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From one of the founder of the world famous Pirate Bay comes a new venture, Flattr. What it does is literally making web clicks into a currency, were you click on the content you want to give money to. I have attached a video explaining the concept better.

I really think this can be something. Clicks are already a way to get paid today with system such as Google Adwords and other advertising tools. We like to “Like” things on Facebook and just pressing a button to join a group.  The big question mark is the man behind it, Peter Sunde famous from operating and defending Pirate Bay. Debating heavily in Sweden that things on the web should be free, its a bit strange that he develops a system for paying content creators on the net. Just a bit contradicting.

We have had some really interesting releases the recent weeks on the site. Especially two games have stood out, Torchlight and Machinarium. Both games are developed by smaller studios and only released online. Both review and sales wise they have done really good! Just looking at the numbers on our site I see it. What makes me even more proud is that I signed both titles.

We have been discussing the success of those titles, and one thing that we see in both, is pricing. They have fairly low prices. Machinarium is a bit shorter than Torchlight, but then the price is lower on that one. Torchlight you can get for around $19.95 and you get many hours of playing out of it. This is a great example for good pricing. At the end of the day its about value for money, and Torchlight is definitely that. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to play it (played through Machinarium), but once things cool down after Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands and Assassins Creed 2 I will get to it.

Once example of a game that goes the other way is the recently mentioned Modern Warfare 2, that instead of lower the price have raised it. Just in UK the game will go for £54.99!!

This more than anything made me realise the important of right pricing, regardless of the kind of product. After looking through many seasons of Dragons Den it hit me even harder, were many of them complain about bad pricing. At the same time its really hard sometimes when you will introduce a product on the market. There is many variables taking into consideration when deciding price. Development cost, margins, profit and ultimately what customers is ready to pay. I starting to learn more and more about it and see the importance. And damn, what a difference it can make!

This week one of this years biggest game is released, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and the controversies have been quite many, as expected for a big title like this. But the issues have mostly been around the PC version, and its Multiplayer functionalities. The first was the lack of dedicated servers, which allow players to host their own servers. The game is basically locked to Infinity Wards (IW) own system. This also prevent Moding of the game,  limiting the customers/players to modify the game and creating new “version” of it, basically improving and evolving the life of the game.  For hard-core PC players, dedicated servers is a must! Some have even started a petition against IWs decision to skip it, and its growing fast.

And with the news about the dedicated server come the biggest problem, according to me, it has complete Steam Works incorporation! What this means is that it have the full Steam technology in the game, and it requires a Steam account to be played. This is bad for us at GamersGate, since we will never be able to sell the game, as our internal policy is to not accept games that require Steam to be run. It doesn’t make sense from a business perspective, giving our customers away to Steam automatically which would happen. It would be like stating that we Support Steam, a competitor, which is madness. And now even Direct2Drive have gone out, stating that  they won’t sell the game at all due to the Steam incorporation, along side us and Impulse. This have really spawned a storm on the net around this. Cause D2D have before sold games that have the Steam in them. But its great that we are many putting pressure on developers and publishers not to support the Steam software, that lock the customers to Steam and strengthening their potential monopol. Its unfortunate that some new really good games have the Steam implementation, such as Empire: Total War, Serious Sam HD and of cause Valves own games Left 4 Dead 2.What Steam does is locking in its user in their network, something that some find okey, but I think most really doesn’t like.

And after the news about dedicated servers and no modding capability, then its revealed that the number of players in multiplayer have been reduced, from 32 vs 32 in Modern Warfare 1, to only 9 vs 9! Its seems like they didn’t want to do the PC version at all… Just focusing on the console ones. I heard on the Kotaku podcast were a guy called in and said that he had checked his nearest Gamestop regarding pre-orders, and I believe he said around 400 Xbox 360, and merely 10 PC pre-orders. And Call of Duty grew up on PC!

But the thing that interest me most about this controversy with dedicated servers and lack of modifications of the game, is how its a step backwards. IW claims that they have made it “eaiser” for people to just start playing online, that players don’t want to config or setup their own servers. Its like smacking all hard-core players in the face. I don’t think they realise what a mistake this is. The big problem is how they lock the game for people and removing features that is essential for it to be longed lived. Just look at Counter Strike, one of the worlds most played games, that started as a mod. If it weren’t for the openess of Half Life, it probably would have been borned on the Quake or Unreal engine. Then Valve and Steam would probably not be as big as they are today. Many great games, not to mention development studios have been spawned from this open culture. And instead of supporting this, IW and Activision decides to look their most important release this year completely tight! Its like taking a step backwards!

Last weekend I was in Karlstad, and I spoke with some students about this, and they said that now Modern Warfare 2 is something for them to play until Battlefield Bad Company 2 comes out, which will have dedicated servers. Also very interesting is how the founder of id Software (Doom and Quake series) John Carmack have gone out, defending IW decision to scrap dedicated servers.

Its gonna be very intersting to see the sales numbers for the PC version vs 360 and PS3 after all those controversies. Personally I will pick up my 360 copy on the day of release. Though it seems that several GameStop stores in North America started selling it many days before… Oh well!

*UPDATE

And now that the game is released a new Steam controversy have surfaced. Those who bought or pre-purchased the game on Steam have to wait 2 days extra to play the game. I bet many of their customers are really pist about this!

Modern Warfare 2

In recent weeks I have spent quite a lot of time watching my new favorites tv-shows The Apprentice (US) and Dragons Den (UK). “Its all about business”. Not only do I watch those cause they are entertaining, but I find them worthwhile. For the Apprentice a group of individuals is competing against each other for a job for Donald Trump. Here they have to show how great they are in a number of tasks and showing their skills.

And in Dragons Den aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the “Dragons”, successful business men and women who really are inverters. They have to prove that their business ideas and products are worth investing in. And often that they as individuals are investible.

Both these shows had made me think quite a lot of the basics in everything. How we must never forget or underestimate the basics of every business and theories. I have read many books in recent years about the development of business models, the web, new media and marketing. Everyone claim to show how things have changed and how to utilize the new tools to reach the new, hard do reach, audience. Many seems to think that we have to rethink how we work completely. But I think its more important as ever to remember the basics. Just because we shop on the web, doesn’t mean the basic retail theories doesn’t apply. They have just taken other forms. Its still about working with  the shop, products, prices, getting people in the shop and get the to purchase, and then get back. We have better tools to work with, but the basic principle still apply.

In the Apprentice it often seems like the candidates complicate thinks in their task, ignoring the basics. And therefore fail in some of their task, sometimes there i just lucky and it works out for them either way.

The same can be said about the entrepreneurs in Dragons Den. They have really good time to prepare for their, not to mention working on their core business. And yet, when they come to the Den they often fall flat under the interrogation from the Dragons. They don’t know their number, their markets or the basic fundamentals of how to run a business. Not to mention, lacking some common sense. And this have made me even more interested in the basic of business.  To start with, then I can always expand my knowledge. As my new vision is to eventually be a Dragon.

Even as new business theories and areas is introduced, the basic is still true in everything. Its just that they have evolved. Even though I work with E-retail on GamersGate, I still bought a book in regular retail basic theories and practices. To not forget the basics.

How to combined traditional royalty business model with free? After just read Free by Chris Anderson, my mind is all set at looking at the Free-model. No doubt that Free is on in the talks right now, but how can it be applied on a traditional business model like royalties for artists/composer (really the person(s) who owns the right to the song).

Take Spotify for example (was selected as one of the 50 best internet services by Time Magazine). A free-music streaming service that have growned incredible since start. And yet it still isn’t making any money. The big cost is the royalties interest for every time a song is played. Is an old model in the music industry for radio, tv and concerts. The more time a song is played, the more royality will Spotify have to pay to the artist (through different organisations depending on the country). This sort of cost should be considered Variable cost, which should be kept low. In this model the consumer don’t pay anything for listening to the song, the owner. At the moment Spotify isn’t making any money other than investees pulling in more cash. They in terms what to see a return on their investment.

Today Spotify makes its money on advertising and premium paying customers.

One news recently told that the big record companies basically got shares in Spotify. As it is important with content, and the record companies have the power here. So its a good idea to get the big boys to own a part of the service to keep them providing content and try to push the service. And in Sweden the record labels makes more money from Spotify than from iTunes. The backfire I see is the smaller labels that feel that the big ones gets to much power in the service and how it will affect newer artist and labels.

As stated, the problem lies in the continues royalties interest that only will rise the more users the service will get. Even if the Free in the service help it to expand and grow a good Brand, the money printing device isn’t really in place yet. Google didn’t start out with a business model to create revenue, but it found it later. Spotify might find its model soon, but time is running out, mostly due to the royalties, something Google didn’t have to think about. I really hope the service find a good model soon, cause I am a big fan of it.

Chris Anderson - Free: The Future of a Radical Price

On my way to Germany last week I finished reading Chris Andersons book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. The expectation from the Long Tail have been sky high, and though not as good, or revolutionary as the Long Tail, its still a must read. Some part very rather slow to get through while some chapters I found felt more valued in my opinion. What I like about is how Chris don’t claim that everything should be free, rather how the concept of Free can be utilised to build business from scratch or even for big companies to stay competitive. Even some example when the big boys have to adapt to the changing digital market, thanks to the spread use of free software and services on the web. How Google is one of the biggest forces pushing and expanding free.

I really like the part were he write about combining Free and Paid, with a lot of great examples.To use Free to build a potential customer base, and then charge for a premium service for those who want more advanced features or more storage.

Maybe what I missed was a discussion of which companies that can benefit from Free, and those who don’t. I think it would be great to try to criticise his theories to strengthen them.

It is great to see that Chris take this concept into reality by giving his book away for Free in either Audio book and eBook. This isn’t new, to give away as many books as possible to get interest up and build his own brand. He doesn’t make his money on book sales, but rather on people booking him to come and speak and going into details about his theories. The same way music artist start to give away their music, broaden the fan base who then will pay for other things such as concert and merchandise.

By reading this book, after many fictional books recently, it got my business mind and thoughts start working again. It really inspired me, which is a good thing!

One of the biggest news today in Sweden (and on the web as well) is that Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay have been bought by Global Gaming Factory, another Swedish company. GGF claim to wanna turn the site into a legal company and platform. In an interview by Swedish television he said we wanted to change the business model and pay! for those to share files.

“We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site,” said Hans Pandeya, CEO of GGF

“The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most visited internet sites in the world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary.

“Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File-sharers need faster downloads and better quality,” he added.

Gamesindustry.biz

What I find interesting is that I have been in contact with that company and even had a meeting in our old office. But they didn’t make a good impression and the GGF company feel like a real scam business. Its gonna be interesting to see were this is going. Now, what can you say, all the “philosophical” self-righteous people out there who claim that The Pirate Bay isn’t out for making money?

The most comical thing about this whole deal is how a company(site) that claims everything should be free, now sells it self for millions of dollars. If they should have stuck to their philosophy they should have given it all away, the way they proclaim content creators should do.

The talk of how the internet have changed our society and business work can’t be understated. In so many way, some we haven’t thought of yet. One of the most interesting opportunities the web brings is the easy and fast possibility of Self-Publishing. With the internet as our new open tool, a band, game developer or author doesn’t have to rely on a bigger company to (maybe) get published. The big record label might fear this more than others as medium to smaller bands have a platform to do distributing and marketing themselves through sites like MySpace, Spotify and IMEEM, they can reach out directly to their fans.

The role of the publishers, labels and big media companies have really changed. With all the new technology available for everyone and just a little bit of knowledge and common sense everyone can make it on their own. Okey, you probably won’t get into retailers like Wallmart and such, but with the web, you can have your own shop, opened 24/7. You can reach out to new or potential fans with your Myspace page, mod an open source game-engine to make your own game, and distribute you homemade video on Youtube. For those who aim to break it to the top you still need the knowledge, contacts and financial support for the big boys. But they should still be a bit affraid I believe.

One of those smaller studios or self publishers, can become quite the threat for bigger players. Example from the gaming industry is Valve and Blizzard. They began as small developers and are now both milion if not bilion dollar companies. Still, its the never ending loop, when small companies become big and they have to addapt to stay big and they often lose their soul. And with it their core fans. And it can take away focus from that spark and the creativity which made them big. Then companies grow to be really big, it becomes more business and the people and company have to addapt to survive. It sad in many ways but thats probably the price they are willing to pay.

Just finished reading Seth Godins book, Meatball Sundae and got many great ideas and insights. With all the projects and development I have at work, reading this book right now just spawned many great thoughts and enhanced my current ideas for our different project at work and our tactics and philosophy.

Seth Godin - Meatball Sundae

The big thing that struck me from this book was the focus on how organizations and companies NEED to adapt to the new Marketing trends and concept. Instead of looking for ways to utilize the new marketing tools like Twitter, YouTube and Google, take the opposite approach. If you want to leverage the power of all those new tools and trends, you need to change and adapt the organization, not just trying to use the tools, with the old Marketing thinking.

You can’t just use the new tools the same way you used the old. Old marketers need to go back to school, learn to think in a different way. All the trends Seth presents are really spot on with todays developed market and society. Not that every business and company need to use all trends, they open up many new options that reflects how we use and live with the new connected media, on a deeper level. And how the market still holds open spots, and thou we have seen many developments. And there much more to come I believe.

The best thing is how all the new ideas and thoughts in my mind are things I can adapt and work with right now, in this moment in my working life. And thats a strong power. It something to read a book and get inspired, but its even better if you can translate those ideas and thoughts on your business in the moment. It spawns even more ideas. New knowledge and inspiration is perishable!

Now Ill start on his latest book, Tribe.

My latest idol is Gordon Ramsey, which I’ve been following in his many TV series Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmare (both US and UK). Both me, my sister and mother are totally hooked on him. Unfortunately I don’t get the same response from people around me when I discuss him. They don’t understand why we like him.

I find him fascinating cause of his success. He have build a luxurious restaurant empire from nothing. Not only is he a perfectionist, energetic and a great chef, but a great entrepreneur and business man, through experience. He is used to work with the best, and expects the best out of everyone we meet.

He is famous from TV for being a real loud-mouth, repeated swearing,  straight to the point and (in some peoples eyes) the devil impersonated. Sure, its showbiz and it makes the program more interesting. Many people are offended by his behaviour, but I believe he have the status to expect the best of the best. And all the swearing, demeaning comments and disrespected way he talk down to people get a much stronger impact. But at the end of the day he is a businessman. But lets not forget, this way of his is part of the Gordon Ramsey Brand! And that’s a very powerful force. Its part of his authenticity and verification, why he often is right. Instead of tapping every one on the head and pet them, he kick them in the ass, for their own good. He tries to get the best out of people, but some simply can’t take it. No one can deny the result he gets. He have the experience of both failure and success, that have brought him to were he is today.

Unfortunately, as TV and media always does, they focus simply on his swearing and down talking way. Many of the people who participate in his program often are real idiots or simply doesn’t have what it takes. If we break down what Hells Kitchen is all about, its not about a dream for a nobody. He is searching for a new business partner! Not only does he look for a great chef, but someone who can run a business successfully. Actually, this show could apply to any business. Hells Kitchen is more straight forward entertainment.

Kitchen Nightmare on the other hand is more interesting to analyse and a testament to his entrepreneur skills and marketing knowledge. He travel all around UK and America to help struggling restaurants come back from the brink of  death. Usually its the same problem on every place he visits. Broken or no communication, very bad food, lacking administration, focus on the wrong thing and plain stubbornness against change or pure stupidity. They make simple mistakes, but fail to see them.

When he travel around to help struggling businesses he analyse everything surrounding the restaurant. Quality of the food and service. The feeling, atmosphere and design of the interior and exterior. How the restaurant market itself and who’s their core audience. If the menu works and fit the profile of the place. He often go around to scan the town his in, to scan the market and if there’s a restaurant type not present, a hole in the market to be filled. He show how important change is for survivor in a very competitive market, and what it means to truly run a business. He really think as a marketer, taking every aspect into account. And at the end of the day, he want to secure the happiness and experience of the customer!

Even if its part of his brand, to me a bit… hard against people who don’t live up to his expectations, he also want to help people success. Sure he have his methods, but they give results. He travels around to help people in need, when he could spend that time to his own restaurants. I don’t think he would waste time on others if he didn’t believed in them or were forced to. His not obligated to do any thing for other businesses, but he still do, and it really test his patience. His not only a master chef, but a true businessman!