Daniel Barnes on LinkedIn: Community Manager (Krunker) - FRVR (2024)

These past few months in games have been both fascinating & challenging. The games industry is at a key moment where it must change & innovate. I've been reflecting on where I see the gaming industry going over the next few years, and thought I'd share. I was a critical part of the revolution that was free-to-play and live operations in games, that started a new era in gaming with #performancemarketing as the primary distribution model. I also saw firsthand this model becoming a victim of its own success, with saturation and resulting discoverability issues. While I understand the current market trend of reverting to premium product + DLC (though $100+ vault editions make me shiver), using IP on Mobile or Early Access on Steam, I think the solution is more foundational. I believe the future lies in evolving F2P into its next era.IMO the solution is to bring the game's core closer to the players. We've seen the most basic form of this in playable ads becoming the dominant distribution medium for mobile, but what if we took that to the nth degree? What if the game was playable anywhere, on any platform? What if each and every one of those interactions moved the player through a game universe that was deep, compelling, and engaging?The challenge with this is that by creating bitesize but meaningful interactions, players risk losing sight of the wider game arc. Hence, it becomes imperative to have connective tissue. That connective tissue can only be a story—something that allows players to see a wider arc, situate themselves, and fall in love.It turns out that multiplayer stories are hard... really hard. Almost every example of a narrative game is single-player for a reason. Coordinating a coherent story that adapts to multiple players' actions, decisions, and timelines while maintaining engagement and immersion is incredibly challenging. There is no platform solution available to create multiplayer stories for live-operated games, yet. However, we are in a technological sea change, and this is going to change quickly.I'm excited to be part of this next phase of gaming and apply lessons from the last revolution. Pioneering new territory is what we game makers excel at, and it's thrilling to push the boundaries once again.#GameDevelopment #GamingInnovation #GameDesign #FreeToPlay #LiveOperations #MultiplayerNarratives

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Going to my first ever #develop this year! Let me know if you will be there, and would like to chat about what we're building.

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I often reflect on the time one of the founders of our previous company N3TWORK shared a memorable story. This may be comepltely made up, but I choose to believe it's not. An interviewer once asked Reed Hastings what it's like being an entrepreneur:Reed replied, "Great, I sleep like a baby."The interviewer, puzzled, said, "Oh really?"Reed responded, "Yeah, I wake up multiple times a night crying."This has never felt more painfully true than right now. Between the excitement of starting something new and incredible, the constant feedback (often at complete odds with each other), the pressure to provide for my family while balancing the burning need to just focus and build—it's a lot.If you're on a similar journey and need a safe space to vent about how hard it can be, let me know. I'm here for you, and I've got some stories and doubts that will at least make you feel less alone. 😉#EntrepreneurLife #StartupStruggles #RealTalk #FoundersJourney #SupportNetwork

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I believe that #London and Western Europe are emerging as excellent hubs for software development, offering a pretty great environment with lower living costs and access to top-tier yet affordable talent. However, my experience recently, is that nothing compares to Silicon Valley when actually raising capital to build said software. #Raisingcapital #vc

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