Kevin Chou, founder and CEO of Kabam, evaluates the market outlook for virtual reality game developers.
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.”
Insight
Successful games can grow revenue for 3-5 years and endure a decade
“Games can continue to grow for three, four, five years in terms of its user base, in terms of its revenue, and potentially have a nice shelf life for another five to 10 years beyond that.”
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…”