David Chang of GamesCampus Talks Sports MMOGs, Engaging Older Demographics

The MMO Gamer: I also did not see one single man with pointy ears in any of the demos. I think it’s interesting that the MMO gaming space is beginning to broaden past its roots, beyond the traditional notions of guys with pointy sticks or laser blasters.

I’m sure you’re slightly biased on this subject, but do you see this as an emerging market trend, or will online sports games remain more of a niche?

David Chang: I hope it’s going to be a really big category, we’re betting that it will. Truthfully, I think that remains to be seen.

I think we need to do our jobs right, and educate the gaming audience that we’re out there. Obviously what we’re doing is new, so a lot of people are, like even you admitted, “I didn’t think it was possible to have MMO elements in a sports game.”

If we’re able to convert people like yourself, on a more massive scale, then we’re going to be successful. I know for a fact that there are sports gamers out there, right? It’s the biggest category in the United States.

The MMO Gamer: I’m sure EA could tell you that there are plenty of sports gamers out there.

David Chang: Right. So our job, really, is to convince people that there is another way, and perhaps even a better way, to play sports games.

The example I always use is that the 2K Game is a single player game, first. And then they add-on an online mode if you want to play against your friends, but there’s no leveling concepts, or any of that stuff we have in our games. Our game turns that on its ear.

Our game is primarily an online game, first. It’s designed to be fun when you play against other people. Of course there is a single player mode, but that’s not the way that it’s supposed to be played.

So I think there’s a huge opportunity out there, it’s just a matter of getting the word out.Steve: Alright first of all for all of our rea…

The MMO Gamer: You also said you’re attracting an older demographic. Most of the more hardcore MMO players I know are under 25. I’m 26, so I’m almost an old man already in the genre.

But you’re getting more of the 35-50 crowd. How have you been finding that demographic? I assume they aren’t playing 12 hours a day like a teenager would RuneScape.

David Chang: The answer is no, because at that age most people have jobs. Though, not all.  [laughing]

The MMO Gamer: I’m sure they could play at work, like that guy at the top of the score chart who’d played a thousand games of baseball.

David Chang: [laughing] Yeah, we figured out that that guy spent a minimum of 250 hours in the game, and that’s a lot of games.

We’re finding that the average session time is about an hour and a half. People do come and go pretty frequently.

What we’re finding is that our peak times are right after work. So, people do play during the day, but we’re finding that between 5-7 and 8 are the peak times for us.

And we’re finding these people online. There are a ton of people in the 30-45 demographic online, as I mentioned, in fantasy sports areas, reading about their favorite players on MLB.com, that kind of stuff.

We’re able to have conversations with these guys, and they’re tech savvy, it’s just a matter of explaining to them how the game works, and why they’d like it.

I think they like the fact that it’s not just a casual game. There are these team building elements. It is based on real life statistics, and I think that’s also engaging an older audience that is probably more familiar with fantasy sports or, as I mentioned, we’re getting a lot of people that remember games like RBI Baseball, or some of these older games that used to be able to be played on PC.

They just haven’t seen a baseball game on PC for a long, long time. So, when they check out our game, we’re getting a lot of positive feedback. They’re like, “Oh my God, I didn’t think that this would’ve ever existed!” We’re finding out that they’re really in the wind, which is great.

The MMO Gamer: I noticed you also had what would be considered more of a traditional Eastern MMO available on your site. You said that appealed more to a younger demographic than the sports games.

David Chang: Right.

The MMO Gamer: You would be the only person I’ve spoken with so far that had non-anecdotal data about this, so I hope you’re able to discuss specifics.

There are a lot of games out there that use the same revenue model as you, the free-to-play with cash shop. But, they tend to almost universally appeal to the teenager demographic.

And you have games that appeals both to that demographic and the older demographic, I was wondering which you find acclimates to it better.

Is one group spending more, more willing to divulge a credit card number than the other?

Continued on the next page.

Pages: 1 2 3