Miniclip CEO Robert Small分享職業生涯經驗
Miniclip CEO Robert Small分享職業生涯經驗
原作者:Craig Chapple 譯者：Willow Wu
Miniclip成立於2000年，儘管遊戲市場歷經數次變革，在CEO&創始人Robert Small的帶領下，他們總能跟上時代的腳步。
Robert Small是在遊戲的陪伴下長大的，對遊戲的熱愛讓他毅然決然地紮根在這個行業。不久之後Miniclip就在免費網路遊戲領域取得了成功，並在此後一直處於上升趨勢。
在公司的早期階段，你很難找到有誰不是玩著他們的遊戲長大的。
他們現在的代表作有暢銷手遊8 Ball Pool以及Agar.io。當然，成功作品遠不止這兩個。
Miniclip在各個平臺上的月活躍使用者已達2億，手遊的下載量早已超過十億次。
中國巨頭髮行商騰訊被他們的成就所吸引，在2015年提出併購，最後成為了公司的最大股東。
Small已經在這個行業呆了18年了，正是他對遊戲以及公司的熱愛讓他堅持了這麼久。
我們邀請到了這位CEO，讓他跟我們分享早期的職業生涯經歷，以及作為一個世界頂級遊戲發行商，他學到了哪些教訓。
Miniclip(from crunchbase.com)
PocketGamer.biz: 你小時候最喜歡什麼遊戲？
Robert Small: 我十六歲生日時，父母送了我一臺128k Spectrum。從那一刻起，我對遊戲的熱愛就被點燃了。
我最喜歡的是Chucky Egg和Treasure Island Dizzy。大學時期，我沉迷於《帝國時代》和《命令與征服：紅色警戒》，在這兩個遊戲上花了很多時間。
-你什麼時候想到要把遊戲當成職業的？
我以前會在Spectrum上寫程式，但是直到2000年Miniclip成立我才真正看到了一個能將我對遊戲的熱愛與商業結合起來的機會。
-你在這個行業的第一份工作是什麼職位？結果如何？
我的第一份工作就是在Miniclip，鑑於我們還可以在近二十年後活躍於市場，我想這份工作的結果還是挺不錯的。
當然，這些年我的工作發生了很大變化。在早期，你事事都親身參與：遊戲開發、客戶支援、託管還有發工資。
現在我很幸運能有一個精英團隊幫我打理這一切，而且他們比那時的我能幹得多。這樣，我每週都有時間可以玩玩我們自己的遊戲（已發行和未發行的），另外就是確保我對市面上的熱門產品有所瞭解。
-你的第一次重大成就是什麼？
我們很幸運，因為公司發行的首批遊戲中就有一個收穫了巨大反響。Miniclip成立的幾周後，我們便開始著手我們的第一款產品，目的就是打響品牌知名度。
George Bush是當時的總統，所以我們就決定讓他來當我們的遊戲主角，遊戲的名字就叫做Dancing Bush。
我們只花了一週的時間來寫Flash 1.0的程式碼，但是遊戲迅速就火了起來，成為那個時代最成功的網路產品之一，遊戲次數超過了10億。
-你是什麼時候發現手遊的潛力？
2005年夏天，我們開始關注移動裝置上的遊戲。我們網站上的遊戲非常多，已經超過了1000個。我覺得我們可以嘗試把其中一些遊戲移植到移動端上。
但是很遺憾，功能手機只能執行《貪吃蛇》這樣的簡單遊戲。所以直到2007年，Steve Jobs釋出初代iPhone之後我們才再次把目光聚焦到移動裝置上。
2008年，我們在芬蘭公司RedLynx的幫助下發行了Miniclip的第一款手遊。它的最終銷量達到了380萬份，也讓我們很快認識到iPhone作為遊戲裝置有著巨大的市場潛力。
在那之後不久，我們建立了自己的內部手遊工作室，從純粹的發行商變成開發商，這是一個不小的挑戰。
-在你看來，手遊行業迄今為止最具里程碑意義的事件是什麼？
肯定就是2007年6月Steve Jobs推出第一代iPhone。
另外，還有幾件事從本質上改變了手遊行業：市場主流從付費遊戲變為免費遊戲，以及安卓系統的誕生。
-最令你自豪的事情是什麼？有什麼後悔的事情嗎？
我對Miniclip過去二十年所獲得成果感到非常自豪。
尤其是早些年時，所有人都跟我們說做免費遊戲是註定失敗的瘋狂想法，然後我們用事實證明是他們錯了。還有就是跟一些非常優秀的公司合作，製作出了成功的遊戲，比如Trials、Runescape、Club Penguin、Agar.io和8 Ball Pool。
這麼多年來，我能和這麼多才華橫溢的人一起工作，我真的感到非常榮幸。當人們告訴我他們是玩Miniclip的遊戲長大的或者是現在有在玩我們的手遊還是能讓我覺得特別高興。
-最近你最喜歡的是哪個手遊？原因是什麼？
最近我迷上了Playsport Games的《賽車經理3》（Motorsport Manager 3）。
我是個忠實的賽車迷，在遊戲中我能管理、發展自己的賽車團隊，我十分享受這種挑戰任務，尤其現在正是F1賽季。
-對於手遊行業的未來你有怎樣的預測？
·AR以及VR在移動平臺的未來發展並不會如人們想象的那麼大規模
·未來會出現很多山寨Ketchapp、Voodoo旗下產品的超休閒遊戲公司。這種隨開隨停的小遊戲將會佔據各個榜單的前排位置
·機器學習和人工智慧會對擁有成熟商業智慧團隊的企業發揮更大的作用，就比如Miniclip
·對移動CPI廣告網路領域進行整合，並轉為“競價”模式。這會為品牌商提供接觸移動廣告庫存的便利渠道
-你希望未來能在行業中的哪個領域有所作為？
我希望我們能夠繼續朝著Miniclip的核心目標前進——“釋放每個人心中的玩家人格”，通過我們的遊戲將來自世界各地的更多人聯絡起來。
本文由遊戲邦編譯，轉載請註明來源，或諮詢微信zhengjintiao
Miniclip was founded back in 2000 and despite major market shifts, has always managed to keep up with the times.
Throughout that period it’s been led by CEO and founder Robert Small.
Growing up with a passion for games, he jumped straight into the deep end with his own company. It wasn’t long before the company found success in free online games and since then has been on an upward trajectory.
You won’t find many people who grew up during the early days of Miniclip that haven’t played one of its titles.
It’s now famous for games such as the top grossing mobile app 8 Ball Pool and the viral hit Agar.io, to name just two titles in its vast portfolio.
Across platforms the company’s portfolio has an audience of 200 million monthly active users, while its mobile games have been downloaded well over one billion times.
Miniclip’s success was enough to attract the overtures of Chinese publishing giant Tencent back in 2015, which forked out for a majority stake in the company.
Small remains 18 years on, such is his love for games and the company he’s led for that entire period.
We caught up with the CEO to discuss the early days of his career and the lessons he’s learned building one of the world’s top games publishers.
PocketGamer.biz: What were your favourite games as a kid?
Robert Small: My parents gave me a 128k Spectrum on my 16th birthday. From that moment onwards, my love of games was ignited.
My favourites were Chucky Egg and Treasure Island Dizzy. At university, I spent an unhealthy amount of time playing Age of Empires and Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
When did you realise you wanted to make games as a career?
I started programming on my Spectrum, but it wasn’t until we founded Miniclip in 2000 that I really saw an opportunity to combine my love of games with business.
What was your first role in the industry? How did that turn out?
My first role was with Miniclip and I guess it turned out pretty well given that we are still thriving almost 20 years later.
Of course, my role at the company has changed dramatically over the years. In the early days you get involved with everything from making the games, managing customer support, hosting and payroll.
I am very lucky that these days I have a hugely talented team around me who are far more skilled than I ever was at dealing with all these aspects of the business. This allows me time each week to play all our current and future games and ensure I remain aware of all the other leading titles in the market.
What do you consider your first significant success?
We were lucky as one of our first games proved to be a huge success. A few weeks after establishing the company, we set about building our first product to put Miniclip on the map.
George Bush was running for the presidency, so we decided to make him the star of our first game: Dancing Bush.
It only took me one week to code in Flash 1.0, but the game went viral and become one of the largest internet success stories of its day, eventually clocking up more than one billion gameplays.
When did the potential for mobile games become apparent to you?
In the summer of 2005 we started looking at games on mobile devices. We had a huge content catalogue of more than 1,000 games on Miniclip.com and thought there could be an opportunity for us to port some of these onto mobile devices.
Sadly, feature phones were not powerful enough to run anything more advanced than Snake. So it wasn’t until 2007, when Steve Jobs announced the launch of the first iPhone, that we decided to take another look at mobile.
We released our first game in 2008 with the help of a Finnish company called RedLynx. The game ended up selling 3.8 million copies and it quickly became obvious to us that the iPhone had huge potential as a gaming device.
Shortly after that we established our own internal mobile games studio and set about the challenge of transitioning from being a purebred publisher to a developer.
What do you think is the most significant event in the mobile games industry to-date?
It has to be June 2007: Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPhone.
Subsequently, there have been several events that have changed the nature of the mobile games industry: the shift from premium to free-to-play and Google releasing Android.
What are you most proud of? Any regrets?
I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved at Miniclip over the last two decades.
Proving all the naysayers wrong, particularly in the early days when everyone kept telling us that giving our products away for free was a crazy business idea. Working with amazing partners and being involved in successes like Trials, Runescape, Club Penguin, Agar.io and 8 Ball Pool.
I feel enormously privileged to have been working in the industry for all these years with so many talented people and I still get a buzz when people tell me they played Miniclip games as a kid on the web or are a current player of our mobile titles.
Which mobile games have you most enjoyed recently and why?
I am currently addicted to Motorsport Manager 3 by Playsport Games.
I am a big motorsport fan and enjoy the challenge of managing and developing my own race team, particularly right now when the F1 season is running.
What are your predictions for the future of mobile games?
Augmented reality and virtual reality won’t be as big on mobile as everyone seems to think
There will be tonnes of copycat hyper-casual games companies all trying to copy Ketchapp and Voodoo. More and more of the top charts will be dominated by these types of disposable games
Machine learning and artificial intelligence will play an even bigger role for companies (like Miniclip) who have mature and sophisticated business intelligence teams
Consolidation in the mobile CPI ad network space and a subsequent move towards “bidding”. This will help brands access mobile ad inventory
In which area of the industry do you hope to make a difference in future?
I hope that we will continue to advance Miniclip’s purpose, which is “to unleash the gamer in everyone” by connecting more and more people around the world through our games.（source： pocketgamer.biz ）