BETA | GAME CHANGERS: CONNECT2MEDIA
MAKING THE
CONNECTION
With over a decade in the business behind it, develop and publisher Connect2Media is currently pushing expectations in the low-cost subscription space. Stuart Richardson talks to COO Greg Robinson about the new Game A Day drive...
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Above: With titles like 365 Puzzle Club (above) and Edge (right), Connect2Media has made a significant impact on the evolving mobile space
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anchester-based developer and publisher Connect2Media, founded as nGame in 1998 and bought by US publisher Mforma in 2002, has been working with award-winning and immensly popular mobile IP of the likes of Edge and PES 2010 since its 2008 restructuring. It has built a reputation that is synonymous with the work that it produces, but the recent efforts that the company has made to launch subscription services for its games have also been attracting a lot of interest. It recently followed up its original Prize Play service with the new Game A Day facility that those in charge have high hopes for. “We believe that the Game A Day service will be successful as it’s target audience is the larger number of people whose appetite for content is much larger than their budgets,” says the firm’s COO Greg Robinson. “Our aim is to make the service available for a low subscription fee, delivering fun and social content to their phones. The Flash Lite technology can overcome the limitations of device power and fragmentation between all markets and allows for a rapid, low cost development process.” DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION Getting to the position whereby the company can attempt to shape the industry in which it operates has been no simple matter. Robinson explains the way in which Connect2Media has redefined itself to suit its business targets in relation to market validity: “We have moved a very long way since we set out, becoming leaner and more critical of the business oppourtunities that we pursue. “We have achieved a lot since 2008. We’ve restored most of our direct carrier relations, joined several industry groups and added the North American carriers to our distribution. “A lot remains though. We are hard at work on our biggest challenge in the migration from traditional BREW and J2ME markets to future platforms and distribution models. The Prize Play and Game A Day services we are developing are all complimentary to our core focus to remain in the carrier mobile space.”
Prize Play, the founding subscription-based gaming service from the company, still holds pride of place on the rosta of what Connect2Media offers to it’s numerous customers. “It is hugely important to us”, Robinson agrees.
We are hard at work on our biggest challenge in the migration from traditional BREW and J2ME markets to future platforms and distribution models. Greg Robinson, Connect2Media “Prize Play is a fantastic service and a unique product for the sector. Unlike other play to win products the service links the user to many games on the service carrying their account seamlessly from one game to another. “It has a proven track record on the US carrier decks and we believe that the category can be reinvigorated into a successful service for Connect2Media and the consumer.”
BRAND NEW DAY As for the future, Robinson has separated out the immediete and more distant years and laid out his expectations accordingly. “It’s quite hard to say where the mobile sector will end up. The short term future is a transition to large, touch screen devices and increasing flexibility in pricing,” he says. “Long term the future looks good, as even more people play mobile games. On J2ME handsets only two to three per cent of owners purchased games. The iPhone has shown that, given access, this rises dramatically.” There can be little doubt that Connect2Media will be at the fine edge of any movements of this kind. Robinson is confident of this, and is under no illusions as to where he thinks the company’s ability to move with trends comes from. “The main thing that has got us through this has been the hard work and professionalism of the whole team. We have been lucky to have had very good people in the company,” he says. Connect2Media is upbeat and determined, and if the new wave of subscription services for mobile gaming catch on, seeing its name may become increasingly commonplace. www.connect2media.com