Yesterday, DICE 2013 kicked off. For those of you unaware, DICE stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain. The DICE summit is always about discussing new innovations in the industry, and bringing them to the table to discuss and implement them. Being asked to be the keynote speaker for such a prestigious summit. He had two main topics he wanted to talk about, so let me paraphrase a bit for you.
PCs in the living room, and the Free to play Model
The first major topic Gabe wanted to discuss was about how the PC is slowing leaving its comfortable nest in bedrooms and offices, and is moving out to living rooms. Citing Steam’s own Big Picture Mode, as well as changes in the industry making it smoother, easier, and faster to use your TV in the living room as your new, giant monitor, Gabe foresees that soon, the line between console and PC will blur.
The other major thing he wanted to get out into the open is the F2P model for games, and how it could apply to things that aren’t games at all. Citing the idea of Photoshop having an RPG-like interface, starting you off with simple tasks, and by completing them, you would gain “levels” and access to better tools and more difficult tasks.
Among all these topics Gabe hinted a little bit at their formula for making a game successful, and the big key turned out to be a the community. Give the community the tools the developers use themselves, and the freedom to make just about anything they want, and it will pay back tenfold. A good business model, I’d say. Anyone interested in watching the video can watch it here, so enjoy!
Published: Feb 8, 2013 04:20 pm