The gaming industry is exponentially expanding touching everyone's lives daily without even realizing it. Millions of games have been released and are now readily available for us to play from our living room to our social media on our phone. Working in this industry is truly fascinating. Working in a truly global company with offices around the world is even more fascinating.
I will share with you my knowledge on gaming, discuss its future and teach you best practises in working with teams of different cultures.
Understanding the Gaming Industry and working in a truly global corporation
1. Understanding the Gaming Industry and
working in a truly global corporation
1
Elena Loucaidou
Player Relations Director
University of Cyprus – 5th February 2020
2. Gaming is the largest and fastest growing market worldwide 2
How much is the gaming industry worth? THINK BILLIONS
The Gaming industry was valued
in 2019 more than $150 billion
dollars, and expected to reach
$210 billion by 2022.
According to the latest figures,
the video game business is now
larger than both the movie and
music industries combined,
making it a
major industry in entertainment.
There are 2.5 billion gamers
around the world.
3. The Future of the Gaming Industry 3
Understanding platform splits and their future
2019 Market Share by Gaming Platform
[CELLRANGE
]
Smartphone
[CELLRANGE
]
Console
[CELLRANGE
]
Downloaded
/ Boxed
[CELLRANGE
]
Tablet
[CELLRANGE
]
PC
4. Who are we? 4
Wargaming is a developer and a publisher of online games.
WHO ARE WE? Wargaming
OUR MISSION: To deliver legendary online
games. Globally. With passion.
OUR VISION: To make every player happy
WHO AM I? Player Relations Director;
Central Services
150+
million
Players
15+ Released titles
20 Offices Worldwide
5. We Service our Product Groups 5
We focus on Quality and Satisfaction of our players.
PLAYER SUPPORT LOC & DOC
6.
7. Our Team is split across the World 7
We are spread and diverse to serve our players
Austin, Texas
Minsk, Belarus
Paris, France
Singapore
Tokyo, Japan
Seoul, South Korea
20 nationalities
14 languages
5 outsourcers
100+ freelancers
8 locations
Nicosia, Cyprus
Kiev, Ukraine
9. Culture is just a pillar in who we are 9
Nonetheless it is a good basis for understanding and adapting ourselves in a Global environment
Personality
Culture
Human Nature
Inherited or learned
Specific to individual
Learned
Specific to group (family, country, company)
Inherited
Universal
17. How to bridge the gap 17
1. Global teams need low context processes.
2. When working with low context cultures: do more verbal and written recaps.
3. When working with high context cultures: repeat yourself less and ask for clarification
frequently.
24. How to bridge the gap 24
WHEN WORKING WITH TASK ORIENTED CULTURES:
• Get down to business. Try shorter lunches, less non-work related talk
• Or explain why you want to invest the time –(“in order for me to work with someone well I need to
spend time to know them. In Mexico we do this by. . .”).
WHEN WORKING WITH RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED CULTURES:
• Invest significantly more time building relationships when working globally.
• Practice exposing yourself more than you are used to and working on blending your personal self
with your professional self.
• Use more non-work talk to pad your emails and telephone calls.
25. COMFORT WITH SILENCE 25
Low Comfort with Silence
Not everyone likes silence… and the opposite!
High Comfort with Silence
27. SUMMARY 27
• The world has become more digital which allowed global teams to appear.
• We have the responsibility of respecting and understanding each other’s culture.
• Communication and Trusting are two fundamental areas we can work on by asking, learning and
adapting ourselves.
• All these can lead to better results of ourselves and our teams in the professional world.
We live in a digital global world
My name is Elena and I have been asked to come and talk to you about 2 areas that you wont learn here.
A basic understanding of the gaming industry and
What it entails to work in a truly global organization.
Netflix’s chief executive Reed Hastings even admitted he sees Fortnite as bigger competition than HBO.
The gaming craze is huge. The video game industry revenue is forecast to reach $180.1 billion in 2021. It marked a 10.7% growth between 2016 and 2017 and then a 10.9% between 2017 and 2018. Casual and hyper-casual games rule the mobile gaming world.
4. Casual and hyper-casual games rule the mobile gaming world.
(Source: GameSpace)
Puzzles, arcade, simulation, lifestyle and bingo-like games are all the craze, both among young and old alike.
No surprises that the tech giants like Google and Apple are trying to get a share of this by launching gaming streaming services.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is the richest video game company as of 2019.
It holds an estimated value of $13.4 billion – quite a big piece of the gaming market. Sony is the company behind PlayStation 1, 2, 3, and 4, along with PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita.
Casual and hyper-casual games rule the mobile gaming world.
Global esports audience is expected to reach the total of 456 million.
Esports revenues are forecasted to reach $1.1 billion in 2019.
Why? Traditionally Asian countries with low internet penetration have only recently started getting a taste of this.
Supporting our players through tickets (emails) and social media.
Using Artificial Technology and Technology to drive efficiencies.
Managing the operation and its performance.
Translating and localizing our games in 42 languages.
Quality control of the final output.
Localizing publications.
Manilla
Mexico
6 internal locations
Sofia
I want to start with giving 2 anecdotes that we will analyze with time:
Caca and workshop in Minsk (home land of Wargaming) – touches on low comfort with silence
I had this german boss for the last 2 years, that intentionally was asking us to write notes after every meeting. For a long time I actually thought: what a waste of time. I even asked around my fellow Cypriot peers to reassure myself that it is a waste of time. Then I concluded that it is indeed a bureauctractic practice he wants coz he is german.
BRITS would say: if you are 5 minutes early, you are on time, if you
Today we are going to touch 2 of the dimensions that can lead you to be a good communicators.
Communication as that is the fundamental pillar of building a rapport and understanding each other.
Trusting as it can be a serious blocker on communication.
Communicating
Low Context –
We believe we have low level of shared context
Believe that good effective professional communication is v clear, simple, explicit communication. Take words at face value and don’t try to understand hidden meanings or to read between the lines. Believe that the best leaders communicate with such clarity and simplicity that everyone can quite easily understand the message.
If I give a presentation I tell you what I tell you, and then I tell you what I told you to tell you what has been said. Why I do that?
High Context – Believe that good communication is sophisticate and complex, holding several layers of meaning and nuance. When listening for meaning hear not only the words said but the implicit message(s), reading between the lines and making links between what the speaker is saying and what he means to suggest. Believe that the best leaders communicate with such sophistication and complexity that their style reflects and captures the sophistication and complexity of the matter at hand.
It is not what I said that matters, it is what I meant that matters. In cultures like French there are words that describe this. To read the air.
V left – anglo saxon
Middle – latin countries
On the right - Asian and African countries
This is also based on the language itself: in Indian for example they have a word that means both today and yesterday. In Cypriot for example we say: En na pame ennen? Ennen etsi? Oi ennen? We are going to go, no?
In patenting for example if you ask you are mother as a child? Can I have another sweet? She would say: of course you can darling. But I knew from the look in her eyes to better not touch that sweet.
Recap: verbal recap, written recap and send it over.
In France: people will stand up and say: et voila – which means here it is. But here it is what?
What this means:
Low context people will say that high context people are secretive, they hide information
High context people will say that low context people are condansentive, they talk to use like children, they think either we are not v smart or they are not very smart.
I had this German manager for 2 years now that would ask for minutes of these meetings we have weekly. I thought he does not trust us
Think of the history of the US and Japan : japan an island, living with their own language living in close proximity for 1000s of years
US: 250 years ago people moving from one place to the other with diff histories and backgrounds.
WHEN WORKING WITH LOW CONTEXT CULTURES:
The quality of your communication is judged based on how clear you are:
A)At the end of a phone call or meeting recap next steps/ action items
B)Feel free to again recap in writing
C)Presentations: tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, etc.
WHEN WORKING WITH HIGHER CONTEXT CULTURES:
Repeat yourself less.
Let the communication stay at a verbal level. No need to constantly nail everything down in writing.
Ask for clarification frequently if necessary.
Use a “cultural bridge” who can help you pick up the messages BETWEEN THE LINES.
Work on increasing your ability to ‘read the air’
Trusting
Relationship-Oriented –Take the time to build strong, trusting, long-lasting relationships with colleagues and clients. Believe that relationship building is the key to success in business and therefore take significant time during or after work hours to get to know clients and colleagues personally. This relationship building may take place over meals or at the coffee machine or in the evening over dinner and drinking. Once a relationship is formed a sense a loyalty or possibly even debt may exist between the two parties and will lead individuals to help each other out on an ongoing basis. Relationship building is considered work and often more important then checking tasks off of a “to-do” list.
Task-Oriented – Build quick, casual, short-term relationships as necessary in order to complete the task efficiently. Work relationships are both easy to establish and easy to drop in the event that a better option presents itself. Believe that getting the task done quickly and effectively is the key to success and do not strive to know clients or colleagues beyond a friendly, superficial level. See too much non-work related talk as wasting time or lacking seriousness.
I want to get back to my original example of CAca
LOW
One person talks and another person talks at the same time.
V passionate, great relationship, goes well
Mediterraneans, latins, Arabic cultures
MIDDLE PATTERN
Perfect timing cultures – like we play ping pong
German and Anglosaxon
HIGH
We wait and then get the moment to speak.
Caca waited for the moment to speak – that never arrived!
Invite people to speak, schedule time for everyone, allocate time.
Some cultures that shifted from the RHS from the communication scale to the LHS.