Kevin Chou, founder and CEO of Kabam, explains that modern gaming franchises rely on long-term user retention rather than releasing a new hit every year.
Prediction Held up
Kevin Chou predicts a mobile game will generate over $10 billion
“And so this idea that there'll be a Godzilla game at some point in the future that, let's say, gets half a billion people or a billion people, you know, four or five years down the road to play it, and monetizes the way that a Clash of Clans or a Game of War, …”
Insight
Chou: Standard consumer metrics like DAU and MAU fail in gaming
“Looking at day one, day seven, day 30, day 90, day one 80, day 365, none of these metrics. Really tell the right, you know, story, nor does looking at DAU, and certainly not MAU. So some of these kind of common metrics that other kind of consumer services use …”
Insight
Kevin Chou: Esports needs 5-to-10-year player careers to build fan loyalty
“What'll make this industry really take off is that you need the longevity of the players to be in the five, ideally 10 year long sort of time frame, because people love, you know, having a favorite athlete, right? Like if you're a huge LeBron fan, or if you're…”
Insight
Chou: Venture capital is as hit-driven as the gaming industry
“I would say that that is the exact description of a VC's business. You may have a big hit, but you may not ever have another one.”
Assertion Open · timeframe Mar 2027
Chou: $30B gaming giants derive value from a few decade-old games
“And if you look at Activision, you look at EA, these thirty billion dollar public companies, they're really trading at that value based on a very small number of games that have been around for many, many years, oftentimes a decade, and will likely be around f…”
Assertion Supported
Top mobile games sustain top chart positions for two to four years
“Today, when you take a look at the top grossing charts, the top download charts, they tend to be games that have been there for a very long time. So today, you know, the Candy Crushes, the Clash of Clans, the Game of Wars, Marvel Contents of Champions, Star Wa…”