INTERVIEW: A Big Fish in a casual pond

The company’s record of providing over a million downloads per day would appear to back up Lewis’ claims – or at least go to show that the firm’s positive attitude is paying off.

“Big Fish Games is the most recognized and trusted casual games entertainment brand among developers and consumers worldwide,” Lewis tells Casualgaming.biz.

“We’re also the largest and fastest growing casual entertainment portal. We have more than 25 million unique visitors per month, download one million plus games a day and we continue to grow more than 100 percent per year.

“Big Fish Games releases new content every day, providing consumers the largest, most diverse and best merchandised solo and social game entertainment on the internet.”

Lewis’s confidence in his and BigFish’s ability to rule the casual space is no doubt boosted by his weighty experience in the financial market. He spent 16 years in management roles at Goldman Sachs before joining Big Fish in 2006– including a stint as a managing director.

Big achievements

The company handles its own games creation hub, The Big Fish Games Studios, which has produced such as Hidden Expedition, Azada, Big Fish Slots and Mystery Case Files.

If you’re aware of the latter, it may be because the boxed PC version has been picked up by Activision in the US – and has sold over 1.8 million units worldwide.

Big Fish may enjoy global success on the High Street, but the company’s bread-and-butter is online PC gaming – and the company is upping the stakes when it comes to one of its key USPs: social networking. Its My Game Space community platform is thriving, says Lewis:

“At Big Fish Games we enable consumers to meet, connect and chat online in a friendly manner using simple point and click functionality rather than cutting edge technologies.

“Our PC-based community is growing very rapidly; our innovative game experiences and social functionality are what captivates and retains our audience.

"Since the 2006 release of our social networking program My Game Space, membership in the Big Fish community has grown exponentially. More than 350,000 first-time casual game players were referred by friends to Big Fish Games in the first three months of the programme alone.”

Big opportunities

Big Fish’s success doesn’t appear to have gone to its head, however. Despite hosting content from over 500 developers, the portal is always on the lookout for new partners to join its affiliate programme.

“Innovation is core to our culture at Big Fish Games,” says Lewis. “The Big Fish Games’ affiliate program, for example, is powered by an innovative Satellite Game System that powers the needs of both our independent developers and large, multi-national corporate partners alike.

”Big Fish Games will work with any developer who wishes to bring their game innovations to the online mass market.

“Similarly, multi-national corporations world-wide are approaching us regularly to partner with us to provide their audiences with best-in-class casual games online entertainment.”

Big ambitions

Big Fish, which derives its impressive revenue from both advertising and subscriptions, isn’t scared of the likes of EA, Activision and Midway rushing to the online casual market. Indeed, Lewis says it can only help the size of the sector:

“We’re not especially worried. As the demographic widens, specialization is required and each of these companies, including Big Fish Games, has a distinct areas of focus.”

Despite the burgeoning state of the market, Lewis still warns new companies of the dangers of setting up a new portal, however:

“The traditional, or core, games business is plagued by multi-year, multi-million dollar development cycles, whilst casual games are relatively inexpensive and take a fraction of the time to produce,” he says.

“However, for portal start-ups it is quite the contrary. Barriers to entry are low, but barriers to scale, profitability and staying power are almost insurmountable at this point.”

One thing that isn’t insurmountable in Lewis’s eyes is remaining ‘the biggest name in casual gaming'.

Big Fish, it seems, is having a whale of a time.