Q&A, Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO, Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist on the firmâs new platform and how developing games for mobile differs from desktop
Games developer Yggdrasil reported a 156% increase in year-on-year revenues for the first three months of 2015, with mobile a key driver of that growth. The firm invested heavily in the platform during 2014 and it expects its new multi-platform launch model to be a major factor in its improving performance during the rest of the year. We caught up with CEO Fredrik Elmqvist to discuss how mobile is becoming central the firmâs philosophy.
How important is mobile to Yggdrasil?
As with the rest of the industry, mobile is becoming increasingly important for us. We are seeing really strong growth and we would definitely expect this to continue. Players now demand a seamless experience regardless of the device they are playing on and that is something we deliver at Yggdrasil. To give you a greater idea of the growth we have seen in mobile, some of our partners are now close to 50/50 mobile/desktop with Yggdrasil content. Considering we only launched our first mobile game in Q1 2014 this is pretty impressive growth.
Do you have to make compromises when developing for mobile?
In the past this may have been the case for some operators and suppliers, but itâs not anymore. Itâs our aim to deliver exactly the same experience on both desktop and mobile, so we design and develop the games to be cross-platform from the very beginning. This means we donât have to compromise on anything further down the line.
How is the iSENSE 2.0 platform helping?
A great deal of work went into our HTML5 iSENSE 2.0 framework prior to its launch at ICE this year. Its key feature is that it allows for desktop and mobile games to be launched simultaneously. Previously operators had to create separate launches for a new game across different platforms, but this can now be done in one go which means our partners can streamline their marketing costs.
Weâve had excellent feedback from the partners already signed up and iSENSE 2.0 has really helped us to stand out from the crowd when it comes to delivering a seamless, integrated desktop and mobile product.
Do you see the casino vertical shifting decisively to mobile?
Mobile will continue to grow and I think itâs safe to assume that it will eventually become the dominant channel across the board. However, people are looking for games which they can play anywhere and on any device. The more consistent experience they get across these different platforms the greater their loyalty for the brand will become. That is what our iSENSE 2.0 delivers and I think it will become the benchmark for the industry.
You can read the rest of our Q&A with Fredrik in eGR Mobile Intelligence issue 20 here