INTERVIEW: Matmi’s Jeff Coghlan

The Evolve series of events will focus on how to develop games for new platforms including mobile, iPhone and XBLA, new technologies such as Facebook and YouTube, and new markets like social and casual gaming.

One of the sessions on Evolve’s packed schedule is titled ‘Infectious: How viral games capture an audience of millions’. Jeff Coghlan, founder and creative director of Matmi, is to host the presentation, which is to share the company’s vast experience of the browser-based viral and casual game market.

For our third interview with Evolve speakers in the build up to the conference, CasualGaming.biz sat down with Coghlan to discuss Matmi’s innovative approach to game design, and look into the way the company has reinvented the way games can be used to marklet other products.

CG.biz: Matmi have managed to balance effective advertising with credible game design that casual players actually enjoy. Why have you been so successful at that balance?

JC: We are all gamers at heart. We always want to produce games that are highly playable, that helps makes them viral. We put our hearts and souls into every project that we produce. We’re also quite careful not to overly brand the games.

CG.biz: On the subject of brand, how have you managed to court such high profile brands?

JC: When we first started making viral games it took a lot to convince potential clients of the value of this type of advertising. Most people just didn’t understand. When we proved ourselves with major successes with games such as Let it Flow – for Comic Relief – people started to take notice. Once we had a couple of high profile clients the many others soon came knocking. We now work for many big clients including EMI, Universal, ITV, Comic Relief, Cancer Research, Iron Maiden and Lily Allen.

CG.biz: And can you quantify the effectiveness of your games in delivering the advertising message?

JC: Compared to traditional advertising, our games deliver a brand message in a much more influential way because players experience the brand rather than view it passively. Users are engaging with a brand for anywhere between five to 15 minutes and some games get nearly a 50 per cent return rate. The games often feature key brand messages. Lily Allen's game 'Escape the Fear' was based about Lily's life and career, it featured Lily trying to escape the fear of failure accompanied by paparazzi, drink, and etcetera. The game was a major success and helped Lily achieve a number one spot in many countries worldwide.

CG.biz: Your expertise is in getting games played, as well as making the games themselves. How do you go about this process?

JC: When we started making games we also started producing a list of all the places we could place, or ‘seed’, the games. Over the years this list has grown significantly and it has now become probably the most advanced seeding database in existence with over 12,000 sites, blogs, forums and entertainment portals throughout the world. It allows us to seed the game in multiple languages and orders the sites based upon geographic and demographic data.

CG.biz: Monster Pinball showed a move away from branded games. Do you plan to continue to create games with no viral or advertising credentials?

JC: This isn’t the first non-branded game we have made, but it is the first we have made on the iPhone. We are already producing more games for the iPhone; some of them will be non-branded, others sponsored and others will be advergames.

We’re really pleased with the results of Monster Pinball. It’s received many great reviews and Apple featured it as App of the Week in the third week of June, only 18 days after release. Considering we have spent no money on advertising the game has done amazingly well.

CG.biz: So you are continuing to work on the iPhone and other platforms?

JC: As previously mentioned we are currently producing more iPhone games and we are looking into producing games for other platforms such as the Xbox and Wii. Matmi are digital designers and game makers. We love getting users to engage with our work. If we think a platform is viable for us or our clients we will get stuck in.

CG.biz: What issues do you hope to address in your Develop Conference session?

JC: We’re going to look at the lessons we’ve learned over the years in the casual games market, like how to design a game for best effect, understanding players’ demographics and casual game development differs from console games. But we’re also going to take a look at how casual and console games are on a collision course. Monster Pinball is a perfect example.

To read more about the Develop Conference, click here.