Mary Casey from Mediatonic discusses Product Management in Games

1. Mediatonic @
PRODUCT TANK
MEDIATONIC
TM

2. Strategic pillars
GaaS
Delivery
X-Platform
Product Strategy
Cloud Distribution
Creative
Production
Meaningful worlds
Distinctive IPs
Production values
Live Ops®
MEDIATONIC
TM

3. Building a
GaaS Stack
User Acquisition, Distribution, Community
Big Data, Business Intelligence, Product Strategy/Monetization
Live Ops  Content build, Monitoring, Deployment, Cloud Mngmt
GaaS Technology  Scalability, Security, Efficiency, Content Management, Localisation
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Creative led-design team
Art and production pipelines
Client-side Engineering
Production management
Quality Assurance
MEDIATONIC
TM

4. Product Development Process
Strategy > Creative > Build > Launch > Grow
MEDIATONIC
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5. Stage 1: Concept
“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is
trying to please everyone.”―Bill Cosby
MEDIATONIC
TM

6. Stage 1: Concept
Constraints are empowering
Context is key
• Business Objectives
• Creative Objectives
Market Analysis on opportunities
MEDIATONIC
TM

7. Stage 1: Concept
Different genres suit different audiences
Low ARPU
+Arcade /Casual
This informs their theme.
High ARPU
+Hardcore / Niche
MEDIATONIC
TM

8. Stage 2: Creation
Focus on Quality Product – Fun is the priority
Maximise User Value against Development Investment
Iterate Rapidly (2 week sprints)
Expect change
MEDIATONIC
TM

9. Stage 2: Creation
Product Management Input
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Platform Best Practice
Competitive Landscape
Marketing
Economy & Pricing
Creative Producer Input
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Thematics & Story
Game play design
Art direction
UX / UI experience
MEDIATONIC
TM

10. Data Driven Design
Combine game data with
real user data in the Cloud
Allows analytical design
process for difficulty,
progression, etc
Session Time (user data)
Session time balancing VS
power – statistical design
and optimisation
TM
MEDIATONIC
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MEDIATONIC
Game Tuning & Variable Balancing (game data)
TM

11. Stage 3: Launch
Start with a soft launch
Focus on Retention, Monetization then Virality (in that order)
Product Management prioritization based on ROI
Weekly updates & iteration
MEDIATONIC
TM

12. Stage 3: Launch
Team involved at all stages, see metrics & user tests
Solve problems together
PM highlights problem, creative team can tackle it
Transparency is key
MEDIATONIC
TM

13. Takeaways
Be Entrepreneurial
Transparency through the company is crucial
Pairing Creativity with great Product Management is key
when building a creative product
MEDIATONIC
TM