Building your business in Europe

Europe is an important market...

Online PC game market, billion USD
Asia Pacific EMEA North America Latin America
25,000
0.6
20,000
0.4 4.2
15,000 0.3
0.2 3.6
3.1 5.1
10,000 0.1 4.3
CAGR
2.7
2.3 3.5 22%
2.8
5,000 2.3 9.8
6.7 8
4.8 5.7
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

• EMEA = 24% of total online PC games market in 2008,

growing 22% each year
• Europe = 66M online gaming unique visitors (web and
download) = 31% of ww UV
• Player retention tends to be better than US market
Source iDate, Comscore

Online Games Consulting & Services

 ... but a challenging one

CULTURES
COUNTRIES

LANGUAGES LAWS

• Europe is a fast growing market with good player retention

• Its fragmented nature makes it difficult to apprehend for outsiders
• It’s difficult to set up operations covering all pieces of the puzzle
 Vast market potential is left untapped as a result

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Who do we work with?

Overseas
Developers
Operators
Support for non-
development
activities
Support to enter
and expand in the
European market
Support to enter
the online space

Online Games Consulting & Services

 A la carte support for every stage

Audit/due
1 diligence

Evaluate
Research and
2 recommendations

Propose

3 Support execution

Implement
White label
4 outsourcing

Manage

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Our areas of expertise

Business Operations Marketing

• Strategy • Operations set-up • Pan-European PR
• Market analysis • Payment systems • Community
• Development • Live operations management
• Business models • Localization • Online marketing
• Legal • Distribution • Social media
• Metrics & data

Online Games Consulting & Services

BUSINESS

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Business
• Strategy
– We provide customised due diligence and recommendations for approaching the
European market based on our deep knowledge of the business space and the
specificities of your company’s structure, history and games.
• Market Analysis
– We maintain a comprehensive database of actors and games on the European market,
which we use as the basis for compiling custom business intelligence reports.
• Monetisation
– Our expertise in new business models and European players’ gameplay and payment
habits enables us to provide advice on your game’s monetization.
• Business Development
– We can make the most of our wide contact network to help you find the partners you
need across Europe.
• Legal/Negotiations
– Assisted by our European law partners, we can review and advise on European
operational (EULA, PEGI and USK ratings submissions) and negotiation (license
agreements) requests.
Online Games Consulting & Services
 Business : examples of past
missions
• European strategy:
– For companies entering the European market, ICO Partners has provided
business intelligence and strategic recommendations : licensing or self-
publishing, which products to select, which languages to service, how to
position the games
• Conversion and monetization audits:
– We have audited user flow and business models in games, live and in
development, suggesting changes to improve conversion and monetisation.
• P&L evaluation
– We have worked with developers to build realistic business plans for the
development and operations of a MMO project
• Licensing negotiations
– We have helped developers to find a suitable licensing partner in Europe and
offered negotiations advice.

Online Games Consulting & Services

OPERATIONS

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Operations
• Operations set-up
– With many years’ experience in setting up EU operations, we have extensive
knowledge of the European space for online games development and
publishing, and can advise you on how and where to set up your offices, your
servers, your structure and how to manage processes
• Payment systems
– We know European payment habits and providers, and can help you integrate
the appropriate payment methods for your game’s genre, audience and
business model in order to improve conversion
• Live Operations
– We can provide recommendations and best practices for managing server
hosting, deployment process, patching process and other key operations

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Operations
• Localisation
– While we are not a localisation vendor, we know a lot about the management
of the process and can advise on localization and culturalization for all
aspects of the service, including your website, community spaces and game
assets. We can even source vendors and build the process.
• Distribution
– We have a network of contacts across many distribution channels, especially
online, to distribute game clients or access codes. We can build and execute
your digital distribution strategy in order to ensure efficient reach across the
different European countries.
• Metrics
– We have experience in data-driven service management, and can audit and
make recommendations on your European metrics collection and analysis
system.

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Operations : examples of past
missions
• Operational due diligence
– In the context of acquisitions, ICO Partners has reviewed and suggested
improvements on developers’ and publishers’ operational structure, processes and
projects.

• Operations set-up
– We have advised clients on building strong foundations for their European
business: Where to set-up offices, how to organise the company, staff recruitment,
etc.

Online Games Consulting & Services

MARKETING

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Marketing : Media relations

• Pan-European PR
We have built a Pan-European media relations management solution, now called
ICO Media.

ICO is the only company in Europe providing a one-stop solution for reaching out
to specialised media. Our service is particularly suited to supporting hardcore
online PC games.

We collaborate with local agencies on behalf of clients where the games’

audiences are more casual and outside our existing scope of contacts.

Online Games Consulting & Services

 Marketing
• Community management
– We provide our clients with community management strategy to properly
cover the range of European countries and languages, from high-level strategy
to operational coaching.
• Online Marketing
– We help our clients build relevant marketing campaigns for their games in
Europe, from scratch or by adapting their existing strategy. Based on their
objectives, we also support them with implementation, directly or with
relevant partners for the projects.
• Social media
– We help our clients build successful social media strategies, taking into
account territory specific social sites as well as the challenge of reaching
audiences in different languages.
– We also provide coaching to our clients’ teams in order to help them maximize
their reach in social media channels using best practices.
Online Games Consulting & Services
 The Team
Thomas Bidaux, CEO
• 11 years experience in the online games industry
• Published first MMOs in French at GOA
• Founder and Director of Product Development at Ncsoft Europe

Julien Wera, PR and Marketing Manager

• Experienced MMO communication specialist
• Community, Marketing and PR Management roles at Gala Networks Europe (gPotato)
• PR Manager at PopCap Games International

Jen Bolton, Consultant

• 10 years experience of building massive entertainment-oriented communities
• Producer at Stor Entertainment for Channel 4, UK TV Channel
• Head of Community at NCsoft Europe

Martin Rabl, Media and Communications Manager

• Community Manager at NCsoft Europe
• 5 years experience of managing AAA MMO communities

Diane Lagrange, Consultant

• MBA degree, marketing and communication specialization
• Product Manager at Ubisoft France
• Business Development Manager at NCsoft Europe
 Our Clients

Online Games Consulting & Services

Thank you!

contact@icomedia.eu

+44 (0)20 8133 8806

www.icopartners.com