WN St. Petersburg 2022 has begun. Introduction by Pavel Ryakkonen
A business conference for game developers and publishers WN St. Petersburg 2022 starts today. It is opened on our pages by the post of Pavel Ryakkonen, CEO and founder of WN Media Group.
Pavel Ryakkonen
In connection with the launch of the St. Petersburg WN session, I would like to voice a few thoughts about what is happening in the industry right now.
It’s an extremely difficult time for her now. Today we are holding a conference in St. Petersburg, where the changes are particularly noticeable.
There is no doubt that the participants of the conference will first of all share how they cope with new challenges. Which business architecture seems to be more stable in turbulent times, what works and what doesn’t.
The time of the pandemic and subsequent events have already accustomed businesses to the fact that everything can change very quickly. But if the pandemic, especially in the early stages, even gave impetus to the development of the gaming business, then the current challenges have much more negative attributes.
At the same time, in addition to local difficulties, there are also global challenges — widespread currency inflation and instability of financial systems. The old ones work poorly, there are no new ones yet.
It is difficult to find a safe haven now, but game manufacturers are able to survive the storm due to many business features.
- Diversification by region. Modern gaming products, as a rule, do not have a strict orientation to a particular region. Games are basically a global product, its consumers live in different countries with different economic situations.
- Affordable cost for players. Even in the most difficult times, the user can afford a little joy for $ 0.99.
- Digital distribution. Probably, to bring this point, addressing a professional audience, is a bad thing, but in a world where many supply chains are disrupted, this is an absolute plus
The list goes on.
At the same time, when the inflation of even those currencies that were considered solid until recently reaches double-digit values, companies will have to reduce their marginality.
Those who were on the verge of breaking even will begin — and have already begun — to lose stability. In the future, we will have to put an inflationary component in the cost of games and content.
If you look from the investment side, the owners of capital feel that it is literally melting in their hands: stable financial assets turned out to be not so stable, and it would be better to make an investment in a promising project as soon as possible. But finding a nugget in a huge mass of ore has always been a difficult task, and now even more so.
In addition, it is very difficult to manage risks in a balanced way. After all, the rate of change of the processes involved directly in the gaming business is different.
Plus, it is important to take into account the associated markets.
There is, for example, an advertising market with its own traffic prices. And there are changes happening there now, too.
There is a personnel market that was overheated six months ago, and now is experiencing multidirectional movements, and in some regions — shocks.
There is demand from players who are now reconsidering how much they are willing to spend on games, given that their monthly expenses-incomes have begun to change.
There is no universal answer to these challenges. Except perhaps the one formulated by Charles Darwin: the key to survival is the ability to adapt quickly to changes. Of course, in each case, adaptation will take place in its own way, and only time will tell how successful it will be.
And what’s next?
Despite the difficult time, I am sure that the gaming industry will continue its development. Any crisis is not only difficulties and challenges. After them comes a new wave of growth and development of markets, models, approaches that have proved effective. The stronger the fall, the stronger the growth will be in the wake of the recovery.
New partnerships, companies will be created, new projects will be launched into development, which after a while will show themselves and, perhaps, will become new stars of the industry.
I hope that what we are doing as a whole team of WN Media Group will contribute to the emergence of these new stars. Maybe right now it won’t be a bright supernova, but if there is at least one more star in the sky of the gaming industry, if you have more ideas about where to move on, then we are trying for good reason.
Thanks.
