SHARP 6K David Collier
User Manual: SHARP 6K
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page 1 | Confidential
Mobile Games:
David Collier
dc@wm.namco.co.jp
Trends from Japan
2
The Total Service!
Marketing
Technology Applications
Total Service
In Japan, the mobile publisher fills a broad role in the ecosystem
3
///////// Marketing
In Europe, we now have the handsets, the networks, and
the content.
But a big missing link is still informing the consumer about
what they can do with their new phone
The first download is the hardest!
Let’s see how the carriers and content companies in Japan
are working together to get users across the threshold
-In print
-In store
-On the phone
4
Trend: mobile charts
Site Ranking creates a fair competitive field
Different carriers rank their games in different
ways – number of subscribers, page
accesses, or revenue.
This leads to tactics like different pricing plans
to game the system!
Different levels of the menu are organized in
different ways too
Docomo games topmenu
Jsky game-pack menu
Docomo games categories:
Games 1 >
・Game pack
・Mini game Ætotal 26 sites
・RPG
・Communication
・Sports ・Table games ・simulation
Games 2 >
・Variety ・mail games ・quiz
・nurturing ・adventure, ・novel
・character ・general
Namco (ナムコ) ranks #1!
5
CPs provide the surrounding site
A huge difference between Japanese and European service structures.
Producing and running the site is a huge startup burden but provides a lot of
merchandising flexibility to the CP.
6
Docomo “Weekly Guide”
Very high traffic mobile site which is a guide to
what’s new on i-mode
A way for the carrier to include more “editorial
opinion” than just straight popularity rankings
•Introducing “what’s new”
•Special Feature
•Sites that use new tech or handsets
•Emoji graphics
•Tips and Tricks
•Single Banner ad
From this “weekly guide” you could foresee
Docomo’s stance like “contents magazine”.
Docomo will never be a CP on their own to
enable an even field for the content providers
7
Vodafone Japan famitsu appli guide
Namco (ナムコ) ranks #1!
Vodafone Japan produce a 36
page booklet detailing
games, cheats, maps and
more each month.
Also available on the phone
itself as a mobile mag
8
magazines
9
Carrier marketing focuses on content!
Subway posters feature content heavily
10
DoCoMo brochures
Docomo creatively co-
market with their
content partners,
distributing these type
of gatefold leaflets to
all their stores.
This Docomo brochure
features four pages on
“Taiko No Tatsujin”
and also three other
new Namco contents.
11
S&M: ICP gatefold format
Content company fliers are
distributed to retail for free
by the carrier. A win-win
situation where the carrier
helps the content companies
market.
12
Flyers Distributed free in-store at POS
13
The candy store!
14
What Beckham is really thinking…
15
S&M: Cross-promotion
Huge problems with mobile spam means the carrier has all
but banned email marketing
Basic cross-linking is also subject to discussion…
Examples:
•Exit traffic
•Related giveaways – eg free ringtones on a games site
•Loyalty programs and membership clubs (eg “Cybird Style”)
16
S&M: Virtual Arcades
Some game co’s have implemented their own ‘virtual
economy’ with ‘coins’ to be spent in a virtual arcade
Has other added beneifts
•Unused coins carry over across months, motivating players not
to quit or they will lose these coins
•Different games can be valued differently. Eg a new or branded
game could cost three coins
•Allows an ‘event’ billing model to be overlaid on the carrier’s
‘subscription’ system.
17
S&M: Katte sites
The operators are starting “Open” billing
This means:
•a site can use charge end-users via the
operator’s monthly statement
•But - the site won’t be featured on the
operator portal, so has to be promoted
independently
•The criteria are much less testing than
becoming a formal official site
This is seen as an intake method to
become an “official” site
18
////////// Applications
Branding
Packaging
Backing the right technologies…
19
On the small screen: the brand is King
On mobile, branded games hugely outsell unbranded
•The tiny mobile phone storefront gives
just an instant for consumers to decide
which game to download
•Well-known games win every time
•Namco is a giant in the Japanese game industry
with group consolidated turnover of $1.4BN in 2002
Killer Brands…
Namco games have inspired a
range of books eagerly taken up
by fans. This banner for Pac-Man had such strong recognition
that it won the D2C award for best mobile advert.
Even people who did not grow up with Pac-Man
immediately recognized it as a fun game.
ブランドって重要なの？
20
Brand power: Namco Melo-Chara
Namco’s brands are in such demand that people want screen savers and
melodies of the games and characters. So we provide the “Melo-Chara” site
21
mobile phone: perfect for Arcade Classics
Arcade classics are perfectly suited for mobile and
have proven to be huge hits…
Designed for short bursts of quick play
Can play instantly without reading the manual!
Suits the technology perfectly
Catchy brands and addictive game-play mechanics
Namco has 4 of the top ten arcade games of all time
Xevious Tekken 4
Galaga
Pac-Man
DigDug
22
In the beginning there was i-mode…
We were a launch partner for DoCoMo’s i-mode
We invented the “Game-Pack” idea with “Namco Island”
Now we provide 12 different sites to Docomo, more than any other game company.
Namco Island was our first
Docomo site.
Namco invented the idea of a
“Game Pack” bundle of
games for a monthly fee.
23
Hit-making with Brew and KDDI
#1 Brew game at KDDI Launch: Xevious
•Huge success! Clearly the most popular game on the menu
•Tuned for the Japanese Brew launch
•Well marketed by KDDI
•We chose a fast paced shooting game because it showed off
Brew’s native high-performance very well
なぜBrewでゼビウス？
24
Hits keep coming!Mr. Driller
A smash hit on the Gameboy
•The perfect action puzzle for the phone
This game has been a huge smash on gameboy
and playstation, spawning a range of merchandise,
fan-sites character goods and competitions.
It is doing equally well on the mobile phone as the
gameplay is perfectly suited for the advanced
mobile phones out now.
25
Trend: Larger games
Harder and harder to get a carrier to
offer menu listing for a single
standalone game
Taiko no Tatsujin is an exception, a
single game that people
subscribe to so they can get new
songs each month.
Currently the most popular “single
game” item on the docomo menu.
ｹﾞｰﾑｾﾝﾀｰから飛び出した、
太鼓の達人、大ヒット！
26
Trend: Multiplayer Games
Packet fees are still very high and ICPs don’t get
a cut, so little motivation to get users rack up
huge packet fee bills.
•Example: a game of Othello will cost 50cents
per player
Tekken Command Battle
•used KDDI’s free “C-Mail” messaging protocol
to allow players to compete without incurring
packet fees.
•Also carriers prevent services that enable
match-up and communication between
strangers…
•Korea is much more flourishing for mobile
multiplayer because there is a revenue share
model for packet data.
27
Trend: 3D - Ridge Raceron Vodafone Japan
The mobile phone is a PlayStation One!
•Created a new high 500yen price point for premium content
•Reinforced the brand value of the Ridge-Racer Series
•Blockbuster! the most expensive mobile game ever produced
•Almost identical to the PlayStation version
Namco felt someone had to lead the
industry to a higher price point, to help the
mobile game business evolve.
It was high risk as this is the most
expensive mobile game ever produced.
The sales have exceeded expectations
and so far we have had no user
complaints about the price point.
Namco partners with carriers and handset
makers to create killer launch apps
リッジがすごいのは
分かるけど高くない？
28
////////// Technology
29
Carrier drives handset specification
No
19 –
64k
No
50k
EzPlus
Java
KDDI:
KDDI-P
Yes
9.6k up
28 down
3.0
256k
“H” type
YesNoNoYesNoNo
Mail
API?
19 –
64k
9.6k up
28 down
9.6k9.6k up
28 down
9.6k up
28 down
9.6k
Network
Varies by
Handset
100k50k
30+200
= 230k
30+100
= 130k
10+10
=20k
Java
App size
Other
Soon?2.01.03.02.0No
3D
Brew5X0x505
DoJa 3
504
DoJa 2
503
DoJa
1
J-Phone:
MIDP + “JSCL”
Docomo:
“DoJa”
30
Where are the standards going?
European i-mode
DoJa 1.5
Vodafone VSCL
Brew
J-Phone JSCL
DoCoMo DoJa
MIDP 1.0KDDI MIDP
KDDI Brew
MIDP 2.0?
日本→海外?
31
Handset manufacturers
Content is used to differentiate handsets and show off new
features…
Many of the 505 series handsets featured optional
additions to the spec
•Fingerprint reader (Fujitsu)
•Speech Synthesis (NEC, MA5 chip)
•3D screen effect (Sharp)
•OCR (Nec, sharp)
•Synchronization (Panasonic)
Often this commissioned content is the first to use new
technologies
32
Panasonic / 写かりきペット
Virtual pet that uses the
camera to create food
to feed!
•Shows when you have
mail as a screensaver
•You can IR rare food
items to your friends
Virtual pet | Japan | 1 player | J2ME + camera + IR |
33
NEC - photo battler
Fighting Game that uses the
camera
•Using photos to create your
characters
•Depending on the photo
different attributes: life, power,
speed
•You can add comments
•You can also infrared the
battlers and play against
other people
•You can add comments and
these will get transferred as
your “warrior” if you IR the
photo to someone else
•NEC used this game to
promote features of their
N504iS
fighting | Japan | n players | J2ME + camera + IR |
34
Fujitsu Fingerprint game
Using fingerprint authentication as part of the gameplay
If the dog knows it is you, the owner, he gets especially
happy when you pet him!
© 2003 i-freek Co., Inc.
35
Panasonic - “fishing anywhere”
Location based fishing game.
•The phone’s GPS is used in this game to send
info to server
•You compete against other people in your
area
•Bundled with the C3003P as a Brew app
simulation | Japan | n players | BREW + GPS |
36
Kotae wa? Miffy
This game used the unique sound
sampling functions of the SH53 new
phone from Vodafone and Sharp
•Vodafone Japan (J-Phone) and Sharp
pair to add another new feature to
java… audio sampling.
Speak into the MIC and your answer
is compared to a sample of the
correct answer
© Mercis BV, © NEC Interchannel Ltd 2003
37
Sharp - Games using 3D effect
These are pretty hard to show as they rely
on an optical illusion that won’t come over
too well on the presentation screen...
•Best to come up to the podium afterwards!
38
Tech – hardware – handy karaoke
39
Tech – hardware - NaviGety
Karaoke > Hungry > Hotel
http://www.navigety.tv/
40
It’s a wireless world!
BowLingual
MeowLingual
Docomo want to sell more wireless devices
than there are people in japan.
41
//////////// The full service
Beyond individual games… a holistic approach!
•Game Packs
•Lifecycle management
•Pricing Models
42
A mobile game service is like a Game Center
Namco operates theme parks across
Japan, including NamjaTown in
Ikebukuro.
This allows us to develop rich game
ideas that can be used across other
platforms
Enter the “game pack”:
•A package of games bundled together and
sold as a monthly subscription service
Its not just about a single game but a well rounded service
Killer brands out front by the door
Table games around the side to keep people
Contests and prizes
Constant turnover of new titles…
ﾓﾊﾞｲﾙｺﾝﾃﾝﾂｻｲﾄ＝
ﾊﾞｰﾁｬﾙｹﾞｰﾑｾﾝﾀｰ？
43
Vodafone Japan: #1 Game Pack
Namco Appli Carrot-J
J-Phone produce a monthly magazine featuring the latest
games. Encouraging competition among content
providers they show charts of which sites are popular.
Namco is #1 on J-Phone/Vodafone Japan
44
Games have a Lifecycle
Just like a game center,
different games serve different purposes. The service needs the right mix…
■ Big brand titles like Ridge-Racer act as “acquisition” apps, bringing in
new customers in and convincing them to join the service.
■ Games like table-games have a lower but constant play factor. These
are the “retention” apps that keep people subscribed to the service after
they join.
■ “Killer Apps” like Pac-Man just keep people playing constantly month
after month.
■ This is just a brief snapshot but of course you need to keep adding new
titles to maintain people’s interest in the service…
45
Subscription vs Per-Download Business model
Pay-per-download looks good initially but
the business is demanding to sustain
Our desire is to move from pay-per-download services to
subscription services as we have more content available
internationally and billing systems mature.
Subscription model creates a better
long-term business
月額課金 vs DL課金
海外の現状は？
46
Global Games Marketplace!
Global standards?
Global market?
Write once,
run all over the planet…
…debugging /
47
Mobile games boost ARPU!
Voice ARPU is falling everywhere, but data is rising
•Games create significant data traffic
Our well known brands are helping operators attract a mass-market
mobile game audience and launch their data services
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
data ARPU
voice ARPU
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
data ARPU
voice ARPU
Launch of the 503, japan’s first java capable mobile
phone helped Namco subscriptions to take off and now
similar Java launches are happening all over the world.
Source: Docomo
DoCoMo: Voice ARPU is falling while Data is rising
Source: Namco
Launch of the 503 – first java phone
ﾓﾊﾞｲﾙｹﾞｰﾑが
ARPUを引き上げる？
48
The emerging Global Market
Technology platforms are aligning and we have a single global market for mobile games.
OrangeGum, M-DreamDigitalBridges
Far East Tone
SmarTone
SKT, KTF, LGT
Docomo, J-Phone, KDDI
…
Asia
Sprint
ATT
???????
…
Vodafone Live!
Telefonica
KPN, E-Plus,O2
AmericasEurope
Namco reaches over 200M mobile users
49
Europe: Vodafone Live!
•Vodafone strategy was to focus on relationships with a few of the worlds
top mobile game brands
•Namco is one of only a handful of companies with a “search by brand”
option
•30% of Vodafone Live! content revenues are said to be going to
Japanese content providers
Namco is now Live on other leading European carriers O2, Telefonica,
Eplus, KPN with others in development
50
Questions for entering Japan
What is the breadth of your catalog
•Could you sustain an independent menu offering or better to
work inside another portal?
•Can you create a bundle for “game pack” packaging?
Can you create “Deluxe” versions for japan
•Eg that use the extended java features like 3D
51
The Total Service!
Marketing
Technology Applications
Total Service
In Japan, the mobile publisher fills a broad role in the ecosystem
52
Growing the market together
Carrier
Handset Content
User
Win/win revenue share
Ranking system
Leave content to CPs
Content focused marketing
Subscription billing system
Consistent Java
Cable download
DRM security
Multi-key press
Best content at launch
Content refresh
Content Co-Marketing
A good user experience
will lead to more users
and a better business
53
From all of us…
Partner with
to build the mobile game business.
We are looking forward to success together!
David ‘DC’ Collier dc@wm.namco.co.jp
and the European team…
ご清聴ありがとうございました
Luca Nardoni Jonathan Lister John McKenzie
