SPOnG: But it’s agreed that you set a new standard for videogame marketing, at that time.
Chris Deering: Well, if you say so! (Laughs) But there are new standards now, with so many ways to reach consumers directly via the internet. Certainly, one of the big factors back then was the ability to reach gamers through demo discs on specialist magazines. At the peak we had as many as ten million monthly magazines featuring PlayStation across Europe – the UK had four million of those – and almost all of them had a demo disc. So, that was 20 to 25million people in Europe we were reaching via specialist magazines.
Specialist magazines are still strong in certain sectors, for certain things. But they are now by no means the only means by which consumers can get information or reviews on games. Back then if you couldn’t get an eight-out-of-ten in a magazine you could pretty much say you weren’t going to sell more than a million units, unless it was a very huge license with people buying the game as a souvenir for a movie or something.
SPOnG: Of course, there’s a flip-side to ‘getting it right’. Do you think SEGA was five years to early with Dreamcast and its online strategy?
Chris Deering: Timing is a factor in the relative success of almost anything. We’re going back quite a while now to ask that question. I’d say that history would probably endorse your hypothesis. They (SEGA) attempted to interrupt the cycle that had existed between Sony, Nintendo and themselves. They cut short Saturn and launched Dreamcast. And I think they had some wonderful ambitions and achieved a lot of things with ‘Dreamarena’ (the name of the online network set up for the console) but there weren’t enough people who were Internet-comfortable, and there weren’t enough people with dial-up connections to make it a real phenomenon.
There were also some great games on Dreamcast, but SEGA didn’t have the financially deep-pockets of a Nintendo or a Sony. Then of course, word came out in the States that Microsoft – ‘the home team’ – was coming. So, I think a combination of all those things in the end proved that SEGA was too early. Though I’m not sure had they come any later they would necessarily have done any better! (Laughs)
SPOnG: Finally, what are you up to these days yourself? You’ve mentioned that you are working with Codemasters already. What about Jalipo TV – tell us more about what they do?
Chris Deering: Jalipo is a open-internet web-delivery tool for owners of high-value live and pre-recorded content. It’s similar to YouTube in that it can appear in any syndicated location – blog or website – but unlike YouTube it has very strict restrictions, Digital Rights Management (DRM), blocking of territories where rights are not available and so on … and the user can select the bandwidth they want to watch.
It’s all based on a per-minute system, so the content owner sells directly to the end-user and we just enable them. We have a website that users can see what their credits can be spent on – it’s a pay-as-you-so model similar to a London Transport Oyster Card really, where the credits are worth one US cent each.
We certainly do live news more than anyone else right now as well as documentaries, comedy shows, live sports and other events. It’s a home-grown company based in London and it’s got some uniquely consumer-friendly features. It’s a Web 2.0 friendly idea, with no subscription, you only pay when you watch. If you don’t like a movie after ten minutes, you only pay for the time you watch. If you go out of town, you don’t have an excessive Sky bill to pay and so on. It’s really like SMSing, you only pay for what you use.
SPOnG: Thanks very much for your time, Chris.
SEGA's Dreamcast - a lesson learned?
Specialist magazines are still strong in certain sectors, for certain things. But they are now by no means the only means by which consumers can get information or reviews on games. Back then if you couldn’t get an eight-out-of-ten in a magazine you could pretty much say you weren’t going to sell more than a million units, unless it was a very huge license with people buying the game as a souvenir for a movie or something.
SPOnG: Of course, there’s a flip-side to ‘getting it right’. Do you think SEGA was five years to early with Dreamcast and its online strategy?
Chris Deering: Timing is a factor in the relative success of almost anything. We’re going back quite a while now to ask that question. I’d say that history would probably endorse your hypothesis. They (SEGA) attempted to interrupt the cycle that had existed between Sony, Nintendo and themselves. They cut short Saturn and launched Dreamcast. And I think they had some wonderful ambitions and achieved a lot of things with ‘Dreamarena’ (the name of the online network set up for the console) but there weren’t enough people who were Internet-comfortable, and there weren’t enough people with dial-up connections to make it a real phenomenon.
There were also some great games on Dreamcast, but SEGA didn’t have the financially deep-pockets of a Nintendo or a Sony. Then of course, word came out in the States that Microsoft – ‘the home team’ – was coming. So, I think a combination of all those things in the end proved that SEGA was too early. Though I’m not sure had they come any later they would necessarily have done any better! (Laughs)
SPOnG: Finally, what are you up to these days yourself? You’ve mentioned that you are working with Codemasters already. What about Jalipo TV – tell us more about what they do?
Chris Deering: Jalipo is a open-internet web-delivery tool for owners of high-value live and pre-recorded content. It’s similar to YouTube in that it can appear in any syndicated location – blog or website – but unlike YouTube it has very strict restrictions, Digital Rights Management (DRM), blocking of territories where rights are not available and so on … and the user can select the bandwidth they want to watch.
It’s all based on a per-minute system, so the content owner sells directly to the end-user and we just enable them. We have a website that users can see what their credits can be spent on – it’s a pay-as-you-so model similar to a London Transport Oyster Card really, where the credits are worth one US cent each.
We certainly do live news more than anyone else right now as well as documentaries, comedy shows, live sports and other events. It’s a home-grown company based in London and it’s got some uniquely consumer-friendly features. It’s a Web 2.0 friendly idea, with no subscription, you only pay when you watch. If you don’t like a movie after ten minutes, you only pay for the time you watch. If you go out of town, you don’t have an excessive Sky bill to pay and so on. It’s really like SMSing, you only pay for what you use.
SPOnG: Thanks very much for your time, Chris.