fatfoogoo – a year in review

2008 has been a banner year for us here at fatfoogoo.  Not only have we had some amazing talent join us, but interest in not only what we do, but what we can do for the gaming community as a whole has skyrocketed.  Below are some selected highlights from an outstanding year for the foogoos.

I myself joined the foogoos back in April and started coverage of any and all things games, but quickly narrowed that focus down to any and all things free-to-play/microtransactions.  Given the nature of what fatfoogoo does, providing world-class microtransaction based economies to game developers and publishers, this seemed like an obvious choice.  Tie that into the massive upswing in microtransactions over the coarse of 2008, et viola, you’ve got the fatfoogoo blog.

While I couldn’t get an exact number or frequent flier mileage points out of him, our fearless leader Martin Herdina is almost certainly on a first name basis with a number of Vienna Airport staff members.  Back in May, Martin went back to his old stomping grounds and represented fatfoogoo at the ION Game Conference in Seattle, standing shoulder to shoulder with serious industry players including EA, Bigpoint and Crytek.  Martin was there not only to represent fatfoogoo, but to also offer up informed and detailed opinions on free-to-play gaming and how microtransactions can help developers monetize.  A summer full of incredible developments (See below) kept Mr. Herdina out of the check in lines, but as soon as September rolled around, Martin was beating feet (and being scanned with a magnetic wand) this time in Los Angeles for the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo.  A short time later saw fatfoogoo at the Austin Games Convention where we produced a live demo of just a few of fatfoogoo’s features (special thanks go out to the guys that work on the technical end of the foogoo system.  You DO know that Red Bull is an Austrian product, don’t you?  I think these guys may very well have been members of a beta test for super strength Red Bull).

Mid August must mean games in Germany, as who could miss the Games Convention Leipzig?  True to form, the GCDC also heard from Martin talking about in-game economies and item trading, while yours truly along with Patrick and Loki, scouted the convention floor, speaking to a number of games developers about current and upcoming projects.  No time to slow down now Martin, there’s the Virtual Worlds Forum London to get to in October.  Don’t like the fish and chips?  No problem, you’re slated to join Stevie in San Francisco at the vgSummit on October 10th.  James Brown may be the hardest working man in showbiz, but Martin Herdina might well be the hardest working man in the  microtransactionbiz.

But let’s not just make this about Martin, as there are plenty of other folks that make the heart of foogoo beat.

Back in July, our programming team reached a milestone and introduced elements of our technology to the Sun Partner Advantage Program via Project Darkstar.  The open source engine for game developers has already received a number of accolades, and via fatfoogoo, developers can now plug a monetization module into their game from day 1 or add it at a later date.  If our Project Darkstar integration wasn’t enough, a month later we received a nomination for “Best Business Idea of the Year” from German tech magazine Internet World.

2008 also saw the addition of two powerhouse figures at fatfoogoo.  In early August, we made the official announcement of adding Clive Jefferies as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Sales to the foogoo team.  Clive brings over 25 years of software product experience to fatfoogoo, and to say that he knows the ins and outs of international product development and management might be a bit of an understatement.

Likewise, in late September, we really lit things up with the appointment of industry veteran (and some might say legend) Stevana Case, aka KillCreek of Quake fame.  If you don’t know who Stevie Case is, chances are you might be filed under n00b, as Stevie is one of the first professional female gamers and the first woman in the Cyberathlete Professional League.  Stevie heads up our San Francisco office and serves as Vice President of Business Development and Sales.

All in all, 2008 has been an outstanding year for all of us here at fatfoogoo.  While there have been plenty of wins on a number of fronts, the above represents selected highlights.  Daniel Petri’s team of techs are the unsung heroes here, making all the pretty pixels play nicely together, and my hat goes off to them.

Looking forward, Martin has bound my lips with duct tape regarding some projects in the works, and while I’m bursting at the seams to tell the world about what we’re brewing up in the fatlabs, we’ve still got a few nuts and bolts to turn and tweak before it’s ready to be unveiled.  Stay tuned…  (no really, stay tuned, this is some pretty hot $*&#)!

So from all of us here at fatfoogoo, from Vienna to San Francisco, we wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2009!

fatfoogoo wins runner up in Munich Venture Lounge’s Media and Technology competition

In spite of the global financial crisis, last Tuesday’s Munich Venture Lounges’ “Media & Technology”, with over 100 participants from start-ups and venture capitalists was extremely well attended.  The event was hosted by the corporate finance advisory firm CatCap, the VC firm Neuhaus Partners, and the PR network European Marketing Communications.

The competition was narrowed down to 9 startup companies, each with an opportunity to present their company to the jury.  From these 9 start-ups 3 top winners were chosen,  nFon, fatfoogoo, and Just Landed.  As a result of this win, fatfoogoo CFO Thomas Offner has been approached by a number of VC’s in attendance, as well as those interested in further investment in the gaming and virtual world communities.

“We’re both honored and proud to have been selected as finalists for this competition.  A runner up win in this very exclusive and high investor potential competition is a double win for fatfoogoo.” says CFO Thomas Offner.

fatfoogoo CEO Martin Herdina adds, “The win today is just more proof of fatfoogoo’s very positive momentum in this fast paced market.  It’s great to get this positive feedback from the gaming industry as well as the financial community.”

To read the release please visit: http://www.venture-lounge.de/allgemein/munchener-venture-lounge-media-technology-am-28-oktober-2008 (in German)

Martin Herdina to speak at Virtual Worlds London Expo

Along with being an official sponsor of the 2008 Virtual Worlds London Expo, fatfoogoo’s CEO Martin Herdina will be join by Rohan Freeman, CEO of Sine Wave Company, Andrew Schneider, Founder and President of LiveGamer, and Karl Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of PlaySpan in a panel discussion regarding Virtual Goods.

Taking place today and tomorrow, the Virtual Worlds London Expo is the leading European event for businesses seeking to maximize and comprehend business strategies within virtual worlds.  The Expo seeks to bring all major players in the virtual world space together in one location to look at best practices, insights, and networking.  Fortune 1000 companies, investors, media, startups, consumer entertainment and youth brands, ad agencies, and of course virtual world platforms and their associated developers regularly attend the annual event.

Martin Herdina will be taking part in the Virtual Goods: The Next Big Business Model talk from 2:45 PM to 3:30 PM.  An outline of the discussion:

Virtual goods and currencies have become the driving economic force for a number of virtual world companies. What does it takes to build a successful company with a strong virtual goods business? What types of items do consumer want to buy and in what context are they motivated to continually buy or upgrade their virtual items? How do you grow a virtual goods business and what are the pitfalls? In what cases does a virtual goods business model triumph over advertising or subscription models?

fatfoogoo’s CEO is expected to analyze and elaborate on the different monetization use cases (subscriptions, primary market, secondary market), their differences, their shortcomings and outline the key factors to run a
successful virtual goods business.

Mr. Herdina is in good company at this year’s Virtual Worlds London Expo, as keynote speakers include Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Labs (Second Life), and Niniane Wang, Lively Engineering Lead, Google Inc.

The Virtual Worlds London Expo is made possible by Virtual Worlds Management, and includes The Virtual Worlds 2008 (New York, April 3-4, 2008), Virtual Worlds Expo (Los Angeles, September 3-4, 2008), Virtual Worlds London (October 20-21, 2008).

Stevie Case to present on Metanomics.net

fatfoogoo’s Stevie Case will be joined by Jay Geesman of Xstreet to present ‘Monetizing the Metaverse’ – a talk about their business experiences in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds.  Professor Robert Bloomfield, Director of the Business Simulation Laboratory at Cornell University, will moderate the show.

Stevie will be going live this coming Monday, October 13th at 12 noon PST.  The show may be seen either within the Second Life virtual world in the Metanomicsregion at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Metanomics/129/174/40, or directly on metanomics site at http://www.metanomics.net/WatchNow.

Stevie is expected to discuss primary markets in which publishers sell directly to players, and secondary markets where players sell to other players.  She’ll also be talking about fatfoogoo’s unique white lable solution that can handle any type of microtransaction for publishers, including time to integration.  Stevie will also give viewers a rundown of fatfoogoo’s partnership program with Sun’s Project Darkstar, with a focus on Call of Kings.  Last but not least, a previous episode of Metanomics struck a chord with views, and Ms. Case will be addressing a “universal avatar” whereby users can more from virtual world to virtual world seamlessly without the need for separate registrations and release of personal information with each new virtual world the visit.

With over 50 one hour long programs dedicated to virtual world economies, metanomics is a storehouse of information coming directly from the industry experts.  Focusing mainly on economic and business situations and scenarios present in virtual worlds such as Second Life and There, Metanomics aims to understand and provide a better insight as to how residents of these virtual worlds establish, manage, and operate their virtual businesses.  Conversely, the show also looks at real world businesses and non-profits and how they interact with the growing virtual world and economy(ies).

fatfoogoo at the vgSummit 2008

fatfoogoo is a proud sponsor of the vgSummit 2008 and both Martin Herdina and Stevana Case in attendance at the one day conference taking place October 10th in San Francisco.

Now in it’s second year, with over 300 participants last year, this event is expected to play host to over 400 industry experts sharing, discussing, and debating the future of market opportunities in virtual worlds, goods and economies.  The Summit is hosted by Charles Hudson, VP of Business Development for Serious Business.

Topics and panel discussions will include:

What Users Want — Branded and User-Generated Virtual Goods

One of the key decisions in any virtual goods offering is determining what users want. Looking for answers as to what your users want from your virtual goods offering? Curious about how to blend branded and user-generated virtual goods? Our panel of experts will share their experience on what it takes to get started and how to make a well-informed decision on this crucial topic.

Making Virtual Economies Work — Lessons from the Leaders

Managing a virtual economy is no easy task. Managing inflation, dealing with billing, and being vigilant on fraud are just a small fraction of the issues facing anyone managing a virtual economy. Our panelists will share their experiences and insights on this important subject.

Virtual Goods and Social Networks

Virtual goods are beginning to make a major footprint on leading social networks. Aside from offering an alternative to advertising, virtual goods offer application developers a solid opportunity to capitalize on the user engagement they generate. What will it take to fully take advantage of the virtual goods opportunity on social networks? Our panel of leading thinkers will share their views on this topic.

Generating Real Revenue from Virtual Goods

The goods are virtual, but the revenue is real. Interested in figuring out how to turn browsers into buyers and driving more engagement around virtual goods? We’ve assembled a strong group of panelists who can share their insights on how to tackle the challenge of converting virtual goods into real revenue.

Getting Paid - Build a Dominant Payments and Billing Strategy

Designing and merchandising virtual goods is only half of the equation. For a virtual goods model to work, determining what payment types to accept and how to combat fraud are critical issues. Our panel of experts will share their views on what it takes to succeed in this crucial part of the business.

fatfoogoo is proud to sponsor the Wi-Fi at this event.  We find ourselves in good company, with other sponsors including Mashable, socialmedia, and viximo to name a few.

Again, both Martin and Stevana will be at this conference.  If you missed speaking to them in person, feel free to get in touch via email:

Martin[at]fatfoogoo.com
Stevana[at]fatfoogoo.com

STEVANA CASE JOINS fatfoogoo EXECUTIVE TEAM

Casual Games Veteran Will Lead fatfoogoo Business Development and Sales in North America

SAN FRANCISCO – September 30, 2008 – fatfoogoo, the leading provider of in-game commerce ecosystems, today announced it has appointed Stevana Case to spearhead its North American business as Vice President of Business Development and Sales.

Case joins fatfoogoo at a time the casual gaming industry is expected to grow to an estimated $1.15 billion industry by 2011, according to DFC Intelligence.

“Stevana is widely respected in the videogame industry with impressive experience as a professional gamer, designer, author and more,” said Martin Herdina, co-founder and CEO, fatfoogoo.  “Her knowledge of the industry and deep passion for gaming is a winning combination for fatfoogoo as we expand our business in North America.”

Case is a widely recognized figure in the videogame industry.  She is celebrated for being one of the first professional female gamers and the first woman in the Cyberathlete Professional League.  Notably, Case has gained recognition for defeating John Romero in Quake death match, single handedly beating him the first time they played.

Most recently, Case has made her mark as a tough-minded and experienced business development professional, working on a wide range of platforms including PC, mobile, IM and consoles.  She has combined her professional gaming experience with a personal passion for the industry serving as Director of Business Development and Sales at Tira Wireless.

Prior to business development, Case worked at several gaming companies serving in wide ranging roles from videogame level designer and product manager within the social games and networking space.  Case was also the Co-founder and CEO of Monkeystone Games. Post Monkeystone Games, Case headed up the product development team for Warner Bros. Online, Mobile Group.

“I am excited to join fatfoogoo; the team’s experience with microtransactions and modular platforms will serve both developers and publishers nicely,” said Case.  “As a gamer, I love buying items and the complexity that microtransactions bring to the game experience.  As a professional, I find fatfoogoo’s technology the most comprehensive offering on the market.”

Recently, fatfoogoo announced it has made its monetization software system available to developers in Project Darkstar, an open source development environment created by Sun Microsystems Laboratories. With fatfoogoo software publishers and developers can more easily tap into unchartered revenue streams of microtransactions.

About fatfoogoo
fatfoogoo is the leading in-game commerce ecosystem for monetizing online games and virtual worlds. Fatfoogoo’s solutions allow both publisher-to-player and player-to-player financial interaction, as well as traditional user and subscription management. Publishers can choose white label turnkey solutions or individually configured modules. Founded in 2006 by Daniel Petri and Martin Herdina, fatfoogoo is headquartered in Austria and also has offices in the US and the UK. For more information, please visit www.fatfoogoo.com.

Contact
Heather Sorensen
Plugged In PR for fatfoogoo
+1-503-841-0625
heather@pluggedinpr.com

fatfoogoo to Offer Micropayment Software for Project Darkstar

Monetizing Software Services Now Available to Thousands of Game Developers in Sun Sponsored Community

fatfoogoo, the leading provider of in-game commerce ecosystems, today announced that it will enable integration of its microtransaction software with Project Darkstar, an open source development environment created by Sun Microsystems Laboratories, that caters to the online games, virtual worlds and social networking industries. In a first step, fatfoogoo’s monetizing software services, such as virtual item trading, subscription management and in-game economic control, are now available to thousands of developers in the Project Darkstar Community.

fatfoogoo is the first company to offer commercial billing and transaction software that is explicitly designed to work with Project Darkstar technology. Project Darkstar simplifies the development of online games that take full advantage of today’s multi-core processors to deliver a new generation of scalability. Pairing fatfoogoo with Project Darsktar opens these games and virtual worlds to real money transactions, by enabling developers to leverage fatfoogoo’s secure and easy-to-use micropayments for in-game transactions.

“The work that fatfoogoo is doing to extend the reach of Project Darkstar exemplifies and underscores the value of open source communities,” said Karl Haberl, Director of the Project Darkstar research initiative at Sun Microsystems. “fatfoogoo has openly shared their expertise with others, enriching the Project Darkstar Community with their code contributions, interactions with game developers, and now with commercial software offerings. We are very pleased with the positive results of fatfoogoo’s Community participation, including the new opportunities they have presented to developers of online games, virtual worlds, and social networking applications.”

“We are bringing microtransactions first to the publishers and developers and, as a result, to the gaming community,” said fatfoogoo CEO, Martin Herdina. “Implementing micropayments into a game is a complex process that needs close attention. We make it easy for game developers to integrate our services into their games, so they can focus on their core competence. The real beneficiaries, however, are the gamers who can now easily make small and secure payments within the flow of the game.”

About fatfoogoo

fatfoogoo is the leading in-game commerce ecosystem for monetizing online games and virtual worlds. fatfoogoo’s solutions allow both publisher-to-player and player-to-player financial interaction, as well as traditional user and subscription management. Publishers can choose white label turnkey solutions or individually configured modules. Founded in 2006 by Daniel Petri and Martin Herdina, fatfoogoo is headquartered in Austria and also has offices in the US and the UK. For more information, please visit www.fatfoogoo.com.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision — “The Network Is The Computer” — guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world’s most important markets. Sun’s philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

About Project Darkstar

Project Darkstar is software infrastructure designed to simplify the development and operation of massively scaleable online games, virtual worlds and social networking applications. Created by Sun Microsystems Laboratories as a research effort, it is today advanced as an open source project through the Project Darkstar Community. Learn more at http://www.projectdarkstar.com.

fatfoogoo at Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo in LA

fatfoogoo CEO Martin Herdina, along with Senior Vice President – Global Sales: Clive Jefferies and Vice President of Sales and Business Development: Stevie Case are in attendance at the Virtual Worlds Expo in Los Angeles this week.

In addition to being a sponsor of the Virtual Worlds conference and expo, Herdina and company will be available for any and all questions concerning what fatfoogoo does, how we do it, and what we can do for you!

The 2nd annual Virtual Worlds Expo is a top meeting point for major players in the virtual world space.  Featuring 115 speakers from media, entertainment, IT and virtual worlds, 41 of which specialize in the virtual world space, this is one of the premier events for gaming industry professionals.

Keynote speeches will be delivered by featured speakers including:

• Jon Landau – Academy Award winning producer, Lightstorm Entertainment Advisor, Multiverse
• Tim Kring – Executive Producer and Creator of NBC hit – Heroes
• Colin J. Parris, PH.D – Vice President, Digital Convergence, IBM Research
• Steve Parkis – Senior Vice President, Disney Online

The Conference is broken out into 5 primary tracks, each having it’s own unique focus:

Virtual Worlds Hollywood
Virtual Worlds have the ability to bring creators together with passionate fans in an environment that supports rich storytelling and engagement on a level impossible with other forms of entertainment media. This track is designed for entertainment industry professionals seeking to understand the opportunities presented by virtual worlds and how to effectively work in virtual worlds tied to entertainment brands.

Enterprise Virtual Worlds
Companies are now using virtual worlds to strengthen their communication externally with customers and business partners and internally with employees. This track focuses on best practices for large-scale enterprises adopting virtual worlds. Topics range from the general use of virtual worlds in the workplace to specific examples of applications for onboarding, sales training, collaboration and more.

Virtual Worlds Kids
Kids are dominating the virtual worlds landscape with more than 60 youth-oriented worlds currently available and over 40 more coming online in short order. This track is designed for the owners of kids brands and will provide attendees with the understanding necessary to launch, operate and maintain a virtual world for the younger set in this highly competitive landscape.

The Future of Virtual Worlds
This track focuses on the future of virtual worlds technologies and applications. Topics include interviews and debates with virtual worlds technology and business visionaries, mirror worlds, augmented reality, Web-based worlds, embeddable worlds, and open-source, interoperable virtual worlds.

Again, fatfoogoo is in attendance, and will be available to speak to you regarding our services.  In the off chance you don’t cross paths with either Martin, Clive or Stevie, they can be reached at:

Martin Herdina – martin[at]fatfoogoo.com
Stevie Case – Stevie[at]fatfoogoo.com
Clive Jefferies – clive.jefferies[at]fatfoogoo.com

fatfoogoo at the Games Convention and Developers Conference

The Games Convention which kicks off in Leipzig, Germany this Wednesday and continues through Sunday in will see two equal sides of fatfoogoo. CEO Martin Herdina will be speaking at the GCDC (Games Convention Developers Conference) about in-game economies and item trading, while Loki and DT will be scouting the floor, reporting on and talking to gamers about the newest trends in various multiplayer games.

Many publishers have expressed interest in or are currently in search of additional revenue streams for their virtual worlds. Discounting the ‘traditional’ subscription fee, thousands of developers are either already in the game or standing at the starting line with free to play titles springing up almost everyday. The problem? How do we monetize it and recoup some of (read: ideally all of) the development costs? If the already established gold and item trading system (aka Blizzard) wasn’t already the Goliath these David’s are staring down, more and more suppliers are shying away from ‘Secondary Market’ third party suppliers. fatfoogoo has comprehensive experience with developing, managing, and providing ‘ready to go’ in game ecosystems, which makes it the ideal partner for a number of these publishers. fatfoogoo can function either as the Primary Trading platform or an Add-on marketplace. Combine this functionality with Comscore’s data: 32% of all Internet users play online games – and they’re prepared to spend money on it, along with the NPD Group’s recent study stating “…more than half of the Extreme Gamers and just over a third of Avid PC Gamers said that they would definitely download a feature to enhance a specific game that they own.”

Another interesting topic being covered in at the GC is the future of specialty trading. Not exactly new, but the genre is…eSports. Could we be seeing microtransactions being applied to “coach’s hours” whereby players receive special tips and tricks on how to command in-game mastery? Stay tuned as developments continue….

Martin Herdina is scheduled to speak on Wednesday morning, delivering his talk: A New Revenue Stream – Legitimizing the Trading within a Virtual Market. fatfoogoo is in good company, as Acclaim co-founder David Perry will deliver the Keynote speech with 125 other speakers and approximately 1000 industry participants discussing the future of the gaming industry.

Mobile Telcom heavy hitter Clive Jefferies joins the fatfoogoo team

We’re pleased to announce that Clive Jefferies has joined the fatfoogoo team as Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development.   With more than 25 years experience in the software industry, Clive brings his unique skill set and innovative approaches to the fatfoogoo team.

Most recently, Clive served as Vice President of Tira Wireless for the EMEA market and was responsible for the development and execution of the regional strategy.  He conducted product trials with Electronic Arts (EA) and gameloft, secured consultancy agreements with Yahoo! and managed the Infospace and Babel Media Accounts.

Sharing a common link with CEO Martin Herdina and COO Daniel Petri, Clive served as Senior Director of Sales & Business Development with mobile content and application commerce provider Qpass.  Clive was responsible for the development of and implementation of Qpass’ entry into the European mobile content market.  He continued to develop the media sales strategy, and facilitated a pipeline of opportunity with major global brands that wished to implement their own direct-to-consumer portals and business models.

“Accepting the invitation to join Martin and the team was a no-brainer. fatfoogoo is an organization that is perfectly positioned to become the de facto commerce solution for the gaming and virtual world industry. They have the best talent and the best software - a winning combination!” says Jefferies.

Clive holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool and is a Member of the Institute of Directors in London.  He can be reached at Clive.Jefferies (at) fatfoogoo.com

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