Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki is gearing up to be our biggest event in the city yet, and we couldn’t be more excited to share with you all that we have in store! It’s going to be a magnificent two day event packed with endless opportunities to learn, scale and most importantly, connect. Today, we’re continuing our series spotlighting just some of the amazing speakers that will be gracing the stage at our Helsinki show this September. They have been generous enough to share a few of their insights and expertise with us ahead of time, and you won’t want to miss them!
If you haven’t heard, we’re bringing back Europe’s favourite games industry conference to the spiritual home of mobile gaming for the first time in two years. On September 27 to 28, over 1,200 games industry professionals from around the globe will descend upon Helsinki for two days full of networking, matchmaking opportunities and hours of wisdom from over 200 thought leaders from all over the world. We are currently highlighting some of the most highly anticipated speakers we have joining us at the conference this September – keep checking back every day for more brilliant insights from our superstar speakers.
Today, we’re shining the spotlight on Quicksave Interactive’s CEO and Co-Founder, Elina Arponen. Elina is a game industry veteran and a serial entrepreneur. Her previous game company was acquired by a social media app. Quicksave was founded in 2017 by the same team to develop the best HTML5 games that are embedded on social web2 and now also distributed web3 applications.
What I like about the web3 communities is how active they are and how easy it is to have conversations and develop together with the community.
Elina Arponen
Don’t miss Elina Arponen at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki, where she will be delivering a talk on the process of launching a web3 game.
PocketGamer.biz: What’s the most important key performance indicator (KPI) for you – and why?
Elina Arponen: In essence it’s the player sentiment and how they like the game that you’ve built. Quantitatively you can see that in the retention and engagement numbers, but also just qualitative feedback and discussion with the community is very important. What I like about the web3 communities is how active they are and how easy it is to have conversations and develop together with the community.
What do you think the next big disruptor in mobile games will be?
There are many candidates for this and there are likely several disruptions coming, which makes it hard to predict which one of them will be the quickest to appear. For sure we will continue to see a rise in the number of quality mobile HTML5 games that are delivered to players outside the traditional app stores. At the same time blockchain games are improving their accessibility and appeal for broader markets. We obviously work in the convergence of these two disruptors when we publish HTML5 blockchain games that are well playable on mobile.
Tell us your thoughts on play-to-earn games
NFTs as a technology can be used to mark ownership of ingame items, but in addition they could be your access pass to tournaments, ownership of the full title, membership in a clan or a number of other items. What is important with an NFT is the utility that it offers and what it enables you to do.
I believe NFTs will evolve beyond play-to-earn terminology. Although even if you don’t buy them in expectation of profit it is still good additional value for the player that there is always a second-hand market for items they’ve spent money on.
It may seem from the outside that something happens overnight, but there is always a lot of background in the team and people on how they got there and why it worked out for them.
Elina Arponen
What do you enjoy most about working in the mobile games industry?
The whole gaming industry is like one big welcoming family where everyone is cheering for each other. At least this is how it feels in the scene in Finland. It is great to work in a supportive environment where people are passionate about the work they do. You spend a lot of time of your life at work and getting to work on interesting projects with skillful and kind people is just the best.
Another thing I personally like about the industry is how fast things evolve and change. There is always something new to learn and a possibility to grow yourself.
Can people get in touch with you at the event? What sort of people would you like to connect with?
Yes, certainly it would be great to talk with other developers who are building on web3 and/or HTML5 environments. Of course I am open to talk also with media, investors and publishers, but I find that it is very valuable to exchange ideas and learn from each other as developers.
What is the best way to disrupt a market?
Usually it happens with a lot of work and a steady progress that then accelerates in the end. It may seem from the outside that something happens overnight, but there is always a lot of background in the team and people on how they got there and why it worked out for them.
Connect with our stellar speakers
Expand your network with the likes of Elina Arponen and many, many more brilliant minds at this year’s Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki conference. There is no better place to connect with the biggest and most inspiring industry players and take your business to the next level. You can still take advantage of our Mid-term offer for a limited time. Head over to our website and buy your ticket today, you can save up to a whopping £150 if you act fast.
