For the past years, our very own Thomas has been going around the world, preaching about Games as a Service, the whole idea that focusing on all aspects of a game that are not core gameplay not only can drastically increase all key performance indicator in an online game, but also prove very profitable. Now, Ubisoft Toronto’s head Jade Raymond recently showed a pretty good understanding of this concept by using a interesting analogy. She said, while talking about a new project : “Games aren’t just what you talk about around the water cooler, they’re becoming the water cooler itself …”
https://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.png00Thomas BIDAUXhttps://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.pngThomas BIDAUX2011-02-16 11:39:222016-11-01 07:33:41Games as a Service: The Water Cooler Analogy
Arguably, we are well into January already, but the rule says it is still fine to send new year wishes until the end of the month.
ICO had a very good year in 2010. We grew our team, adding Martin and then Julien to our talent pool. We took on new clients, strengthened some of our ongoing relationships while building new ones.
That meant maybe a fewer number of blog posts than we would have wanted, but overall, it is also growing with us and we are very happy to have such a nice follow-up of the content we are publishing here.
We will keep working on it, and we hope that our readership will appreciate the topics we will bring here.
All this to say that we are very happy with the start of the new year and we wanted to include you in our wishes and hope for you all the best in 2012.
https://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.png00Thomas BIDAUXhttps://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.pngThomas BIDAUX2011-01-26 11:43:502016-09-30 19:22:29A brand new year
This month, we’re going our separate ways on the 15th of November. Absence makes the heart… well, totally dependent on internet access really, right? 🙂
Julien and I are attending Game Connection from 16-18 November in Lyon, and Julien will be arriving a bit early to present a Master Class session on Monday 15th, covering “Communication & Marketing for Online Games”. If you’d like to meet us at the event, please ping us through Game Connection’s booking system or use our contact form to send a meeting request.
Thomas and Martin are heading to Korea for a couple of weeks to represent ICO at Gstar. They’ll be available for business meetings on the 18th and 19th, so please get in touch if you’d like to see them.
(Diane is off having a splendid adventure, and cannot be found until the week of 22nd November.)
https://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.png00Thomas BIDAUXhttps://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.pngThomas BIDAUX2010-11-04 11:47:442016-12-04 22:28:46Where to find us in November
When I started working here at ICO Partners, I noticed a challenge I’ve seen before in large global companies with multiple offices in different locations: there’s no water cooler or kitchen shared by everyone in the company. No place where information is passed on naturally from one person to the other, gradually making its way to each staff member until everyone ‘magically’ knows.
Even though we’re small enough to all fit into one cozy room, our people are located in three different cities, and often above the clouds on their way to clients or conventions on other continents. We really started to think about the information gaps when I, as a fresh starter, wanted to know more about what each person is doing (the typical “what are you working on right now?” question).
When you’re in a company with multiple offices, it’s dangerous to believe that just because everyone in your office knows about what’s going on, that means everyone at all the other locations knows it, too. Some information might have been shared with a few people via email and selectively passed along, which can create an impression that the info is common knowledge when it really isn’t.
Meanwhile…in another time zone…. remote colleagues wake up several hours later, open their inboxes and find this:
Granted, this blog entry’s headline is not the most creative one – but I will try to make up for it in the following paragraphs:
While Thomas and Diane are already visiting panels and having meetings at the GDC Europe in Cologne, the rest of ICO’s crew is making the final preparations for their flights to the following gamescom convention starting on Wednesday. In fact, we are pretty much set and ready to go, staring at the planes taking off outside our office window at Gatwick Airport and looking forward to being on one of them tomorrow afternoon. We also finally got the confirmation for the catering service at our booth at Hall 4.1, Aisle H, Booth 055 – and as we are looking forward to seeing many of you in person, this means you can enjoy snacks and drinks while dropping by.
Like us, you may already have a busy schedule but even without having arranged a meeting you’re welcome to visit us and talk about business or finally meet in person. Whether you plan on publishing a video game in Europe, want to talk about partnerships with us or are just eager to collect the full set of our shiny new business cards, you should memorize the location of our booth.
Here is how I do it:
Germany-England 4:1, Hungary was the best team in ‘55 (before Germany won the world cup in ’56)
(EDIT: This is actually not true, but it works and could keep you busy to spot the error in the sentence)
Of course, that’s my way, easy for a German but might work for others, too.
(Now I’m back at nervously checking volcanic ash forecasts one more time)
https://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.png00Thomas BIDAUXhttps://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.pngThomas BIDAUX2010-08-16 12:14:522016-12-28 06:25:27We are going to gamescom!
Last month in Munich I spoke about social games, common myths about them and the relative truth for each of them. While we have been working on social games projects for a while, we aren’t as familiar with this part of the industry as we are with the MMO space, for instance. Researching for this lecture was a lot of fun and a learning experience.
Because of the evolving nature of the social games, we are still at the very beginning of the story, and I expect the presentation to get outdated very quickly.
I had the opportunity to talk to people working at the biggest social games development studios during the process, and a lot of the content here comes from those discussions (which were full of hopes as well as frustrations). Here it is for you to read:
https://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.png00Thomas BIDAUXhttps://icopartners.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRUSHCREATIVE_ICO_BRANDING_LOGO_NavyWhite-01-e1586189748878.pngThomas BIDAUX2010-08-10 12:25:202016-12-28 06:26:13Busting 10 myths about social games
For the past years, our very own Thomas has been going around the world, preaching about Games as a Service, the whole idea that focusing on all aspects of a game that are not core gameplay not only can drastically increase all key performance indicator in an online game, but also prove very profitable. Now, Ubisoft Toronto’s head Jade Raymond recently showed a pretty good understanding of this concept by using a interesting analogy. She said, while talking about a new project : “Games aren’t just what you talk about around the water cooler, they’re becoming the water cooler itself …”
When I started working here at ICO Partners, I noticed a challenge I’ve seen before in large global companies with multiple offices in different locations: there’s no water cooler or kitchen shared by everyone in the company. No place where information is passed on naturally from one person to the other, gradually making its way to each staff member until everyone ‘magically’ knows.
