Alla Khramtsova, Tony Leamer, Jeremy Snook, Greg Lanz, Konstantin Nikulin, Andrew Postnikov, Pavel Raikkonen, Mike Suarez, Lloyd Melnick, Stephan Smith, Igor Matsanyuk

Publsiher Lineup: Slide slides & audio (18 MB)

Top North American and European publishers answered your questions!

The most interesting questions were selected and presented to the panel of publishers.

This round table will give you valuable feedback on what you can count on when you develop your next great game: learn the real statistics behind the casual titles selling in North America, Western and Eastern Europe, grasp which way the publishers are going and which direction they think the market is drifting.

There are definitely many questions left unanswered after you receive your reports from publishers. This panel is your chance to ask those questions and get some answer's!

Delivered at Casual Connect Kyiv, October 2007

DOWNLOAD

Alla Khramtsova (email)

Alla has been in the casual games industry since 2003 starting as a Customer Support Representative at Absolutist.com. In 2004 she was appointed Head of Sales&Marketing and managed to create a fully-functional marketing team developing new business directions from scratch. She was responsible for building the relations with online publishers, partners, new distribution channels, as well as for diversifying of business the result of which was entering the outsourcing market and substantial company growth.

Prior to joining small Internet company, which was Absolutist those days, Alla was working in automotive business as a personal assistant to the President.

Nowadays, Alla continues to define strategic directions for Absolutist, which works with desktop platforms (WindowsPC, Mac, Linux) and online gaming, as well as handhelds and smartphones, having a huge portfolio of in-house developed games and games made for external clients.

She holds an MA in English and World Literature.

Tony Leamer (email)

Tony has been working on the Web since its infancy in the early 90's. In 2000, Tony joined the then-nascent RealArcade team at RealNetworks, playing key roles in the launch and growth of both the RealArcade and GamePass products. His final role at Real found him managing the RealArcade ditribtution business, syndicating the RealArcade service through third party distribution partners. At Oberon Media, Tony is responsible for content marketing and brand development in the company's publishing operation, located in Seattle, Washington.

Jeremy Snook (email)

As lead producer of RealGames, Jeremy Snook manages the core content team responsible for publishing and distribution through Real’s worldwide games services. Published games he has produced include the Mysteryville series and Puzzle Detective. He joined RealNetworks in 2006.

Prior to joining RealNetworks, Snook was the marketing manager at Gas Powered Games, the award-winning developer of the Supreme Commander and Dungeon Siege franchises. Previous to his turn towards marketing, he held various producer positions at Gas Powered Games.

Snook holds a B.A. from the University of Washington and is currently working on his graduate degree in digital media from the UW.

Greg Lanz (email)

Greg Lanz currently serves as Vice President of Publishing and Sales for iWin, Inc., a leading casual games publisher and online website. Mr. Lanz has over 8 years of game industry experience in sales, distribution, licensing, and online advertising.

Before joining iWin, Mr. Lanz spent 2 ½ years at Trymedia Systems managing North American sales and business development and was a contributing factor in the acquisition of Trymedia by Macrovision (MVSN) in August 2005.

Prior to Trymedia, Mr. Lanz held sales and management positions at GameDAILY, Sega Dreamcast, and KPMG’s Channel Management Group.

Konstantin Nikulin (email)

Konstantin Nikulin was development manager at Gazprom for two years. After completion of an economics internship at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the aerospace engineer started his entrepreneurial activities in 1997 in the media and IT branches in Germany. In 1998, he founded his own development company in Kaliningrad and in 2000, he incorporated INTENIUM GmbH in Hamburg. Nikulin is head of the divisions of strategic partnerships and production.

Andrew Postnikov (email)

Andrew Postnikov has been the head of Alawar Entertainment's Internet publishing department since June 2002. Since then, the company has published more than 100 casual games by external developers, established partnerships with all of the leading online distributors and become the world's key publisher of casual games. The Magic Ball series, recognized as offering the best 3D Breakout action available, was produced and published under Mr. Postnikov's direct guidance. Before joining to Alawar, Andrey worked as the head of production at a leading printing house specializing in the creation of forms used in accounting. Mr. Postnikov graduated from Novosibirsk State Technical University, Aircraft Faculty, with a degree in aircraft.

Pavel Raikkonen (email)

In 2002, Pavel Riaikkonen co-founded casual game developer and distributor Nevosoft, based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Today, Nevosoft is one of the top developers of casual games in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Pavel is in charge of marketing. He holds a Master's Degree in Intellectual Systems and Technologies from Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University.

Mike Suarez (email)

Mike Suarez, a 20-year veteran of the hardcore gaming industry with extensive experiences in marketing and product development experience, currently serves as MumboJumbo's Vice President of Business Development. Mike

Prior to joining MumboJumbo, Mike was Vice President at Rockstar Games, a development division of Take Two Interactive best known for its Grand Theft Auto series. Previous roles include running product development at Heat.net, an early online gaming site, and founding a development house, Pacific Gameworks, which created Michael Jordan In-Flight in the early 90s. Mike began his career in the marketing department at Electronic Arts working on early EA sports titles and later became a producer at Activision.

Lloyd Melnick (email)

Lloyd Melnick has been involved with publishing and licensing computer and video games for over 13 years. As a co-founder of Merscom, Lloyd has marketed, produced and published over 150 games for both the casual and core gamer market. Lloyd was responsible for the US retail launches of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, Buku Brain Blast, Bode Miller Alpine Skiing, Terrorist Takedown and other great titles. Lloyd Melnick has also developed and implemented Merscom's retail distribution network both in the United States and Europe. He secured relationships for Merscom with leading distributors including Take 2 Interactive and Atari in the US, helping Merscom gain access to all major retailers. In Europe, Lloyd works with over 100 distributors in over 30 countries to ensure Merscom's titles reach customers in every market. He has also arranged strategic relationships with Massive Inc., Adscape, Eyeblaster, Exent, Double Fusion, IGA Worldwide, DISCover and Scandinavian Games. Lloyd Melnick has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Economy from John Hopkins University and a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He also earned a Master of Arts in European Integration from the University of Limerick in Ireland. In 1989, Lloyd's analysis and prognosis for the European online sector was published in the Journal of European Business. This article was one of the first pedagogical works to bring attention to the huge potential of this market. Lloyd also served as a Country Analyst focused on southern Africa for the US Government for three years.

Stephan Smith (email)

Igor Matsanyuk (email)

”We are very proud of our success in the Russian game market. But we are even more proud of our games”.

Igor Matsanyuk, IT Territory’s Founder and President, has always taken an active part in the development and launching of all of IT Territory’s games. He has managed to build a professional team and develop a comprehensive infrastructure that allows IT Territory to consistently launch commercially viable and successful games. Since 2004 IT Territory has been mainly involved in the development and publishing of massively multiplayer online games, however in 2007 growing demand in the casual game market inspired the creation of the affiliated company IT Territory Casual. Today, IT Territory is one of Russia's top game companies.

HOME \| LECTURES & ARTICLES \| INDUSTRY ANALYSIS \| PUBLISHER LINE UP slides & audio (18 MB) Top North American and European publishers answered your questions! The most interesting questions were selected and presented to the panel of publishers. This round table will give you valuable feedback on what you can count on when you develop your next great game: learn the real statistics behind the casual titles selling in North America, Western and Eastern Europe, grasp which way the publishers are going and which direction they think the market is drifting. There are definitely many questions left unanswered after you receive your reports from publishers. This panel is your chance to ask those questions and get some answer's! Delivered at Casual Connect Kyiv, October 2007 DOWNLOAD Alla Khramtsova (email) Alla has been in the casual games industry since 2003 starting as a Customer Support Representative at Absolutist.com. In 2004 she was appointed Head of Sales&Marketing and managed to create a fully-functional marketing team developing new business directions from scratch. She was responsible for building the relations with online publishers, partners, new distribution channels, as well as for diversifying of business the result of which was entering the outsourcing market and substantial company growth. Prior to joining small Internet company, which was Absolutist those days, Alla was working in automotive business as a personal assistant to the President. Nowadays, Alla continues to define strategic directions for Absolutist, which works with desktop platforms (WindowsPC, Mac, Linux) and online gaming, as well as handhelds and smartphones, having a huge portfolio of in-house developed games and games made for external clients. She holds an MA in English and World Literature. Tony Leamer (email) Tony has been working on the Web since its infancy in the early 90's. In 2000, Tony joined the then-nascent RealArcade team at RealNetworks, playing key roles in the launch and growth of both the RealArcade and GamePass products. His final role at Real found him managing the RealArcade ditribtution business, syndicating the RealArcade service through third party distribution partners. At Oberon Media, Tony is responsible for content marketing and brand development in the company's publishing operation, located in Seattle, Washington. Jeremy Snook (email) As lead producer of RealGames, Jeremy Snook manages the core content team responsible for publishing and distribution through Real’s worldwide games services. Published games he has produced include the Mysteryville series and Puzzle Detective. He joined RealNetworks in 2006. Prior to joining RealNetworks, Snook was the marketing manager at Gas Powered Games, the award-winning developer of the Supreme Commander and Dungeon Siege franchises. Previous to his turn towards marketing, he held various producer positions at Gas Powered Games. Snook holds a B.A. from the University of Washington and is currently working on his graduate degree in digital media from the UW. Greg Lanz (email) Greg Lanz currently serves as Vice President of Publishing and Sales for iWin, Inc., a leading casual games publisher and online website. Mr. Lanz has over 8 years of game industry experience in sales, distribution, licensing, and online advertising. Before joining iWin, Mr. Lanz spent 2 ½ years at Trymedia Systems managing North American sales and business development and was a contributing factor in the acquisition of Trymedia by Macrovision (MVSN) in August 2005. Prior to Trymedia, Mr. Lanz held sales and management positions at GameDAILY, Sega Dreamcast, and KPMG’s Channel Management Group. Konstantin Nikulin (email) Konstantin Nikulin was development manager at Gazprom for two years. After completion of an economics internship at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the aerospace engineer started his entrepreneurial activities in 1997 in the media and IT branches in Germany. In 1998, he founded his own development company in Kaliningrad and in 2000, he incorporated INTENIUM GmbH in Hamburg. Nikulin is head of the divisions of strategic partnerships and production. Andrew Postnikov (email) Andrew Postnikov has been the head of Alawar Entertainment's Internet publishing department since June 2002. Since then, the company has published more than 100 casual games by external developers, established partnerships with all of the leading online distributors and become the world's key publisher of casual games. The Magic Ball series, recognized as offering the best 3D Breakout action available, was produced and published under Mr. Postnikov's direct guidance. Before joining to Alawar, Andrey worked as the head of production at a leading printing house specializing in the creation of forms used in accounting. Mr. Postnikov graduated from Novosibirsk State Technical University, Aircraft Faculty, with a degree in aircraft. Pavel Raikkonen (email) In 2002, Pavel Riaikkonen co-founded casual game developer and distributor Nevosoft, based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Today, Nevosoft is one of the top developers of casual games in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Pavel is in charge of marketing. He holds a Master's Degree in Intellectual Systems and Technologies from Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University. Mike Suarez (email) Mike Suarez, a 20-year veteran of the hardcore gaming industry with extensive experiences in marketing and product development experience, currently serves as MumboJumbo's Vice President of Business Development. Mike Prior to joining MumboJumbo, Mike was Vice President at Rockstar Games, a development division of Take Two Interactive best known for its Grand Theft Auto series. Previous roles include running product development at Heat.net, an early online gaming site, and founding a development house, Pacific Gameworks, which created Michael Jordan In-Flight in the early 90s. Mike began his career in the marketing department at Electronic Arts working on early EA sports titles and later became a producer at Activision. Lloyd Melnick (email) Lloyd Melnick has been involved with publishing and licensing computer and video games for over 13 years. As a co-founder of Merscom, Lloyd has marketed, produced and published over 150 games for both the casual and core gamer market. Lloyd was responsible for the US retail launches of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, Buku Brain Blast, Bode Miller Alpine Skiing, Terrorist Takedown and other great titles. Lloyd Melnick has also developed and implemented Merscom's retail distribution network both in the United States and Europe. He secured relationships for Merscom with leading distributors including Take 2 Interactive and Atari in the US, helping Merscom gain access to all major retailers. In Europe, Lloyd works with over 100 distributors in over 30 countries to ensure Merscom's titles reach customers in every market. He has also arranged strategic relationships with Massive Inc., Adscape, Eyeblaster, Exent, Double Fusion, IGA Worldwide, DISCover and Scandinavian Games. Lloyd Melnick has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Economy from John Hopkins University and a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He also earned a Master of Arts in European Integration from the University of Limerick in Ireland. In 1989, Lloyd's analysis and prognosis for the European online sector was published in the Journal of European Business. This article was one of the first pedagogical works to bring attention to the huge potential of this market. Lloyd also served as a Country Analyst focused on southern Africa for the US Government for three years. Stephan Smith (email) Igor Matsanyuk (email) ”We are very proud of our success in the Russian game market. But we are even more proud of our games”. Igor Matsanyuk, IT Territory’s Founder and President, has always taken an active part in the development and launching of all of IT Territory’s games. He has managed to build a professional team and develop a comprehensive infrastructure that allows IT Territory to consistently launch commercially viable and successful games. Since 2004 IT Territory has been mainly involved in the development and publishing of massively multiplayer online games, however in 2007 growing demand in the casual game market inspired the creation of the affiliated company IT Territory Casual. Today, IT Territory is one of Russia's top game companies.