AY 2013 NEW STARTUP BUSINESS PLAN MOBILE GAME DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS IN THAILAND: NINTH IDEA 350112309-6 SATRULEE, PITSANU GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS STRATEGY C.E. PROF. D.E. PROF. SEIICHI FUJITA KOJI AIBA D.E. PROF. MASAAKI HIRANO Summary Since 1970, the game industry has been growing exponentially. The industry had over taken other industry with arcade game industry revenue of $8 billion USD compared to $4 billion USD of pop music industry and $3 billion USD of Hollywood films in 1982. Growing alongside the traditional game platform is the game made for mobile phones. The current market size is estimated to be around $34 billion USD only for mobile game industry. In the past, when there was no mobile game market, entry barrier of game development is very high due to difficulty in licensing and expensive development kit. Currently, low price developer licenses are common among mobile phone manufacturer. With huge market size and low entry barrier, the opportunity in mobile game industry is only increasing. This thesis aims to understand the mobile game market and study the feasibility of entering that market. The author of this thesis plans to use the information from this thesis to startup his own company in Thailand with the name of \"Ninth Idea\". In Thai language, the word \"Ninth\" is a homophone word that has two meaning. Another meaning is \"To move forward\". Therefore, Ninth Idea's pronunciation also means \"The idea that moves forward\". This thesis will assess author's current capability to develop a product (game for mobile devices). This includes the thorough evaluation of available financial support and human resources 1 accessibility. Then, the analysis of the current trend of the industry will be done in order to evaluate the right course of action. It will 2 analyze the players gaming and purchasing behavior. The analysis will provide information on the desired platform of mobile devices and specification of games for further development. Finally, the thesis will make a forecast on Ninth Idea performance. Each milestone shall provide a specific goal and what to do for each objective achieved. According to this study, three reasons for going into mobile gaming business are, low entry barrier, very large market and high purchasing power buyer. In the current stage of game industry, mobile game revenue heavily relies in In-App-Purchase (IAP), the process of digitally purchasing for content within an application. Consumers are now less likely to pay upfront for game application. From the survey, they are likely to pay for extra contents once downloaded a free game. And the focus for mobile game company is to expand its user base to increase the amount of paying customer, which relies on customer recommendation to their friends. Among multiple mobile platforms, Android currently holds the largest global market share follows by iOS. However, there are numerous limitations regarding developing application for Android such as fragmentation of device specification. With all the information gathered, Ninth Idea proposes a system called CAIS to be market differentiator. CAIS (Cross Application Item System) is a model where it will let item purchased to be able to use in other games. This will dramatically add the value to IAP for customer since it can be used within more than one game. CAIS will also generate network effect where customer will be persuaded to download another game to use the purchased item, which will expand our user base. However, CAIS will only be successful with a large library of games in the system. Therefore, three phases of business plan are proposed to reach that goal. The first phase is \"Cumulative Phase\" where the focus is to gather a large amount of money with few human resources by releasing low quality game. The main revenue will be advertisement which will be very aggressive to the customer. Hence, all product launch in this phase will be under a different name. Ninth Idea will move on to the next phase of \"Startup Phase\" when enough money for funding a bigger, higher quality product is collected. In Startup Phase, Ninth Idea will develop and publish games as describe in this thesis. The first game will be a test product where Ninth Idea will learn the necessary process of producing its own game from scratch. After that, the second game with more mainstream content and higher quality will be launched. Ninth Idea will track both performances using period payback as a measurement to determine its next course of action in the future phase. The goal period payback will be 200% of six months as one period after the product is released. If the goal is not reached, the end of this phase will be the right time for Ninth Idea to exit the market. On the other hand, Ninth Idea will start implementing CAIS system to use with future product of Ninth Idea if the goal is reached. Even though, CAIS can be imitated by bigger company. It is hoped that existing players do not wish to do so due to the possibility of losing their existing revenue source. Ninth Idea aims to survive in a market where it is constantly growing and changing. With low entry barrier, more and more competitors are entering the market. It is very difficult to determine everything beforehand. And some of the recommendations are only hypothesis by the author. If it were another industry, everything can be determined before launching a product. However, mobile game industry is different. It is a very fast moving industry. But it is also a very adaptable. By using feedback from users, Ninth Idea can modify the product and answer to customer's needs faster than traditional brick and mortar product. This thesis provides most of the information that can be prepared before entering the market. But other information regarding the market must be tested along the way as business goes on. Ninth Idea will be adaptive and adjust its product alongside this ever-changing market. Its ultimate goal is to be recognized as a top game company from Thailand. AY2013 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION GRADUATE SCHOOL OF COMMERCE WASEDA UNIVERSITY NEW STARTUP BUSINESS PLAN MOBILE GAME DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS IN THAILAND: NINTH IDEA 350112309-6 SATRULEE, PITSANU GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS STRATEGY C.E. PROF. D.E. PROF. SEIICHI FUJITA KOJI AIBA D.E. PROF. MASAAKI HIRANO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................. 1 1.1. BACKGROUND..............................................................................................1 1.2. OBJECTIVE...................................................................................................1 1.3. METHODOLOGY............................................................................................2 CHAPTER 2. GAME INDUSTRY BACKGROUND.................................................... 3 2.1. HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY.............................................................................3 2.2. HISTORY OF MOBILE GAME INDUSTRY................................................................4 2.3. CURRENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY.................................................................4 CHAPTER 3. RESOURCES ANALYSIS................................................................... 6 3.1. FINANCIAL RESOURCE PROCUREMENT...............................................................6 3.1.1. Government Financial Support ..................................................... 6 3.1.2. Crowd funding ............................................................................. 7 3.2. INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT CAPABILITY...............................................................9 3.2.1. Management / Programming Partner .......................................... 10 3.2.2. Art / Design Partner......................................................................... 11 3.3. EXTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCES AVAILABILITY...................................................11 CHAPTER 4. OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS ..............................................................13 4.1. MOBILE GAME INDUSTRY ANALYSIS................................................................13 4.1.1. Low entry barrier ....................................................................... 13 4.1.2. Very large market ...................................................................... 15 4.1.3. High purchasing power buyer ..................................................... 17 4.2. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS..................................................................................18 4.2.1. Gaming Session Analysis ............................................................ 19 4.2.2. Product Introduction Analysis ..................................................... 20 4.2.3. Purchasing Behavior Analysis ..................................................... 21 4.3. PLATFORM ANALYSIS...................................................................................23 4.4. GAME GENRE ANALYSIS...............................................................................25 CHAPTER 5. BUSINESS STRATEGY ................................................................... 28 5.1. SITUATION ANALYSIS....................................................................................28 5.1.1. Types of game company ............................................................. 28 5.1.2. Design rules for games .............................................................. 29 5.1.3. Type of players ........................................................................... 30 5.1.4. Revenue channel ....................................................................... 31 5.2. VALUE PROPOSITION....................................................................................33 5.3. GROWTH PLAN...........................................................................................35 5.3.1. Cumulative Phase Strategy ........................................................ 36 5.3.2. Startup Phase Strategy .............................................................. 38 5.3.3. Future phase strategy ................................................................ 39 i CHAPTER 6. BUSINESS PLAN ...........................................................................40 6.1. MARKETING PLAN ......................................................................................40 6.1.1. Product ...................................................................................... 40 6.1.2. Price .......................................................................................... 46 6.1.3. Place ......................................................................................... 50 6.1.4. Promotion .................................................................................. 50 6.2. OPERATION PLAN .......................................................................................55 6.2.1. Cumulative Phase ...................................................................... 55 6.2.2. Startup Phase ............................................................................ 56 6.3. RISK AND ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................................57 CHAPTER 7. FINANCIAL PLAN ..........................................................................59 7.1. COST OF PRODUCTION ................................................................................59 7.2. INCOME PROJECTION ..................................................................................60 7.3. CASH FLOW AND BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS ........................................................62 7.3.1. Cumulative Phase Projection ...................................................... 62 7.3.2. Startup Phase Projection ............................................................ 64 7.3.3. Future Phase Projection .............................................................. 66 CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSION ...............................................................................67 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 69 APPENDIX 1: 15 DESIGN RULES FOR FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES ..............................73 APPENDIX 2: GAME CONSUMER BEHAVIOR QUESTIONAIRE ...............................76 i CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION This research aims at the analysis of mobile game industry business opportunity. It will study the history of game industry from its origination through present. Then this research will examine the author's resource and opportunity in the market in order to create a viable business plan. 1.1. BACKGRO UND Since 1970, the game industry has been growing exponentially. The industry had over taken other industry with arcade game industry revenue of $8 billion USD compared to $4 billion USD of pop music industry and $3 billion USD of Hollywood films in 1982. Growing alongside the traditional game platform is the game made for mobile phones. The current market size is estimated to be around $34 billion USD only for mobile game industry. In the past, when there was no mobile game market, entry barrier of game development is very high due to difficulty in licensing and expensive development kit. Currently, low price developer licenses are common among mobile phone manufacturer. With huge market size and low entry barrier, the opportunity in mobile game industry is only increasing. 1.2. OBJEC TIVE This thesis aims to understand the mobile game market and study the feasibility of entering that market. The author of this thesis plans to use the information from this thesis to startup his own company in Thailand with the name of \"Ninth Idea\". In Thai language, the word \"Ninth\" is a homophone word that has two meaning. Another meaning is \"To move forward\". Therefore, Ninth Idea's pronunciation also means \"The idea that moves forward\". This thesis will assess author's current capability to develop a product (game for mobile devices). This includes the thorough evaluation of available financial support and human resources accessibility. Then, the analysis of the current trend of the industry will be done in order to 1 evaluate the right course of action. It will analyze the players gaming and purchasing behavior. The analysis will provide information on the desired 2 platform of mobile devices and specification of games for further development. Finally, the thesis will make a forecast on Ninth Idea performance. Each milestone shall provide a specific goal and what to do for each objective achieved. 1.3. METHODOL OGY Information obtained in this thesis came from three main sources. The first one was from direct interviews with CEOs from different game companies in Thailand. The target information from each CEOs was their experiences in starting up a game company in Thailand. Because the information on the issue available on the internet is very limited. The second source came from a questionnaire. The questionnaire aims to study game playing and purchasing behavior. It was distributed online to maximize the number of respondents. And the final source is literature review. Due to the nature of this industry being very young and digital, most of the information were acquired from the internet. Cautions were taken to validate and verify the source of information. Every internet sources in this thesis are from reliable websites with veteran authors of the industry. On the final note of recommendations in thesis, some of the recommendations, especially product example, are only hypothesis by the author. If it were another industry, everything can be determined before launching a product. However, mobile game industry is different. It is a very fast moving industry. But it is also a very adaptable. Therefore, the product suggestions' hypothesis can be tested as the business goes on. By using feedback from users, Ninth Idea can modify the product and answer to customer's needs faster than traditional brick and mortar product. CHAPTER 2. GAME INDUSTRY BACKGROUND 2.1. HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY The video game industry generally began in 1970s with the commercially available arcade video games.1 Two notable titles are Pong released by Atari and Space Invaders released by Taito. The industry grew rapidly during the decades with arcade game industry revenue of $8 billion USD compared to $4 billion USD of pop music industry and $3 billion USD of Hollywood films in 1982.2 Home video game consoles also gaining popularity during the period with the advent of home version of Pong released in 1975 Christmas. 3 Space Invaders also contribute a significant growth in the industry by increasing the Atari 2600 sales fourfold in 1978.4 After the intrusion of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES of Famicom) in 19835, the home consoles industry is usually dominated by three major players. At the time of writing this document in 2012, there are three main consoles which are PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Two players from the pasts that still compete in the arena are Nintendo and Sony. Replacing SEGA is Microsoft, the latest player in home video game consoles manufacturer of the current generation. Similar to the home consoles, Nintendo also popularized mobile gaming with the release of Gameboy console. Even with the astounding growth of mobile gaming console in the past decades, mobile gaming for mobile platform has become a game changer of the industry in this era. 1 Bellis, M, (2012), Computer and Video Game History, accessed December 2012, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm 2 Everett M. Rogers & Judith K. Larsen (1984), Silicon Valley fever: growth of high-technology culture 3 Pong Story, Pong in a Chip, accessed December 2012, http://www.pong-story.com/gi.htm 4 Retro Gamer, (2007) The Definitive Space Invaders, accessed December 2012, http://www.nowgamer.com/features/894697/the_definitive_space_invaders_par t_1.html 5 Consalvo, Mia (2006). Console video games and global corporations: Creating a hybrid culture, accessed January 2013, http://web.archive.org/web/20080228191914/http://intl - nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/8/1/117.pdf 2.2. HISTORY OF MOBILE GAME INDUSTRY Growing alongside the traditional game platform is the game made for mobile phones. Even though there were many preloaded games in the beginning of mobile phone era, the most famous and well-known classic game for mobile phone is \"Snake\Assignment Create a video game development budget (cost estimate) of everything you would need to develop a mobile game and a mobile game company. Be Detailed. Include the cost for everything you might possibly need for a year (cost of developer, artist, ios licensing, android licensing, business structure cost, etc) Here are simple examples on how it should look. https://i.kinjaimg.com/gawker media/image/upload/yivqzkfggbk2ca4j7dzg.png https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10gg2_MIEKwuyQwJ9fpY_D0isog 1tmju_wFoOW3kfpbM/edit#gid=0 These are all the links, I was given as possible starting points for research: http://intersog.com/blog/agilityteammanagement/whatdoesitcostto startagamedevelopmentstudio/ https://www.bluelabellabs.com/ideatoappster/howmuchdoesitcostto makeanappaninfographic/ http://www.armanassadi.com/8dayappbusinessplan http://andrewchen.co/howtocreateaprofitablefreemiumstartup spreadsheetmodelincluded/ http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/31/5949433/thecostofagamestudio http://gamesandmen.blogspot.com/2008/12/indiegamedevelopersstart upcost.html http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131492/budgeting_and_scheduling _your_game.php?print=1 http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/costdevelopapp/# http://rstylelab.com/company/blog/mobiletechnologies/howmuchdoes mobilegamedevelopmentcost http://intersog.com/blog/ecommerce/appdevelopmentcostin2014iosvs android/ http://www.enveos.com/howmuchdoesitcosttodevelopamobilegame/ http://sloperama.com/advice/finances.htm http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/settingupyourindie gamedevbusinessaprimergamedev14062