Gaming’s Golden Rules: Lessons from a $300 Billion Industry
Back in 2001, the gaming world was virtually on par with the music and film sectors.
Today, it’s more than five times the size of Hollywood.
Having worked on Fortnite, many of you ask me: what can I take away from the gaming industry?
It’s clear there’s something magical happening in the gaming world that’s not just about joystick skills.
Check out the piece here.
There are three main categories of takeaways:
1. How to Implement Gaming Social Mechanics
• Integrate community features like squads or guilds
• Make multiplayer more fun than single player
• Put creation tools in user’s hands
2. How Gaming “Gamifies” Progression
• Embed competitive elements into the core
• Provide multi-modal tools for interaction
• Adapt challenge levels to users
3. Gaming Monetization Mechanics
• Introduce elements of chance to purchasing
• Play on the human collection need
• Don’t distort fairness
In this week’s piece, I go through 15 of the top games to illustrate these principles:
- League of Legends
- Super Smash Bros
- World of Warcraft
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Animal Crossing
- Mobile Legends
- Genshin Impact
- Candy Crush
- Clash Royale
- Hearthstone
- Call of Duty
- Among Us
- Minecraft
- Fortnite
- Roblox
It’s a fun reminder of the “magic” behind these games for gamers, and a great “tour” of the world of gaming for non-gamers.
The gaming principles for growth don’t have to be a black box.
