Big Offices to Fill Small Screens Hayden Dingman

PLANTING A FLAG

Big Offices to fill small screens Hayden Dingman

THE VIEW FROM GREE INTERNATIONAL INC.’S NEWLY EXPANDED KITCHEN includes enormous windows that overlook AT&T Park. San Francisco is a city made up of beautiful vistas, but the one claimed by the mobile and social game maker still manages to awe. Perhaps more interestingly, at just the right angle the view also takes in the office of Gree’s primary Japanese competitor, DeNA Co. Ltd. No surprise. This is San Francisco, one of the largest U.S. hubs for the $67 billion videogame industry and its rapidly growing $7.5 billion mobile-game sector. Mobile and social gaming have boomed ever since the original iPhone’s release; since Zynga’s “FarmVille” demonstrated that people enjoy playing with friends; since “Angry Birds” proved enormous demand for games anyone could play on a phone for short durations. Today, it seems every high-profile mobile and social game developer has a Bay Area presence including Zynga Inc., Paris’ Gameloft, Kabam Inc., Mobile gaming company DeNA and Gree. It’s surprising Tokyo’s Gree waited until 2011 to Gree mixes Japanese and enter the Bay Area considering founder Yoshikazu Tanaka’s love of the region. “All of the meeting rooms San Francisco start-up culture back in our Tokyo headquarters were named after Bay Area cities and landmarks,” said Gree Chief Executive Naoki Aoyagi. Back in Japan, Gree is massive, a cultural touchstone on par with Zynga in the United States. Still, success in Japan doesn’t guarantee U.S success, at least in video games. In the ’90s, Japanese game developers like Square Enix Co. Ltd. excited American consumers. As the U.S. game industry expanded, however, it separated from Japan. While exceptions exist (particularly Nintendo), modern American and Japanese game design tends to differ, meaning popular Japanese games don’t always translate into American sales and vice versa. Tokyo’s Square Enix solved its problem in 2009 by acquiring British publisher Eidos Interactive, gaining a foothold in Western game development. Recently Gree followed suit, purchasing American studios OpenFeint,

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Ad_20120315_Registry_New_Classic.indd 1 3/1/13 10:07 AM PLANTING A FLAG

Funzio and App Ant Studios then incorporating the talent into its guns draped within arms’ reach of various developers and heaped Bay Area operation. against walls. All that talent—programmers, server engineers, writers, art- But the vital question is whether Gree’s expansion is sustain- ists—takes space, prompting Gree’s move to San Francisco from able. Aoyagi insists so, saying, “Gaming continues to evolve as we Burlingame shortly after the 2011 OpenFeint acquisition. Gree discover new ways to engage users, new types of games and new asked San Francisco’s Quezada Architecture and San Francisco’s game mechanics. Additionally the hardware keeps getting more BCCI Construction Co. to combine the best of Gree’s Japanese sophisticated and more interesting.” culture and the San Francisco start-up ethos. This principle drove Ten years ago, developer DMA Design (now Rockstar North) the construction (and later, expansion) of Gree’s 65,000-square- redefined console games with “Grand Theft Auto III,” a technical foot office, adapted from a cold shell at China Basin’s 185 Berry marvel at the time. Now the same game can be played on a phone. St. on the border of tech-heavy South of Market Street and the Some mobile games, such as “Infinity Blade II” and “Real Racing,” booming Mission Bay. display almost console-level graphics. The result is “a blend of Western and Eastern ideals,” said BCCI Developers are also porting games from mobile platforms to Vice President Dominic Sarica—more reserved than the “every- personal computers for the first time, when traditionally produc- thing goes” playground of Zynga, while still resembling a start-up tion flowed in the other direction. Mobile hits “Super Hexagon,” space. “There are expectations when you’re competing against “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP,” and “10,000,000” reached Facebook and other gaming companies for the same pool of expanded audiences after PC releases. talent,” Sarica said. Yet so far, Gree, despite Aoyagi’s promise that the San Francisco On the other hand, “It was very important for us to keep the office is “completely focused on creating compelling contest based fundamental design of the office similar to that of our Tokyo head- on the needs of the Western market,” has not shown off something quarters—no walls, for open communication and to foster creativ- truly new. The precipitous fall of Zynga in 2012, when its stock ity; lots of bright sunlight and a modern, clean look,” Aoyagi said. value plummeted from $15 to $2.09 a share in mere months, laid The entire center of Gree’s office stretching a city block con- bare the volatility of the mobile and social gaming industry. sists of abundant meeting rooms and lounge spaces for the Recently, veteran game designer and columnist Tadhg Kelly studio’s assorted development teams. The space’s outer edges hold argued that major social and mobile game developers fear evolu- row upon row of counters and benches. Here sit more than 400 tion. They want proven designs with proven financial results. This employees, averaging around 150 square feet each: less than the approach can work, at least temporarily. “Call of Duty,” criticized traditional 250 square feet per worker but more generous than the by industry reporters for its annual repetition, still netted $500 100 square feet that some companies currently allot. million in just 24 hours with 2012’s installment. The office is dominated by “pervasive white walls, crisp, smooth But mobile developers are increasingly shuttling users from glazed openings and exposed, polished concrete,” consistent with game to game, the retention period growing ever-shorter, hoping the modern look of Gree’s Tokyo office, said Quezada’s Edward consumers don’t tire of the same old mechanics. That business Tingley. Here and there, however, a bit of color—a green wall, a model doesn’t expand. People who already dislike those games red couch—makes the place feel more welcoming. This is unique will continue to dislike them, while developers hope the market to Gree San Francisco. It’s “a bit of local taste,” said Aoyagi, doesn’t collapse. designed to put San Francisco’s top talent at ease. As Sarica said, The most critically acclaimed mobile games lately came from “Here in the U.S., we need a little pop of color.” small, flexible teams and individuals: the aforementioned “Super Gree San Francisco also retains a start-up feel. Workers Hexagon,” “Sword & Sworcery,” and “10,000,000,” plus the recent regularly play “Joust” and “Galaga” at classic arcade cabinets in innovative hit “Spaceteam,” the product of one man. To stay the new dining space. Gree also brings in catered food regularly successful long-term, Gree needs to eschew safety and release a to supplement the snacks and beverages that are always on offer. highly innovative game that secures its position in the U.S. market. Walking into Gree, you’re confronted with an arsenal of Nerf Is that even possible for a 400-plus person studio?

Mobile and Social Game Developers in the Bay Area and Corporate Home ■■CrowdStar, Burlingame ■■Idle Games, San Francisco ■■PlayFirst, San Francisco ■■DeNA Co., Ltd., Tokyo ■■Kabam Inc., San Francisco ■■Pocket Gems, San Francisco ■■Digital Chocolate, San Mateo ■■King.com, London ■■Robot Invader, Los Altos ■■Electronic Arts Inc., Redwood City ■■Kixeye, San Francisco ■■Rocket Ninja, San Francisco ■■Gameloft S.A., Paris ■■Lazy 8 Studios, San Francisco ■■Rumble Games, Redwood City ■■Glu Mobile, San Francisco ■■Maxis, Emeryville (EA subsidiary) ■■Social Gaming Network, ■■Gree International Inc., Tokyo ■■Ngmoco Inc., San Francisco Beverly Hills ■■ ■■Hands-On Mobile, San Francisco (DeNA subsidiary) Storm8, Redwood Shores ■■Playdom Inc., Palo Alto ■■Zynga Inc., San Francisco

34 Q www.theregistrysf.com “…no walls, for open communication and to foster creativity; lots of bright sunlight and a modern, clean look.”

Naoki Aoyagi, Chief Executive, Gree

Bruce Damonte, courtesy of BCCI Construction