LogInNexters' Anton Reinhold has shared the company's approach to game development, talked about the recent acquisitions of Cubic Games, RJ Games, and Royal Ark, and told about the challenges of being a fast-growing company.
At the end of January, Nexters, a developer behind Hero Wars, announced that it invested $100 million into the acquisition of three mobile game studios: Cubic Games, RJ Games, and Royal Ark. We talked to Anton Reinhold – Chief Operating Officer at the company – to ask him about the acquisition, Nexters' approach to developing games, and the company's future plans.
Nexters
80.lv: Please, introduce yourself and your team. When did you enter the industry? What projects did you previously work on? Which games are you most proud of?
Anton Reinhold: As of today, the Nexters team consists of more than 800 passionate professionals. We grew quite fast, and the whole company changed quite significantly in the last 4-5 years. We switched our main focus from social to mobile, our team grew several times, we reached the milestone of more than 200 million players who installed our games globally.
Now, we have four games in operation, one of which is Hero Wars – a true worldwide blockbuster. We believe it’s one of the strongest mobile RPGs ever. Historically we’ve been strong in mid-core as we also have a strategy game called Throne Rush, but another key segment for us is casual. And with casual games, starting with our first adventure, Island Experiment, with new titles we launched last year like Chibi Island and Island Questaway and the games we planned for release this year, we always try to enrich simple gameplay with more core experiences which give players the true pleasure and excitement. Whether it is done through a deeper narrative, core game mechanics, or mixing genres, our goal is to always deliver something beyond regular casual gameplay.
But now Nexters is not only a developer. As we are now listed on Nasdaq since August 2021, we aim at uniting the gaming industry, partnering with other gaming companies, and investing in talented teams.
As we grow, we invest a lot in our team. We attract more and more talented people, create internal services and solutions, evolve our support and community management. We invest in better marketing and analytics. And we are always on the hunt for fresh talent that’ll help us get even stronger, smarter, and more creative. Maybe even some of 80 Level readers will have an urge to join us after reading this! A man can dream, right?
Developing Games
80.lv: Your famous title, Hero Wars, has over 120 million downloads on iOS and Android. Could you share with us, what is your approach to developing games? What makes mid-core games successful?
Anton Reinhold: For us, the player is the cornerstone. Hundreds of people at Nexters work every day on developing and testing content updates and new modes, launching in-game events, providing the community with information and technical support, and much more. The development does not stop with the release, this is an ongoing process with huge numbers of people involved and doing a lot in every aspect of player experience in order to keep that player entertained, informed, and happy.
As for mid-core games, they have much deeper gameplay compared to casual but are still quite accessible for any type of player. In Hero Wars, we balance the needs of players by keeping play sessions shorter while offering more depth than casual titles. Hero Wars evolved over time and our team’s hard work helped us identify various gameplay mechanics and features that keep it popular with users.
Some of these features enable the game to be played in different ways so players of any level can have fun. By shortening play sessions, we enable users to make meaningful progress without an extensive daily time commitment. But with a wide variety of memorable unique heroes, players can go deep in choosing how to play and which characters to include in their favorite teams.
Knowing that mid-core can reach a wider audience, we are also keen on making sure Hero Wars is available on multiple platforms. It features a meaningful desktop presence to go with its success on mobile. Ultimately, our job is to understand gamers and make sure that when we have a great game for them to play, it’s available where they want to play it.
The Acquisitions of Cubic Games, RJ Games, and Royal Ark
80.lv: Could you tell us how and when did you decide to acquire Cubic Games, RJ Games, and Royal Ark? Why do you think it’s going to be a good alliance? How long did it take to execute the acquisition deal agreement?
Anton Reinhold: Even before we went public on Nasdaq, we saw consolidation as an important strategic lever. The gaming industry has gotten bigger as companies are fighting over global audiences. We saw an opportunity to identify great development teams in Russian-speaking markets and acquire them as a way to quickly grow Nexters.
Our team is from this part of the world and we know how much amazing talent and experience there is here for game development. We also share the same language and culture, which should help us move more quickly to capitalize on the benefits of consolidation. These three teams felt like a good fit in this framework and we believe both Nexters and the studios will greatly benefit from the acquisitions.
These are strong studios with great mid-core games that we believe in and adding these projects in new genres and niches fits great with our overall strategy for future growth. Pixel Gun 3D in particular has already more than proven its viability and managed to build a passionate community. Now, we want to help make it even better.
As for how long it takes to sign deals, well, this means a lot of work: negotiations, analyzing teams and games’ performance, legal matters, etc. It takes months to go through the whole process.
How the Studios Will Operate
80.lv: How will the three studios operate now? Will they be less independent than they had been before? If yes, in what way? What opportunities did the acquisition bring to the companies?
Anton Reinhold: Each of the deals is different, so how we work with each studio will be unique but all three will share our respect for their team’s independence. We believe in these studios and invested in them because we trust their capabilities. We also believe there’s mutual respect and benefit to working together, sharing expertise and best practices. We are sure there will be a healthy back-and-forth that benefits each studio and Nexters.
Nexters have come a long way and we accumulated tons of knowledge and established great connections in the industry. Nexters is also a public company that brings a number of business advantages. Our partners – small studios or established companies – will also benefit from this.
Working Culture
80.lv: What do you think will happen to the working culture in the companies you’ve acquired? Are there going to be any changes?
Anton Reinhold: Like we said earlier, we respect team identity. And we also believe that there’s strength in diversity.
Our new partners are very capable companies in their own right – that’s why we decided to invest in them in the first place. So, we do not plan to impose any big changes on them, but we’ll gladly share our work practices and views on corporate culture if the teams show interest in that.
Challenges
80.lv: Your team seems to have experienced very fast growth lately – there are more than 800 people at Nexters. What challenges did it bring to you?
Anton Reinhold: Our working culture is important and can be challenging to retain and teach when you’re hiring and adding new team members so rapidly. We’re learning how to manage growth and assure that while the team expands, we don’t lose the working atmosphere that enabled us to succeed. It’s not always a straight line but we learn and grow and work to maintain our culture so new teammates don’t feel like they’re just at another big company.
Roadmap
80.lv: What's your current roadmap? What did you plan for 2022? What will we hear again from you?
Anton Reinhold: We have a lot planned for the coming years, although we are not ready to talk about everything just yet.
One of the main things for us is continued support for our current titles. If we take Hero Wars as an example – it is a huge game in every way imaginable – and we feel a lot of responsibility to the fans not just to keep it afloat but to continue its story, expand the experience and make it even more engaging.
In addition to cherishing and evolving our existing communities, we invest a lot in new games for casual and mid-core players. We’ve been fortunate to succeed in these segments, so that enables us to move further with both. Some titles have been launched already and are expected to scale, the others are to be released soon. Besides, now we have the games of our partners where we can use our expertise and support for further growth. Huge plans, lots of interesting and exciting work.
On the corporate side, we will continue to look for new partners through acquisitions and investments. We look at gaming companies of various sizes, as besides the synergetic effect from partnering with big players, we also believe in hidden gems – the talent of younger, smaller teams. This is where Nexters Boost – a program that launched last year – comes in. Its aim is to help smaller game developers by providing the funding and expertise needed to release new games and build successful businesses. We are already in talks with several talented teams and we hope to share some of our first investment deals in the near future.