Taking Social Games from Pink to Blue
Approximately 55% of women are playing social games online, but what about the men? The social games genre has typically been geared towards the female player, but a new era of social games is expanding from "pink" games to also include "blue" games. This session will feature social game makers from Zynga, KIXEYE and DeNA discussing what it takes to make a social game that is appealing for the traditionally core male console player.
Presenters
A 15-year video game industry veteran, Sam has been covering the games market since the mid '90s. He founded 1UP.com and Gaming-Age.com, launched GameVideos.com and MyCheats.com, wrote for GameSpot, EGM, and the Official PlayStation Magazine, and has held editorial leadership positions at Hearst, Ziff-Davis, IGN, and Huddler.
Brandon has over 15 years of experience building and marketing consumer products and entertainment software.
Most recently, he co-founded the sports-focused social gaming company, Lionside, which was acquired in 2011 by ngmoco.
Previously, Brandon established and was responsible for the marketing function at Zynga in his capacity as their first VP of Marketing. He also helped lead Electronic Arts’ transition into the digital direct-to-consumer space as Sr. Director of Global Online.
Prior to entering the video game industry, Brandon helped to develop one of the first consumer MP3 engines at Rollingstone.com and fanned the flames of the digital music revolution as Director of Product at the original Napster.
Amer Ajami has over a dozen years of experience in the games industry. He is currently an executive producer at Zynga's Los Angeles studio, where he led development on Empires & Allies and helped launch CoasterVille. Before Zynga, Amer spent seven years at Electronic Arts working on the Command & Conquer and Lord of the Rings franchises as a member of EA Los Angeles’ production team. Amer began his career covering the video game industry for four years at CBS Interactive's GameSpot.com, where he wrote hundreds of stories, interviews, and game reviews as the publication's senior editor. Amer graduated from the University of California, Irvine.
Doug Scott is the Vice President of Marketing & Revenue at the mobile social gaming powerhouse DeNA. In his role, he oversees all aspects of marketing, business development and advertising sales for DeNA’s western business, including leading the marketing for DeNA’s The Drowning, a high-intensity, console-quality, first-person-shooter game custom built for mobile devices.
Prior to his current position, Doug was the co-founder and CEO of Lionside, a sports-oriented social gaming company based in San Francisco. Lionside was acquired by ngmoco in June 2011.
Before Lionside, Doug was VP of Marketing and Business Development at RMG Networks, a Kleiner Perkins-backed startup in the digital out-of-home industry. In his first phase in the video game industry, Doug spent six years at Electronic Arts in a variety of marketing and product development roles, including time as the VP of Global Online Marketing and VP of Entertainment and Lifestyle Marketing. Doug’s early career was spent in the wine industry studying the very important differences between Bordeaux and Barolo in brand management positions at Diageo and the E.&J. Gallo Winery.
Doug holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.
Sunday, March 10
