Frictionless

There’s nothing easy or straightforward about video game creation. It can take thousands of hours over many years. And that's not accounting for player acquisition, community-building, and maintaining the infrastructure. How does a company balance all these development, marketing and tech factors to build and retain an enthusiastic and loyal player base? This book examines the key stages of getting a video game to market, from concept to beyond launch, with a laser focus on identifying the stumbling blocks — "frictions" — that your players might experience during play and in their interactions with the studio or publisher. It illustrates how smart, proactive design and integrity-based player engagement can eliminate friction for players, and improve your business. Any company can strive to become FRICTIONLESS.

For over 30 years, the video game industry has always changed. From arcades to home consoles to online digital distribution to VR immersion, technological innovations have been many and drastic. The sudden appearance and popularity of new and social media — to say nothing of the game-changer that is crowdfunding — mean that players are now in a position to directly interact with their favorite brands, and they've come to be capable of exerting influence regarding development decisions. There’s nothing easy or straightforward about video game creation. It can take thousands of hours over many years. And that's not accounting for player acquisition, community-building, and maintaining the infrastructure. How does a company balance all these development, marketing and tech factors to build and retain an enthusiastic and loyal player base? This book examines the key stages of getting a video game to market, from concept to beyond launch, with a laser focus on identifying the stumbling blocks — "frictions" — that your players might experience during play and in their interactions with the studio or publisher. It illustrates how smart, proactive design and integrity-based player engagement can eliminate friction for players, and improve your business. There might not be a "perfect game," but when dev studios and publishers strive to become FRICTIONLESS - from game concept to long after release - they build trust and inspire loyalty with their audience of players and fans.

Nelson Rodriguez has helped launch dozens of games across every platform, including blockbusters Halo 3, Tekken 5, and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and indie titles Tweet Defense and A Kingdom for Keflings. After two years on the Xbox marketing team developing social and community strategy, Nelson spent six years creating award-winning digital marketing campaigns for clients such as Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, and Hasbro. Nelson currently heads up Akamai Technologies’ games industry marketing strategy. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his fantastic wife, Natalie, and their two awesome children.