September 17th, 2009 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial, Distribution | 4 Comments »

Most of you probably remember how TelcoGames went bust, leaving debts all over the market and of course a lot of employees on the streets. One of them, Martin Kitney, has started his own aggregator and has been trading for over a year now.

[Arjan] You have been in business for a year now. Can you give us some information about the size of your company?

[Martin] We currently have four full time employees which will grow within the next twelve months.

 
[Arjan] Thumbstar specializes in distribution of mobile games. Which are your strongest distribution channels?

[Martin] I would say it was more regions that are our strongest such as the Middle East, Australia and Eastern Europe.

 
[Arjan] We know you from your mobile gaming career with TelcoGames. Does that piece of history still affect your current business?

[Martin] My mobile career started when I work at video games company Rage Software back in 2001.  I co-designed and launched the first third party game on Orange. Whilst working at another video game publisher, Jester Interactive, I was involved in the production of Manic Miner for mobile (2003).

I joined Telcogames in 2006 and was the Head of Content there.  I was an employee , not running the business so people understand this and its not affected Thumbstar.  I have some very good contacts and friends in the industry who were delighted to sign with Thumbstar from day one.  We have now signed with some big publishers and are in negotiations with many others.

 
[Arjan] When looking at TelcoGames, what where the strong points of their business model?

[Martin] Their strongest points were their content and distribution network.

 
[Arjan] Where did they take the wrong turn in your opinion?

[Martin] In my opinion it was their attempt to move into publishing and development.  Having development studios in Australia, China, Finland and France was a big strain on resources.

 
[Arjan] Since your company does more or less the same, how do you plan to avoid such situations in your company?

[Martin] Well we won’t be opening development studios across the world.  Our business is focused on aggregation, and in addition we offer PR and Marketing support to developers if they require it.

 
[Arjan] Currently we experience an increase in app store activity by various parties in the market. With developers being able to sign up to such services themselves, how will Thumbstar add value as an aggregator? 

[Martin] We are about to enter the iPhone market ourselves.  We’ve been approached by a number of companies within the games industry to get some titles converted and published on the App Store.    These will be games that are traditional consoles titles that we will bring over to iPhone and publish.  In addition to this we have been approached by some Java developers to publish some titles too.  I think many have realised you can’t just release a game without any PR or Marketing behind a game.  If you think about the iPhone as a handheld console, then you have to launch games in a similar manner.  You would just place a Nintendo DS game into retail without doing any PR or marketing for it.  As the App Store becomes more competitive it’s no different.  Gaining reviews and coverage in lifestyle areas such as national newspapers and male and female lifestyle publications is key in addition to the traditional mobile PR and marketing that can be done.  There are also other platforms there for downloadable content that we are considering.  Finally there is also the complete reverse by taking a mobile product to traditional games consoles.  All the team at Thumbstar have worked at video games publishers in the past and have great contacts.  If we see a product that we feel has the potential to make this route we could make this happen.

[Arjan] Next to the app store model, we see also a change in platforms. Your current portfolio shows mainly J2me titles. What is your long term vision on this market development?

[Martin] The J2me market is still very strong.  We are seeing some fantastic products coming through especially as we are now working with some of the biggest developers and publishers.  We have a big interest also in other platforms and are exploring various opportunities as stated above.  Whilst all this proceeds our primary focus remains on J2me aggregation and moving our business on after a very good opening 12 months.

 
[Arjan] Finally, what is your personal favourite mobile game at this moment?

[Martin] I’d have to say Diamond Tumble J

Tags: Interview . Martin Kitney . TelcoGames . Thumbstar Games
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