Tactile Entertainment wants to join Supercell, Rovio, and King as a Nordic mobile-gaming wonder (interview)

Something must be in the water, or ice, in the Nordic region. Mobile gaming publishers from Scandinavia like Rovio (Angry Birds), Supercell (Clash of Clans), and King (Candy Crush Saga) have found enormous success. So Tactile Entertainment, based on Copenhagen, Denmark, wants to be the next mobile gaming leader.

If there’s a lesson in mobile games, anything can happen. The gaming world is truly global, and that’s the theme of our upcoming GamesBeat 2014 conference.

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Tactile Entertainment debuted in 2009, and it has produced hits like Chasing Yello and Skyline Skaters. The studio said that Chasing Yello has been downloaded more than 20 million times and played more than 400 million times. Even with so many downloads, the odds are small that an indie studio like Tactile can crack into the inner circle of mobile game leaders.

But they’re going to try, starting with Airheads Jump, a game that debuts today. Here’s an edited interview with Asbjoern Soendergaard, the chief executive and founder of Tactile Entertainment. He’s the next man who would be king.

GamesBeat: How did you get Tactile off the ground?

Asbjoern Soendergaard: We started Tactile in 2009, after we had all fallen in love with the very first iPhone. We saw a fantastic opportunity to make innovative gameplay and new IP in a market not dominated by traditional publishers. Initially we bootstrapped and worked as consultants, but after the release of our first game, Pocket Creatures, we’ve been cashflow positive and able to grow from that base.

GamesBeat: What’s the environment like for game development there?

Soendergaard: We are based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Nordic region has been a significant influencer when it comes to mobile games, with companies like Supercell, King and Rovio taking the lead. Even though it’s increasingly difficult to break into the mobile games market now compared to just a few years ago, I sense a huge optimism in the development community here – people are completely focused on the fantastic opportunities still in the market. There is a fantastic talent pool here in Copenhagen, which gives us a great opportunity to grow in the current market. I believe that many more big mobile gaming hits will come from our region going forward.

GamesBeat: How large is the team, and what experience does it have?

Soendergaard: We are a very small, lean company, with a team of 12 people. All of us are game industry veterans who have done high profile console and PC games before switching to mobile. As we head into a more mature state in the evolution of mobile gaming, it’s really beginning to pay off to have worked on larger scale productions before. So I feel that we are extremely well positioned to accelerate our growth going forward.

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Catch us up to speed on how well Chasing Yello and Tactile (in general) has done, in addition to just download numbers. Any other success metrics you can provide?
Chasing Yello (2012) and Skyline Skaters (2014) are our two most recent releases. Since release, Chasing Yello has been downloaded more than 20 million times and played more than 400 million times by a loyal fan base, and we currently have a new Yello game in the works. Both games have outperformed our expectations and helped us to develop a formula for creating highly entertaining, casual, free-to-play games.

GamesBeat: Why did Chasing Yello and Skyline Skaters do so well?

Soendergaard: First of all both games have the casual visual appeal that does well with the mainstream audience of the App Store. Both are also extremely easy to get into — the gameplay is very simple but at the same time hard to master. On top of that I think it shows how much production love and polish we have put into these games. There are so many options in the App Store now, so the only way to truly stand out is to give your games sensational polish. Besides that, I think both games give high value to all players, regardless of if they spend money on in-app purchases or not, which is key to providing everybody with a great experience and a reason to share that experience with friends.

GamesBeat: Are you only focused on mobile, or do you have interest in developing for other platforms?

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Soendergaard: There are so many opportunities right now that we could not possibly pursue all of them. We are a small team and we would like to stay relatively small and agile, so it makes sense for us to focus exclusively on tablets and smartphones. Although you can make a port that works in theory, if you don’t give each platform extensive attention then you will end up with a substandard game.

GamesBeat: How do you get inspired for some of these game concepts?

Soendergaard: There is no one source of inspiration. We are of course inspired by the games we play and animated films we watch. We have a new game launching globally (today) called Airheads Jump, published by Crazy Labs, and that concept started out as a fun gameplay prototype of a ball jumping. Then one of our artists started playing around with having something as simple as a ball for a character, and eventually created the amazing Airheads backstory and setting that you’ll see in the final game.

GamesBeat: Can you tell us more about why Airheads Jump is your next game and where it fits in the overall mobile marketplace?

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Soendergaard: There have been a number of really cool jumpers, Doodle Jump, for instance, in the past. But I think that Airheads Jump shows that there is much more fun to be found with this type of gameplay. I believe that we take the genre to a new level — both in terms of visual polish and in terms of gameplay improvements.

GamesBeat: It looks like an endless jumper, a crowded category. Why is this particular game different?

Soendergaard: When competing in an established genre like jumping games, you need to bring something new to the table in order to stand out from the crowd. I believe that Airheads Jump does just that, both with our awesome visuals and by taking the gameplay to a new level. Our level-based approach allows us to offer a much more customized gameplay experience, something you don’t get from classics like Doodle Jump.

GamesBeat: How do you plan to market Airheads differently so that it might get noticed and succeed?

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Soendergaard: The first step in any successful marketing plan is to have a great product. How it’s going to be received when it actually hits the market is always difficult to predict, but Crazy Labs’ help with various marketing and PR strategies on the publishing side will help us grow the initial loyal user base that is needed to launch with success.

GamesBeat: What is it about Crazy Labs that drew you to their publishing business? What makes them different from other publishers?

Soendergaard: The primary thing for us when deciding to work with Crazy Labs was that they understand and invest in the idea that the only way you can be successful in the current market is to make very high quality products that stand out both in terms of gameplay and visuals. I believe that Airheads Jump does exactly that. We have taken some well know gameplay elements and added our own secret sauce, while at the same time applying a very high degree of visual polish to the product.

GamesBeat: So what did you need from Crazy Labs? Financial or publishing support? Both?

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Soendergaard: For a small team like ours, the primary motivation when going into a publishing relationship is getting the resources to give the proper attention to all the little things that are needed — besides producing the actual game itself. Considering the whole process of launching the game, Crazy Labs has been and will be a very valuable partner.

GamesBeat: Are you happy with the way business is going, or are there certain things you wish would improve, and how?

Soendergaard:From our perspective things are going very well. It is of course a crowded market, but in the end I think that high quality always win, and we have consistently delivered that. Sometimes you can get a little annoyed when you see yet another Flappy Bird clone in the top rankings, but I also have a strong belief that this will pass, and in the end high quality products will stand out and allow real businesses to thrive.

GamesBeat: What’s your view on the state of the industry?

Soendergaard: Looking at the mobile/tablet gaming scene over the last 12 months, it is becoming even more evident that revenue distribution is becoming increasingly skewed, with fewer games taking a larger chunk of the overall business. Nothing comes easily now, you need to have all the bases covered when it comes to both production and marketing. Although the approach from a process point of view is completely different from console games, the scope of mobile games will only continue to grow in the future.

GamesBeat: What are the hot trends in mobile games?

Soendergaard: I would love to be able to tell you the next big trend! In many ways I think that the mobile platform is beginning to be so mature now that we are seeing a more stable market in terms of new content. With so many games out there, many gameplay concepts have been tried already in the mobile marketplace, and we’re starting to see production quality and marketing muscle become the dominant factors for success. So we will see much less innovation in the gameplay itself. I think this is very similar to the creative content cycle any gaming platform has gone through in the past. The major difference between the current situation with mobile and other gaming platforms in the past is the scale and potential that mobile has in reaching such a massive audience.