Bart Decrem joined Disney when it bought his company Tapulous XX CNBC BUSINESS I XXXXXXXXXX 2010 MEDIA MAKING A SPLASH Hurling itself into the smartphone revolution, Disney sets its games supremo Bart Decrem a challenge – to deliver its next animated superstar By David Ryan art Decrem has just flown and Ally (“a love interest, but they’re not It’s a question that, one way or another, into London from Beijing quite dating, you know?”). After that, the Stanford law graduate has been trying and is so jet-lagged, he the bandwagon could conceivably lead to answer since 2008, when he founded the can barely remember anywhere, the big screen included. “If we’re games developer Tapulous after a decade the password on his lucky,” Decrem told his team when the working on tech start-ups. Back when netbook. He’s running game launched last September, “one day the iPhone was something of a novelty, late, desperate for a when we’re old we can go to Disneyland his music game Tap Tap Revenge was half-hour lunch break as he prepares to and see a character we created.” one of the first to reach the top of Apple’s Baddress The Walt Disney Company at its Until recently, children arrived home App Store chart. Decrem had assured his regional headquarters in Hammersmith, from school and switched on the TV. investors that Tapulous would get a million and as a result, his time with CNBC “Now it’s: ‘I jump into the car with mom downloads in 18 months; in the event, it Business has been halved. Which is fine, or dad, I grab the phone and I start playing did so in about three weeks. As Jack Kent, strangely enough, because as well as being games.’ For a new generation of what we a senior analyst at Screen Digest, explains: passionate and lucid, Decrem is also an call guests, this is the first screen,” says “While lots of companies could get huge extremely fast talker. Decrem, stroking his iPhone affectionately amounts of downloads, Tapulous had a The term ‘whizz kid’ could almost have and observing that there are 550 million very good ability to monetise its audience, been invented for the 44-year-old Belgian, smartphones in the world. “I just came first through paid downloads, then by who speaks Mandarin, Korean and six from China today. People over there don’t offering in-app purchases so people could other languages. He’s like a wiry, carrot- have a computer, by and large. This is buy additional content.” Disney took notice topped computer prodigy from one of their computer. So, how do we tell stories and bought the company in July 2010. the studio’s dimly remembered mid-80s for this new era, for these new markets, As a result, properties such as Minnie feature films, suddenly all grown up and for this new platform and for this new Mouse and Tron have gone down the overjoyed to find that he’s senior vice generation of kids?” mobile games route – but it’s Swampy president of Disney Mobile. When he who’s getting all the attention. He wasn’t talks, in a Flemish accent pepped up the first original character on the iPhone, with Silicon Valley inflections, his clichés of course: the real trailblazer was Angry about the magic of Hollywood sound Birds, a pop-culture phenomenon from utterly sincere. Finnish studio Rovio that has notched up Today Decrem is keen to talk about an astonishing 700 million downloads. “It’s Swampy, an animated alligator that, if great,” concedes Decrem, “but at Disney Disney has its way, will be this century’s I feel that we can build deeper, more Mickey Mouse. This loveable, hygiene- interesting, richer characters. That’s what conscious reptile is the star of Where’s we’re best at. It’s our mission.” My Water?, an annoyingly addictive game With a six-person team, Decrem that has caught on across the globe. Soon developed Where’s My Water? – a game TIM WHITE © we’ll be seeing vignettes on YouTube about he describes as “a physics puzzle”– in the Swampy and his fellow sewer-dwellers, space of six months. Deep beneath the PICTURE Cranky (“who messes with the pipes”) city streets, Swampy sits in a bathtub, MAY 2012 I CNBC BUSINESS 35 MEDIA waiting for a player at ground level to channel water his way. “But Just a flight if it touches grass, the water makes the grass grow [and misses Swampy]. That’s of fancy? one of the laws of physics, right?” Throw Angry Birds’ developer vows in a protagonist who smiles when you to be bigger than Disney tickle him and growls when you overdo it, problems involving angles of descent, DVD-style Easter eggs and 200 skills levels (encompassing everyone from five-year- olds to PhD physicists), and you have the makings of a runaway success. Within a day of its release, the original 99c version of Where’s My Water? (there’s now a free one too) was the most popular paid app on the US App Store, beating Angry Birds into second place. In its first month, it was downloaded more than a With the launch of its latest game, Angry million times and stayed at the top of the “ We live in an Birds Space, Rovio Entertainment’s ambitions chart for three weeks. Since then, for one appear to know no limits. According to chief day at least, it has been the number-one ADD era. Three marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka, its rivals app in 79 countries and the top game in 97. now are not mere games developers like “It’s quite a compelling game and Disney minutes is a big Zynga (whose FarmVille is now a Facebook really marketed it well,” says Kent. “They institution), but giant entertainment franchises got a huge amount of buzz as it launched commitment” like Disney. The only difference, he told a San and, once you’re at the top of the iTunes or Francisco tech conference in March, was that it the Android market charts, it’s easy to stay intended to be “much bigger”. there because of all the eyeballs you get.” “We are an entertainment company, not a Decrem, on the other hand, views The abundance of apps makes the ‘free game company,” Vesterbacka proclaimed. “We building a successful game as more of a or 99c’ model essential. “You also have to want to be the first brand with a billion fans.” science. “Apps are consumable,” he says. focus on building a network. What I mean The launch had all the marketing mega- “There’s about half a million. You play an by that is the technology building blocks, hype of a Hollywood blockbuster. As well as app, you get rid of it and you get the next literally: the computers that tie everything filming a video in space, Rovio produced a book one. In a way, they’re like YouTube clips. together.” Beyond that, there’s the brand. with National Geographic and partnered with Now, imagine you’re Steven Spielberg “In a world of infinite options you need Walmart to sell a vast array of Angry Birds- and you’ve spent 10 years working on things that are trustworthy and reliable themed merchandise. this beautiful new movie. It comes out on and so a lot of these are offline brands It worked. The new game got 10 million YouTube but the same day there’s this cool from before. What I’m doing is essentially downloads in just three days. And with 700 little video of a hamster doing something saying: ‘Look, this is a new canvas, it’s a million to date, the Angry Birds juggernaut funny, and it’s bigger than your movie. magical device, let’s bring the magic of shows few signs of puttering out. That’s the App Store. It’s maddening Disney to these devices.’ Sometimes it Mikael and Niklas Hed, the Finnish cousins and very challenging, but it’s amazing means bringing existing Disney characters who launched the game, reportedly turned and awesome because it’s kind of a level to the smartphone, but that’s the old way. down a $2.25bn buyout offer from Zynga last playing field and anything can happen.” ‘Oh, there’s a movie coming out, let’s make summer. They have held back from an IPO Warming to his theme, he talks a game.’ I’m trying to do less of those this year that some thought could value the about combining “beautiful, magical” opportunistic or event-driven things. company at $9bn. experiences with smartphone-enabled “One of the reasons that a lot of these To the tech world, aiming to take your social transactions and bite-sized, stackable traditional games end up not successful company to $80bn (the valuation of Disney) content. “We live in an ADD era. You’re on over the long term is that they start with in just a few years appears just about the go, you’re waiting for a meeting that a character and then try to fit a game to it. plausible. But to the entertainment industry, starts late, you’re on the bus, whatever What happened in the case of Where’s My it’s insane. “Disney is a machine for producing – you want 30 seconds or 60 seconds or Water? is that we thought about the core characters, and these guys have one,” says entertainment. With Tap Tap Revenge, mechanic first. The team had this great idea Vasily Kasyrov, an analyst covering Disney at I used to have three-minute levels, full of digging.