Gazillion's Fiden: Gaming's Shift From Products To Services 'Cannot Be Overstated'

Author: by Staff

Gazillion Entertainment's VP of publishing Dan Fiden recently shared his thoughts on the industry's transition into the digital market, noting that the trend toward operating games as a service marks "a tremendous shift" for publishers and developers alike. "The industry is in the middle of a shift from one oriented around product development into one oriented around service operations. In my opinion, the significance of this simply cannot be overstated," he said in a group interview in anticipation of GDC 2012, for which he serves as an advisory board member. Fiden noted that for games to operate successfully as an ongoing service, the entire pipeline for production will have to change, even down to a title's creative vision and design. "In my opinion, the companies that will be most successful in the coming years will not be the ones who can figure out how to sell the same games they packaged up for Walmart in 2005 on Steam in 2011." "They will be the ones who can learn how to integrate distribution and monetization deeply into the design of their games, meaning that they figure out how to get 'business' and 'creative' people to sit next to each other and collaborate from day one." "The successful companies will understand how to ship early, they know what data to collect and how to act on it, and they'll be able to move fast. Game studios and publishers traditionally work very similarly to movie or TV studios. Now they need work like web service companies. It's a tremendous shift," he added. For more from Fiden and the other GDC 2012 advisory board members, check out the full interview, which is now live on Gamasutra. In addition, Fiden recently spoke with Gamasutra about Gazillion's own plans for adapting to the evolving digital market, particularly noting its free to play titles such as Super Hero Squad Online and Fortune Online.