2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

Interestingly to us, GameBlast subscribers quickly established themselves as our most valuable 

customers in terms of total annual spend. The service had proven itself for phase 1. Despite the 

fact that we viewed the service as a limited test offering that we were not marketing heavily, we 

had enough data to support further expansion. 

We  are  now  in  the  early  phases  of  what  internally  we  call  GameBlast  2.0,  which  is  a  set  of  6 

initiatives  that  reflect  what  we  have  learned  from  subscriber  feedback  and  service  usage  data. 

These initiatives include: 

Enhanced online community

. One early example of this is our Jigsaw Challenge, a daily 

competition to determine who can solve our daily jigsaw fastest.  

Access  to  downloadable  content

.  Beginning  in  November  2003,  we've  begun  granting 

access to hit downloadable games such as Super Collapse II, Wild Wild Words, and Lemonade 

Tycoon at no additional charge. (Game developers are compensated on a per play basis, as they 

are with online content.) 

New content types and greater content selection

.  

External  marketing  partnerships

.  We've  partnered  with  AT&T  to  distribute  prepaid 

GameBlast  subscription  cards  in  leading  retailers  including  Wal Mart.  And  we're  also  making 

GameBlast available via partnerships with a variety of ISPs. 

Increased internal marketing support

. We've seen that GameBlast subscribers are our 

most  valuable  customers,  so  we  are  making  GameBlast  marketing  a  huge  part  of  our  overall 

efforts.  

Site/service redesign

. (Coming in 2004) 

The  evolution  is  in  progress  right  now,  but  we  already  have  some  very  encouraging  data. 

GameBlast's active subscriber totals have grown every month since launch and in recent months 

have picked up considerable speed.  

We are now very confident that GameBlast is going to be a significant source of revenue for us 

and for our game development partners. It will be especially important in a future where product 

conversion rates have fallen, and e mail marketing is less effective.  

We  firmly  believe  that  there  is  greater  value  in  cultivating  a  group  of  subscribers  who  make  a 

buying decision once and then stay with the service out of loyalty, rather than in asking our best 

consumers to make a specific buying decision on every new product that is released. Enabling 

them  to  take  that  initial  leap  of  faith  and  to  get  one  to  enter  their  billing  information  requires  a 

major commitment on our part to provide them with an overwhelmingly valuable service. 

4. 

A Comprehensive High Level View of Business Model Choices 

After separating web games from downloadable games, and further separating primary business models 

from secondary business models, there are several options for developers to choose from.  These 

options are listed below.  

Web Games 

Downloadable Games 

Primary Models 

Secondary Models 

Primary Models 

Secondary Models 

Work For Hire 

Tech. Licensing 

Work for Hire 

Web games 

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