The evolution of Sky's seasonal events

gamesindustry.biz:

That Game Company director of online experience Tim Nixon began his session about events in Sky: Children of the Light at the Game Developers Conference Free-to-Play Summit Monday by acknowledging that he was preaching to the choir to some extent.

"We're at the Free-to-Play Summit, so I'm sure a lot of you already believe in the power of events to drive revenue, monetization, and engagement in your game," Nixon said. "But what I'd like to talk about today is making the case that they can be much more than that. Events can be a place to experiment, to play, and to express the core values of your game and your company."

That Game Company's core value is to center everything the studio does in player emotion, and Nixon said the studio has carried that over to the way it handles in-game events.

"We've found that focusing on the way the play feels has led to a much more memorable experience for them and their friends," Nixon says. "And from there, the merchandising components in our free-to-play economy flow much more naturally, and they lead to actually our best monetizing events."

That Game Company has run more than 40 events since the game's launch, and Nixon traced the evolution of how the company approaches emotion in Sky's regular events.

"[Some of our events] were really great, but... if you didn't have money to spend, you were still excluded and it felt like it wasn't for you"

Generally speaking, Nixon said free-to-play events are "very material-focused," with players staying glued to the game in order to get a new character, or playable card, or licensed goodie of some sort in the short while it's available.

Sky's first events weren't much different, with limited time items for sale like a Santa hat for