The interest and crossover between mainstream sports business and the world of eSports continues to heat up, with yet more teams, athletes and brands looking to the space as a source of fan development, content and potential business opportunities. With that in mind we looked north to Montreal, one of the central locations for innovation in game development and caught up with industry veteran Reid Schneider.
Schneider (@rws360) recently started consulting for EquityArcade, an investment platform helping smaller development studios to seamlessly raise funds for their games through revenue-equity-based crowdfunding.
Schneider has spent his career in game development, almost seven years as VP and Executive Producer at Warner Brothers, and eight years in development and leadership roles at Electronic Arts, working on some of the most successful titles in a fast growing industry.
We caught up with Reid to explain more about the development side of the business, the growing area of mobile, and how the great unwashed can make sense of what is going on now, and what is coming, in the fluid and high stakes world of eSports.
Brands see eSports as a new frontier. What do you tell companies looking to engage in the space?
eSports is a super interesting space right now. The main challenge lies in knowing which league/sport/group is going to come out on top and draw the largest viewership. It’s a bit of the “Wild West” currently with new parties popping up all the time. In the long run I believe it will shake out in a similar fashion as WWE, UFC, etc. If I were a brand right now, I would be focused on bigger players like Riot/LOL, Activision: Call of Duty, Valve/Dota, and the new Blizzard Overwatch League.
Who are some of the brands that have engaged in the right way?
I’ve been SUPER impressed with how Overwatch has come onto the scene and taken up a huge amount of mindshare. The game is very easy to jump into and immediately start having fun with it. The game clearly rewards strong team play, but at the same time has a gentle learning curve which makes it super inviting.
At the same time League of Legends continues to impress in that the game seems to get bigger quarterly and shows no signs of slowing down. The downside is the learning curve is MUCH steeper which can make it tough for new players to come in.
What is the timeline of a successful game, from concept to launch, usually?
Games generally take anywhere from 18 months to 4 years to build. It really depends on the type of game being built. We’re also seeing a very significant stratification in the industry in that AAA games are more and more polished and generally show a sales curve similar to a tent-pole movie. Huge first week, then significantly slower. There are always outliers like GTA 5, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
At the same time we’re seeing some really interesting independent type games show up on Steam: Early Access and then gradually build up a big following and growing larger and larger in terms of MAU/DAU.
How important will the mobile space be going forward for eSports?
I think it will be important as mobile penetration continues to grow especially in foreign markets. If we think about the growth of eSports it really came from Asia and has increasingly moved east. The bigger question is which title will be the one that blows it up, and whether it’s a current game or something new.
Montreal has become a hub for game development. Why?
Montreal has become a hub for game development for a few reasons:
1) Strong tax incentives of 37.5% for production employees
2) Big talent base of experienced game developers
3) A weaker Canadian dollar means that investment goes further.
All that being said, it’s also about the franchises/hits that have come out of Montreal. Titles like Assasins Creed, Splinter Cell, Watch Dogs, Far Cry, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Army of Two, Batman, and many many more were developed here.
What are some of the biggest challenges eSports faces today?
Again, I think the biggest challenges coming up is that there are so many parties entering the space. This can cause confusion for viewers/players/etc. I do think this will shake out.
Also, there is a “legitimization’ challenge as well in getting people to see these as real sports. That being said as the core demographic playing games gets older, this becomes less of an issue as they will have grown up with eSports and understand its value.
What is the biggest misconception you see about gaming?
I think there are a few but the biggest one is probably centered around the complexity of building these types of experiences. Its huge! I’ve been really fortunate to work with some awesome teams and there is no “secret sauce” for making hits. At the end of the day talent/time is what will make a game successful.
A few years ago, I read the book “Creativity Inc” which was focused on how Pixar develops its films, and I found it groundbreaking. In particular, one quote really stuck out for me
“You can give a give a great idea to a mediocre team and you will have average results, but if you give an amazing team an average idea they will turn it into something incredible.”
This statement applies 100% to game development. At the end of the day, talent/creativity and a relentless push for excellence is the only thing that will turn something from good to great.
