Jochen Gary (Stillfront Group) joined Josh to share his advice on using content to revive legacy games, importance of retention and marketing in pre-production for a successful mobile game in 2024 and the gaming community in Hamburg.

Josh: Hi Jochen, thanks for joining us! Can you introduce yourself?

Sure, I am the VP of Marketing at Stillfront Group, a Sweden-based global gaming company with a wide range of digital games that attract over 50 million people each month. I am happy to lead a team of amazing marketing, data, art and tech experts at Stillfront’s marketing hub. We collaborate with the group’s gaming studios to drive user acquisition for their games. I always loved to work at the intersection of business, technology, and art, and gaming is perfect for that.

Josh: How did you start working in mobile gaming?

I was a vivid gamer myself in my youth, starting as early as Atari 2600, good old Commodore C64 and later first IBM 286. So gaming has always been with me. After some previous jobs I joined Goodgame Studios in Hamburg - browser gaming was still 50% of their business, but with Empire Four Kingdoms they had a truly remarkable success story on mobile. An evergreen classic strategy game, very well done. I joined Goodgame because of the fantastic team and top notch marketing.

Josh: What is your go to mobile game?

For killing some time it is Bitlife, the funny stories and dark humor the team creates are the best. Last time I was a Hollywood star that mistakenly - of course - ended up in jail for a woman who had hired a hitman to kill me 😊 I do still play Clash Royale, amazing pvp matchmaking. And also Sunshine Island, a farming game for relaxation.

Josh: Feel free to share a bit more about Stillfront Group and the work you do!

Sure, Stillfront Group is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and our game development is done by studios all over the world. We aim to create a gaming universe that is digital, affordable, equal, and sustainable. Therefore, we focus on developing games that are all about having a rewarding hobby, a great social experience, or a strategic challenge. Our main markets are the US, Japan, Middle East and Africa, Germany, and the UK. I love working at Stillfront and with all the studios, such an international, diverse and interesting environment. Stillfront is also publishing games via some of its studios.

Josh: How are the team protecting the experience of users in older games with more legacy?

Content, content, content. It is amazing how game designers come up with new quests, events, challenges, items and storyline for games which are 10 years or older. Our gaming community is very dear to us, so the devs are talking to the community very frequently. Older games are kept interesting and fresh. This makes perfect sense, the industry narrative has changed from chasing one hit to the next one, to build a community for gamers that can be enjoyed long-lasting and with ongoing fun. Understanding the experience from players can be also very valuable in understanding the audience of your game, why they play and enjoy the game.

Josh: Do you see a trend of publishers prioritising user experience in the interest of retention over acquiring new users?

Yes, definitely. With market saturation, user acquisition has become more difficult and expensive. So naturally more focus is directed to retaining your existing user base, to make games more fun long-term, to build communities, to build brand and to include user feedback into your dev processes.

And I think this goes hand-in-hand with acquiring new users: They also get to enjoy a better and more fun game, a better onboarding process, a better community.

Josh: On the other hand, what is the importance of bringing in the marketing team in pre-production to test new ideas?

Game development, production is expensive, takes a bit of time and resources. Marketing and product team up in pre-production to get that target audience understanding right and to validate the market. This by looking at the market trends, competition and marketing audiences, e.g. for different creative approaches. This to be clear about what player they are building the game for, what those players like and how to present it to them. This can help massively in running in the right direction with a new game or game rework, to reduce risk of failure. Pre-production does not guarantee you a successful game, but it helps identify issues early on.

Josh: Great to have you returning to Gamesforum Hamburg as a speaker Jochen. Talking about just that, marketing in pre-production! Can you share more about what our audience can expect to hear?

Absolutely, I will bring a UA and a product marketing expert from our group. They will explain the product marketing function at Stillfront, how UA, product and product marketing work together. We will cover quantitative and qualitative market research for new games and also explain how we test features, settings and how decisions are made. I am sure it will be a great session.

Josh: Hamburg is quickly becoming a mobile gaming hub. What is the gaming community like in the city? And why do you think it has become such a hotbed for mobile gaming?

Hamburg has great universities and thus many gaming studios started or moved here for access to top talent. The city is amazingly friendly and culturally diverse - and has a fantastic coffee culture.. So I am not surprised Hamburg became a hub for mobile gaming as well. The community is well organized, also thanks to Gamecity Hamburg, who provide events & meetups. Looking forward to meeting many game devs and interested gamers at Gamesforum in Hamburg!

Josh: Thanks Jochen for your time and insights. See you soon! 

You can hear more from Jochen at Gamesforum Hamburg!