Interactive Entertainment
• Jeremy R. Gibson, Faculty USC Interactive Media Division
• Dr. Noelle Griffin, Assistant Director, CRESST/UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing
• Jacki Morie, Project Leader, USC Institute for Creative Technologies
• Tom Sloper, Games Instructor, USC (veteran games designer)
• Dr. Richard Wainess, Senior Researcher, CRESST/UCLA

United States (Industry)

• Belinda Van Sickle, CEO Women in Games International/GameDocs, Inc.
• Amy Allison, Vice President, Women in Games International
• Lina Evans, Recruiting Manager, EA
• Ginger Graham, Global Diversity Manager, EA
• Erin Hoffman, Lead Designer, Zynga
• Robin Hunicke, Producer, thatgamecompany
• Jeannie Novak, Game Industry Entrepreneur and Author
• Nanea Reeves, Chief Product Officer, Gaikai
• Shirin Salemnia, Founder and CEO, PlayWerks Inc
• Shannon Studstill, Studio Director, Sony Santa Monica
• Careen Yapp, Vice President, Konami Digital Entertainment

Others:

• David Fransen, Consul General
• Nadia Scipio del Campo, Consul
• Pam Johnson, Cultural/Academic Officer
• Tom Palamides, International Business Development Officer
• Melissa Isom, Québec Delegation in Los Angeles

Partnership with the Girl Scouts at Girltopia

WIGI is also partnering with the Girls Scouts Los Angeles Conference at their annual extravaganza at the Los Angeles Convention Center,Girltopia! THQ has contributed a very generous sponsorship for the event. WIGI will be hosting a game design workshop as well as the use of the uDraw Game Tablet to get girls’ input on the design of a game design badge for Girl Scouts International created in conjunction with WIGI. Check out the article on Girltopia in the Fall 2011 Edition of the WIGI newsletter by program initiator Amy Allison for more details.

Next WIGI Los Angeles Chapter D-L-C

WIGI’s Los Angeles chapter is planning our next D-L-C—Drinks-Lectures-Community event on the subject of Cloud Computing. Stay tuned for details.

New WIGI Chapters and Revitalization of Existing Chapters

WIGI has been rounding up lots of new Chapter Coordinators in cities near you and there are lots of WAM—Women And Men networking events in the works. Our Seattle chapter is going again with regular networking and educational events. We have a new year-round Austin chapter with regular events planned and several other cities are in the planning stages. Contact info@getwigi.com if you’re interested in starting a chapter in your area.

GDC 2012

Plans are already in the works for GDC 2012. WIGI is planning our fifth annual event and our third event at the wonderful California Historical Society Museum. Save the date! We’ll see you Wednesday, March 7^th, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

We need sponsors for this executive networking party. If you’re interested in becoming involved with WIGI at GDC 2012, please contact info@getwigi.com .

Contents of The Fall 2011 Edition of the WIGI Newsletter

WIGI News

GameMentorOnline: The First-of-its-Kind Mentoring Program in the Gaming Industry Returns

WIGI to Participate in Girl Scouts’ GIRLTOPIA

A Brave New (Anti-Consumer) World: Updated Sony TOS Reflect Supreme Court’s Pro-Corporation View of Arbitration Law

Indie by Default

On Finding Women Speakers for New Game: Your Input

WIGI at E3 2011

LeVar Burton Creating Reading Rainbow iPad App

Creating a Shared Gaming Experience: Fingerprint to Launch Mobile Learning and Play Network for Kids and Grown-Ups

Sponsor News

Develop AND Publish Online 3D Games Affordably…Really

WIGI Events

Indie Games Soiree October 19th

Upcoming WIGI Events: WIGI WAM (Women And Men)

Several games were given away for free, including LittleBigPlanet and InFamous. Both LBP and InFamous released new sequels around the same time and have seen a spike in sales, likely from PSN users who tried the original games for free.

“ESRB president Patricia Vance once discussed the lack of ‘release sequences’ in the video game industry compared to other forms of entertainment. For instance, a movie is first released in theaters where it generates the most revenue, then moves to the Pay-Per-View market, followed by the rental market and lastly, broadcast for free on network television. Within the video game industry, however, these sequences typically occur simultaneously with games being available physically, digitally and for rental concurrently and rarely made available for free.”

A lot of notables in the industry have been crowing about free-to-play for awhile, however, generating interest in sequels and the brand in general has not been often cited as a reason for free-to-play.

“The data [from the Welcome Back program] would indicate that the free sequence may be incredibly beneficial to the video game industry. For instance, LittleBigPlanet 2 experienced a 66 percent gain in IGN Page Views and a 23 percent increase in Unique Interest (an IGN viewer indicating interest or purchase in a title) in June compared to the month of May,”

The game industry is looking for new business models and millions in venture capital is being spent on companies trying to find the next big thing in video game sales and distribution.

“Making games a free download before their sequel releases is not a sustainable business model. Many gamers would wise up and wait for the free version to release, particularly if we’re talking about a single-player game. There are alternatives, however – the full game could be offered as a cheap download, like $5, for the month leading up to the game’s release.”

I’m not sure why the author says free downloads before sequel release is not a sustainable business model. I think it depends on the game. If it’s a core title, lots of gamers won’t wait for the free release, especially since core sequels are usually years in development. If it’s more of a mass-market title, free downloads have the potential to greatly expand the market share of the brand and add value for sequels, spin-offs, other platforms, DLC and microtransactions.

Also, the free download business model can be modified by adding in-game advertising and other forms of monetization.

“This has already proven to be a successful model in the mobile sphere, and when gamers actually get some value out of the ads (namely, a free game) they’ll probably resent them a whole lot less.”

The article also talks about free-to-play working if the titles are only available free to PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold members. That is, getting more people to subscribe to the paid network models so they can get free games.

That sounds like a great idea for console manufacturers, but what about developers? Will they get a cut every time a subscriber downloads a free-to-play title and will the revenue share with first parties be worthwhile? I think that’s a big question. We’d need to prove added brand value and greater likelihood of big sequel sales before major titles would go into that pipeline.

“The above ad supported model is something that I think would work best with PSN or XBLA titles. It gives players a chance to try out a title for as long as they like without paying, and it gives the developer a little cash from the advertisements. I’m not sure it would work as a replacement for the cash received when a AAA title can command $59 on release, but it’s not a bad alternative.”

Another model not mentioned is releasing a free “lite” version of the game without all the levels, multiplayer options, level editors, etc. of the retail version. A “lite” version of a game can give players enough information to let them know if they’re interested in a sequel while still providing some incentive to pay for the original title. For example, players can upgrade the “lite” version of the game to the complete version for a reduced cost.

“…games still need better alternatives than retail supplemented by a little DLC and perhaps a multiplayer component. There are smarter ways to extend the life of AAA products, and after some experimentation, free or very cheap products may end up being the way to go for the industry.”

We definitely need to do something to get console titles away from the $59.99 price point. There are too many people spending too many hours playing free or low-cost games. I think publishers need to look at combining business models for titles in every genre, looking at the market and the brand power to decide how best to monetize the title in multiple ways.

For example, you can buy the retail version of the game for $29.99, purchase additional levels at 99¢ each, buy skins, weapons, vehicles and such for varying prices and purchase the same game on other platforms at a discount. The console manufacturers and publishers won’t get their $59.99 up front, but there will be more overall sales at $29.99 and more players available to purchase additional content.

This model could do a lot for core brands that aren’t played by the mass market and do what the casual/social/mobile revolution has done for the whole industry—greatly expanding the percentage of people who play video games regularly. The console revolution brought many more people into video games. Casual/mobile/social expanded our market exponentially. More players equals more potential dollars overall. The casual/social/mobile players are not going to be easily convinced to pay $59.99, but they are already used to paying more to get additional content for games they already enjoy.

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/how-aaa-games-can-be-free-or-close-to-it/

WIGI kicked off the week on Monday with a special E3 edition WAM—Women and Men networking mixer at Busby’s in Santa Monica. Our Los Angeles WAM sponsor, TriplePoint, teamed up with Nyco and others to provide ten raffle goodie bags with special Nyco Wii controllers.

The event had a great mix of regulars, locals and folks in town just for E3 meeting, greeting and playing Skee Ball and Galaga in the arcade room.

WIGI’s Los Angeles WAM meets the first Monday of every month from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. In July, we’ll postpone the event to the second Monday, July 11th, in observance of the 4th of July holiday. See you then!

On Wednesday night, WIGI partnered with Blacks in Gaming for the Third Annual WIGI/BIG E3 party. My biggest thanks go to Amy Allison and mOcean for their great work and invaluable support of the event!

Amy is a member of the WIGI Executive Team and suggested the fabulous idea of adding women’s Roller Derby to the E3 party at a planning meeting for the event. I kinda blinked, thought about saying, “No way, we can’t make it happen,” and then realized it was WIGI, BIG, Amy and the team and said, “Let’s go for it!”

Amy’s crew, the Angel City Roller Girls, teamed up with us to create a one-of-a-kind E3 party that will not be forgotten! http://www.angelcityderbygirls.com/

A giant posse of women on skates took over the dance floor at high end downtown nightclub Exchange LA for some fabulous video game-themed tricks, stunts and skits. Check out the photos and see if you can find Ms. PacMan and other famous characters. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.223403917683792.64461.149024965121688

Women in Games International and Blacks in Gaming are non-profit orgs that depend on sponsor contributions for all events and programs. The E3 party was sponsored by mOcean, the Art Institutes of California, the Los Angeles Film School, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Frozen Codebase, GameSalad, Konami and Ubisoft. Each one of these supporters provided cash to pay for the venue, food, drinks and incidentals to make the party happen. If you get a chance, thank them for supporting diversity in the video game industry. They’re awesome!

We had fabulous event staff including DJ Voomz on the turntables (so to speak…;-), Emcee Dumptruck announcing the Roller Derby antics and Christopher Seguin on still camera. Check them out at these links:
http://voomz.net/
http://about.me/Dumptruck
http://christopherseguinphotography.com/

I’d also like to thank event volunteers Dominique Grinnell for organizing the door staff and Heather Decker, Louise Nemschoff, Jenni Petot, Beverly Reyes, Anne Toole and Paul Trowe for working the door.

Thanks to everyone who attended the party and special thanks to our sponsors and the Angel City Roller Girls. Stay tuned for more fabulous stuff from Women in Games International!

Growth

The growth strategy of many game companies is to staff up and staff down depending on the work. Is that the best plan of action? What are the risks involved in that methodology? What are ways to mitigate that risk?

Partnerships

A smart way to grow is to partner with another company that provides a technology or service you need. It’s often a lot more costly, time-consuming and risky to build the activity out yourself. Partners are available to fulfill activities including infrastructure like human resources and operations, services like legal, accounting and payroll, and even resources like capital.

Partnerships can raise cash flow as an alternative to funding. When you have a little capital and are under pressure to use it wisely and show growth for a second round, planning, joint ventures, partnerships, management and growth consultants are vital.

Focusing on the product and forgetting everything else puts all your work, all your employees, all your products/services and your entire business at risk—not to mention your investors’ capital. Take time to investigate partnership opportunities and form relationships that’ll free you up to focus on what you do best.

Marketing & Positioning

What’s your competitive advantage? Come up with a 30-second elevator pitch that describes what your company does better than any other and have it at your fingertips. Everyone in the company should share this pitch, from your leadership to your employees. Everybody needs to be on the same page in terms of what you do and why you’re best at it.

The game industry has been operating under a “build it and they will come” philosophy for a long time. That is, all you have to do is make a really great game (according to you) that people (like you) will want to play (the way you play) and you’ll be successful. That strategy isn’t a strategy at all and will not work in the current market, nor will it work in the future of the industry.

To create a marketing plan, ask yourself several questions:

• Where does the company want to be?
• What does the company want to be known for?
• How are you perceived by your prospects?
• What is your unique values to the market?
• Who is your true target market?

The answers to these questions are the basis for forming a marketing plan. Marketing plans are created like any other strategic plan using some of the methods described in the planning section below.

Positioning

Positioning statements are a good way to start getting customers’ attention. Positioning is the place your company holds in the minds of your market. It’s the basic message you want to communicate in every marketing, sales and PR effort you make.

To create your positioning statement, ask yourself several questions:

• What’s your target market?
• What needs of that market does your company fill?
• What specific benefits does your company provide to uniquely meet these needs? (This is your unique value propostion.)
• What do you want your market to think about your company’s benefits?
• Are your answers clear and consistent?
• Do you communicate this same message across all media?

Why Plan?

Planning is a lot simpler than it may seem. The basic steps are to evaluate the current situation, define the target market and formulate goals and objectives. Then you determine the path—how you will achieve your goals.

You need to take advantage of opportunities and utilize company resources efficiently. Strategic plans are designed to move your business forward in a manner that results in the greatest productivity and effectiveness.

You can plan for all aspects of your business with organizational plans, financial plans, marketing plans, operations plans, departmental plans, etc. Technology industries may want to do 3-month, 6-month or 9-month plans because the business environment changes so quickly.

Keep the final plan short and to the point. You don’t need a fancy document. Plans are a living, breathing part of everyday operations and should be used to create all meeting agendas and status reports.

Build the implementation of the plan into the expectations you have of employees. Assign responsibility for plan elements, develop measures to track performance and require regular progress reviews.

Milestones are standard in development. They’re measurable indicators of progress. What measurable indicators of progress do you have for the rest of the business? Planning, implementation and tracking is the “milestone” process for your entire company.

Exit Strategy

Planning and research seem like a lot of non-income generating work, but in fact, plans are vital to your income now and in the future.

For instance, selling your company for a big payday is the ultimate goal for a lot of entrepreneurs, and your exit strategy is as important as your day-to-day work.

When you’re starting and growing your business, you need to ask yourself some questions:

• What does the value of your company need to be at the point of sale to achieve your goals?
• How much equity do you need to build?
• Have you identified appropriate successors—people who will take over operations when you’re gone?
• Is there a plan to train and equip those people?

Without planning for these events, it’s likely you won’t receive the financial return you’re expecting from the sale of your business. Put a plan in place and work toward it.

Situation Analysis

You’ll start the planning process with an analysis of the business environment you work in. Situation analysis is about minimizing risk. You want to get enough information to minimize the risks appropriate to your business.

• What are the risks of not having certain information?
• What are the costs associated with getting that info?

The answers tell you what research you need to do. You can collect info on the industry and competitors, the market and sales, your customers and employees, current and future technology, etc.

Start with what’s most important to your business. (You can always do more research.) Use customer and professional network feedback, website analytics, surveys, focus groups, etc. to gather the information you need.

Building Blocks of Strategic Plans

Mission, Vision & Values

Mission

Your mission is a brief statement that describes the purpose of your business:

• What is your core function?
• Who do you serve?
• What value do you provide to clients?

Mission statements are used to provide decision-making guidance for senior management and staff on a daily basis.

To create your mission statement, ask yourself three questions:

• What do we do?
• How do we do it?
• Who do we do it for?

For example, “We design and develop top quality core games. We use the leading edge engines and other dev tools. Our customers are top ten international game publishers.”

A unique mission statement for this company could be, “To create awesome video games for top publishers that showcase the power of today’s technology.”

Vision

Your company’s vision drives your organization forward and gets everyone on the team working toward the same ends. The vision statement says where you would like to be over the long term.

To formulate your company’s vision, ask yourself two questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where are we going?

For example, “Now, we’re a social games development startup with three employees and one title in development. In three years, we’ll be a top name among social developers with ten published titles and another 20 in development.”

Your vision is the answer to a third question:

• How will we get there?

A possible vision statement for this company is, “We will be the top name among social developers by harnessing the growth in the social games market and creating original IP that engages players and keeps them coming back for more.”

Values

Values statements reflect the company’s expectations of employees and help guide how staff performs their work—in a manner consistent with the company’s values.

Values are also a reflection of philosophy, culture and social awareness. A team that’s all headed toward the same goal with the same ideas and values will get there more efficiently—on time and under budget instead of the opposite.

Values should be specific, reflect reality and reflect a shared responsibility across the organization—including senior management. Company values lead to things like branding and positioning. Being known as innovative reflects valuing innovation in day-to-day business. A company earns a reputation of providing excellent customer service with core values in that direction.

To create values statements, ask yourself what you want your company to be known for in terms of positive reputation and what core values will earn that reputation. Don’t be afraid to engage your employees in the conversation. Often, they get the core values of a company by comparing their employment experience with you against prior jobs.

External communication and cooperation is vital in competitive environments. Game companies rarely achieve on their own. We work together with developers, publishers, technology partners, funding and many others to get our products to market. Effective relationships between companies are strongly affected by values:

• Who are you?
• What are you about?
• Why should we work with you?
• What can we expect from the relationship?

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

A SWOT analysis is a brainstorming session—there are no right or wrong answers. You want to come up with a broad list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

The SWOT list shows major factors that impact your company that you can either use to your advantage or work to avoid.

SWOT input from your network and vendors such as accountants, lawyers, financial advisors, etc. is invaluable. You want a comprehensive, unbiased list.

Strengths set you apart from the competition. What do you do better?

Weaknesses are part of every organization. Don’t be afraid of a candid discussion with employees and advisors. You need to be prepared.

Opportunities exist outside your business in the industry and in the market. The game industry changes so quickly, you need to stay on top of the news to create a good list—and keep adding to your company’s list of potential opportunities.

Threats are also outside your business and can have some kind of negative impact. A threat could be something as simple as direct competition—another publisher gets a similar game to market before you do.

Game industry threats that are having a huge impact right now are technological. Console developers need to think about the future. Will there be as many console players in the future? Are we limiting our brands by staying console only? Your threat list should also be a thorough analysis of the climate you work in and should be kept up as much as your opportunities.

Goals, Objectives, Strategies & Tactics

The acronym “GOST” stands for Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics. You’ll start with the goal and then create objectives that tie back to the goal. Strategies are developed to support your objectives. Tactics are created to achieve strategies.

Goal

A goal is where you’d like to go—a measurable and achievable benchmark of success. Your goals should describe what your company wants to accomplish in a certain time period.

Objective

Objectives are well-defined, measurable ways to achieve your goals. You need to create objectives where you can easily answer two questions:

• How much?
• By when?

You must also make sure your objectives are realistic: Can they be achieved in the time period designated?

When creating a list of objectives needed to obtain a goal, make sure your list is sufficient:

• Will completing these objectives really achieve this goal?
• Do we have the staff and other resources needed to complete the objectives on time?

Strategies

Strategies are ways to achieve objectives. For example, your goal is to increase your profits by 20%. Your list of objectives includes “increase players of our social game by 10,000 per month for six months.” Your strategies are the changes you plan to implement to increase the number of players.

Tactics

Tactics are specific ways to implement strategies. When creating a list of tactics, you need to make sure they provide the greatest return on investment. You want tactics that cost less in terms of time, resources and money while returning the biggest yield in support of your goal.

Some companies go one step further with the GOST process by creating an Action Plan—a to-do list of the actions needed to accomplish a tactic.

Check in with your objectives, strategies and tactics as you work through the process of achieving your goals.

• Is the process accomplishing what it should?
• Does your plan still meet market demands?

Make changes to the GOST list as you gather data on the effectiveness of your efforts.

There’s a huge amount of change and opportunity in the video game industry right now—and a huge amount of capital investment in new ventures. This is a great time to leverage these opportunities and your experience to create something new. The game industry is full of bright, hard-working people who work smart. Put plans in place to grow your business wisely, strategically utilizing your resources and opportunities. Good luck!

Belinda Van Sickle has been in the game industry for over 14 years. Her experience includes extensive marketing and advertising work for companies like Activision, Disney, Blizzard, Sammy Studios, Namco, Microsoft, Codemasters, Warner Bros., Vivendi, Konami, Midway and others.

Van Sickle offers strategic consulting services through GameDocs, her company founded in 2005. Services include planning, management, growth & infrastructure, business development and joint ventures.

Van Sickle also serves as the President/CEO of Women in Games International, one of the leading professional organizations in the video game industry. Under her leadership, the organization has grown to over 4,000 members with corporate sponsorship growth over 300%.

Women in Games International triumphed with our fourth annual GDC reception! Once again, WIGI has proven to provide quality networking events with high level people and great business opportunities.

We thank our sponsors for their generous support of the event including Gibney Anthony & Flaherty, 38 Studios, CCP Games, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, The Art Institutes, Future US, GNW Game Guard and Peanut Labs Media.

I’d like to call attention to the volunteers at the event including Denise Archer, Kelley Corten, Heather Decker, Sandy Leung, Adam Moore, Alyssa Reuter, Stephanie Spong, Trisha Stouffer, Kimberly Unger and Mary-Margaret Walker.

WIGI Executive staff attended other events that support women in games. On Tuesday there was a great dinner for industry thought leaders hosted by Casual Connect. We discussed ways to move ahead with education, career growth and access to resources for women.

On Thursday, the IGDA Women in Games special interest group held its annual roundtable meeting, which is always a great opportunity for status, inspiration and brainstorming to improve access and working conditions for everyone. After that, the third annual Microsoft Women in Games Awards luncheon was held. New categories were added this year and it’s always a fabulous event.

Stay tuned for news from WIGI on our E3 plans and more!

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/gdc-2011-women-in-gaming-awards

“We have never seen any link between growth in the mobile gaming market and decrease in the normal software market…It’s the users that decide.”

He went on to say, “We couldn’t find any evidence of those two markets being linked.” While I’ll agree it’s the users that decide, evidence that the digital and physical retail markets are linked is everywhere. If you don’t see it in the games space, what about music and home video? It’s obvious our use and consumption of media is changing.

But I agree with Fischer when he says, “People who talk about the end of physical media don’t share the same daily reality as most consumers.” The fact is, the video game industry sells to the world. And the world consumes media differently. And has different broadband access. Has different reliable electricity!

Cloud-based solutions are coming and we will watch as they take hold and grow. However, I have been hearing for years that games sold at retail is ending, but I saw the excitement over the holidays at game stores. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm killed at retail—the fastest selling PC game of all time! Physical media for an MMO!

It’s all about offering gameplay choices everywhere consumers are. And making that play seamless.

http://www.thealistdaily.com/news/nintendo-digital-market-doesnt-come-at-expense-of-retail-games/

One of the biggest problems with app stores has been the deluge of bad software and knock-offs. Curated app stores allow users to find gems.

What companies need to do now is prove that their “gems” are really the best available titles, and featured apps are not just based on graft. This is a branding challenge, but also a staffing and vetting issue. App stores need to start now to create customer loyalty by not only showcasing the biggest sellers, but also by finding less well-known games. “Curator” should mean “guardian,” not “advertiser.”

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-02-15-union-on-board-to-bring-games-to-xperia-play

WIGI Executive Team WIGI has formalized our Executive Team. WIGI is managed by a team of five people including myself as president and CEO, Krissie Franco—CFO, Asra Rasheed—VP, Amy Allison and Jeannie Novak. The five of us work together to determine the direction of the international organization as well as the Los Angeles chapter.
Belinda Van Sickle—President/CEO I provide overall direction and leadership for the organization as well as serving as the Los Angeles WAM coordinator, organizing Women And Men events in Los Angeles. I also help WIGI chapters with organizing and promoting their own WAM events. I help lead our GDC and E3 programs and provide marketing and promotional materials for all WIGI events and programs.
Krissie Franco—CFO Krissie serves as the organization’s CFO as well as the Chapter Liaison, interfacing with each active WIGI chapter and helping new chapters to start. Krissie has also been instrumental in securing our not for profit status.
Asra Rasheed—VP of Organization Development Asra serves as our business development director, organizing WIGI’s sponsor generating efforts and helping to finance our programs and events. She is also active in organizing our parties at major conferences like GDC and E3.
Amy Allison—Executive Team Amy started the D-L-C program—Drinks-Lectures-Community. The program began in Los Angeles in 2009 and is expanding to San Francisco and beyond in 2011. Amy’s new idea for 2011 is Yes MAMs—WIGI’s meet and greet program. Executive team members will be meeting with representatives of major publishers and developers to learn how WIGI can better serve their employees and the game industry long term.
Jeannie Novak—Executive Team Jeannie is bringing her extensive event coordination and education experience to WIGI’s events and conferences. She is also helping to relaunch the GameMentorOnline program, the only mentorship program available in the video game industry.

WAMs—Women And Men Networking Mixers The Los Angeles chapter just changed its monthly Women and Men networking mixer event in February. We started the monthly mixers in March of 2010 and they have been a great place for industry folks to meet and greet on a regular basis. Our new location has a game demo area and a small arcade for extra fun after work. Come and join us at Busby’s in Santa Monica on the first Monday of the month from 7-9 pm.
The next WAM event in San Francisco is scheduled for February 24th at Jillian’s from 6 to 9 pm.

D-L-Cs—Drinks-Lectures-Community Our fabulous D-L-C program in Los Angeles is expanding to San Francisco and beyond in 2011. The mini-conference panels feature major game industry players talking about hot topics in their areas of expertise. We start the evenings with a moderated panel discussion and move to a nearby restaurant for drinks, appetizers and fellowship.

So far, Los Angeles events have covered topics like In-Game Marketing, Monetization in Social Gaming and How to Move Your Career Ahead (or switch areas) in Gaming. The next Los Angeles event focusing on Developer/Publisher Relations will be announced soon!

The first SF event is planned for summer 2011. We expect to see events in Seattle, Vancouver, Austin and beyond coming soon. If you’d like to be a part of WIGI’s DLC program, let us know!

WIGI Local Chapters Our chapters have been expanding and growing in 2010, with the biggest growth in the San Francisco chapter. Bay area game industry folks have been meeting at WAM events since the fall and we have a dedicated and active team of volunteers. WAM events will continue and we expect to have our first D-L-C in San Francisco this summer.

Our Seattle and Vancouver chapters are actively meeting and we’ve had an annual event at GDC Austin for several years. We want to foster strong growth and community in chapters across the US and throughout the world. We need dedicated volunteers to lead local WIGI chapters. Contact chapters@getwigi.com to get involved!

WIGI Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2010 was the launch date of the first Women in Games International quarterly newsletter. This is the second edition. The newsletter gives info about current WIGI programs and events and offers a forum for articles of interest to game industry folks. Please email info@getwigi.com if you’d like to contribute to the next edition of the newsletter.

We’re also looking for dedicated volunteers to find articles, arrange interviews and create the document three times a year—once before GDC San Francisco, once before E3 and once in the fall. Please contact us if you’d like to be a part of the newsletter team.

New WIGI Website WIGI launched a brand new website in 2010. We thank Deadline for their sponsorship of site development. The new site allows members to find out what’s happening and learn how to get plugged in and stay connected. Check it out atgetwigi.com.

Advisory Board WIGI is planning to revamp our advisory board in 2011. We’d like to create a group staffed with industry veterans who meet twice a year to advise the direction and planning of WIGI programs and events. Our goal is to have the first meeting as a luncheon at E3 2011. We’re looking for people interested in contributing to WIGI on a macro level and we need a sponsor for the E3 lunch. Please contact info@getwigi.com if you’re interested.

Conferences WIGI is looking to expand our presence at major industry events and conferences. We have been a part of GDC, E3 and Casual Connect for years and would like to host networking mixers and/or panel discussions at more events in coming years. If you’d like to get involved with increasing WIGI’s conference presence, please let us know at info@getwigi.com

PR Women in Games International is searching for a pro bono PR firm to help us get the word out about our events and programs. Let us know at info@getwigi.com if you have a lead!

http://curvecheck.com/WIGI/GDC_2011_Edition/2011/02/ceos-corner%E2%80%94wigi-development-and-expansion-review/

IPTV, Internet Protocol Television, is something most people can upgrade their current entertainment systems to utilize. Netflix has been successfully streaming high definition full-length feature films at an affordable price for quite awhile. Consumers with an HDTV and Internet access can purchase devices that’ll hook their TVs to the Internet and allow a whole new universe of content to be displayed on what used to be a broadcast-only device.

This is another chance for entertainment publishers to utilize transmedia principles in monetizing their brands. IPTV and the pervasive use of smartphones brings together mobile gaming and a living room audience. What once were mobile-only apps can be accessed on IPTV from the couch.

Angry Birds developer Rovio just hired a console game expert to help bring their award winning and multi-million selling mobile title to consoles. What if they could go straight to IPTV with quality that’d work on a 52-inch screen? Costs would go way down and the potential market could go way up.

EA’s COO John Schappert says, “I’m mostly interested, with all the mobile devices that are coming out, in how they’re being connected to one another and how the same IP is shared over the top.”

One transmedia principle we’d be wise to keep in mind is that the audience on different devices plays differently. They want to interact with the same brands, but the gameplay needs to fit the gamer.

A DS audience may want an easy 2D game with lots of rewards and levels. A console audience enjoys immersive 3D worlds that allow for exploration. A social game audience wants to jump in and jump out for a few minutes at a time and share the fun with friends. A casual gamer wants a game that can be played for a short time but also allows for an immersive, stress-relieving experience. Mobile players want touch screen interactivity with integrated communications.

3D is growing and will be a factor in the game industry, but it’s still being figured out. Current pricing doesn’t work for the mainstream consumer, there still isn’t enough content to make most people want to upgrade and the technology still isn’t standardized.

The game industry must stay on the cutting edge of entertainment technology, but huge investment in 3D gaming at this time while expecting to make your money back soon is unwise and unlikely. Leveraging new technologies on consoles, PCs, mobile and TV offers an install base that makes for an exponentially larger market.

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-believes-3d-is-not-a-priority/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32858/Angry_Birds_Dev_Rovio_Gears_Up_For_Consoles_With_Remedy_Hire.php
http://www.thealistdaily.com/news/3d-tv-market-expected-at-100-billion-by-2014/