"Story games with voice control on smart screens can be counted on the fingers": Just AI about the new market

Recently, the Russian startup Just AI released a visual quest Lovecraft World. It is controlled by voice — the project is designed for smart screens, which are the successors of smart speakers. We considered this a good reason to talk a little about the specifics of the market of such games and its prospects with Anna Vyugina, one of the company’s leaders.

Lovecraft World

But first let’s focus on the project itself and general information about the platform.

About the project

Lovecraft World is a fully voiced visual novel in which the player can influence the development of the story with voice commands. Just AI itself calls the game an interactive quest for Google Nest Hub. The project is based on the voice game “Lovecraft’s World“, which the company released a year earlier for Google Assistant.

About the platform

Smart screen is originally a photo frame. But many more functions are already assigned to modern gadgets in this niche. Today they are a full—fledged analogue of smart speakers with the same set of tools and capabilities. Only you can control not only by voice, but also by touching the screen.

It is difficult to say how big the market for such screens is. Just AI, with reference to Strategy Analytics, states that 146.9 million voice devices for home management were sold last year, and a quarter of them (about 36.7 million) were smart screens.

Interview

App2Top.ru : The development of games for smart screens is, at least, a new niche. How many, in your opinion, are there similar games for Google Nest Hub today?

Anna Vyugina — Head of Conversational AI for Smart Devices, Just AI

Anna: Games with simple mechanics like quizzes and team quizzes, where neither graphics nor voice play a decisive role, were the first to come to smart speakers and displays.

There are very few complex plot games with adult visual content, voice control and monetization, they can literally be counted on the fingers. And not only for Google Nest Hub, but also for other smart screens.

How interesting can this market be for developers?

ANNA:The combination of the usual visual touch interface with voice control allows you to come up with new game formats, play out plots – when it’s easier, faster, more logical than tapping on the screen.

There is still little complicated content in this market.

Now smart screens are not entertainment devices. They are resorted to more often still for utilitarian reasons. Therefore, I can’t help but ask the question of how many installations and what kind of retention can games show on such devices?

Anna: As on any other platforms, in games for screens or speakers, the number of installations and retention depends on the quality of the game as a product – how interesting, exciting it is, and also how well it is implemented from the point of view of conversational UX.

Perhaps, in comparison with smartphone games, the retention of voice games for screens will be lower at first, because the display or speaker are stationary devices, you will only play at home.

In addition, while Google does not have the technical ability to directly reach the user of the smart screen – here, for example, there are no push buttons and limited content promotion tools. But the appearance of these tools is a matter of time. Platforms are working to involve the audience in their voice ecosystems: one of these mechanics – built-in intent – allows you to show teasers of games in response to a user’s request to play.

Okay, that’s sorted out. Now let’s talk about money. How are such games monetized?

ANNA:In games for smart screens, monetization is arranged exactly the same as in mobile games. We used one of the most common mechanics – freemium, when the player is involved in the plot, and after the introductory fragment he is offered to buy access to the full version. 14% of players are already following this scenario.

In general, subscription models also work fine (for example, the Big Sky weather skill for Alexa has 50% conversion to a subscription, the Sleep Sounds skill has 30% to a free trial subscription, of which then 90% are converted to paying users), and IAP payments when a player is forced to buy for himself during the game resources, artifacts, lives, or hints (in the Escape the Airplane quest for Alexa, the conversion to payment reaches 34%).

How much can you earn on such projects today?

Anna:  We will check for ourselves and tell you a little later.

Now the market for smart screen games is young. And there is little serious content. And the user is not yet used to interacting with the content by voice. But the more users smart speakers and screens have, the more high-quality content there will be and the greater the share of voice-powered games in the gaming industry as a whole.

So, we understand that there is no clarity with the revenue. And then the question is reasonable: do platforms pay for such games?

ANNA:If Google likes the content you have developed, it is ready to help with the development and with the promo.

We were among the first to use Google Interactive Canvas, the Google framework that is responsible for implementing graphics on Google Nest smart screens, when developing, and Google was interested in receiving feedback for the development of its tool.

Amazon, for example, has a premium – they can fully pay for the creation of a voice skill for Alexa, if they liked what it is.

Now let’s look to the future. What are the prospects for this market in general?

ANNA:The games that have been presented in smart screens so far, such as quizzes and the simplest trivia games, could be played without a voice.

Perhaps 2020 is the first year when interesting and important projects began to appear on the market. Now the industry is at the stage of searching for formats and ideas that would demonstrate the necessary and situationally justified presence of a voice interface in visual content.

It is important to understand that smart screens and smart speakers are only the first step towards the penetration of natural language interfaces into the world around us. In the future, we will come into contact with them in cars, televisions, smart devices, consoles.

We are also sure that such interfaces perfectly fit the user experience in VR games when you have a microphone and speakers in your helmet, for example, in Oculus Quest, but there is no convenient keyboard.

Moreover, I am sure that many NPCs will soon be able to communicate with players in their usual languages, including in console and PC projects. However, today there are still not enough development tools and best practices for this.

Thanks for the interview.