Wooga's Sebastian Nussbaum on the Development of New Games

With June's Journey, Wooga has a game in its portfolio that has grossed more than $1 billion in lifetime sales. But the Berlin-based company is still keen to create new games and try new things, as Vice President Creative Sebastian Nussbaum explains.

Wooga is one of Germany's most successful mobile game developers, with games such as the hidden object mystery game June's Journey, which surpassed $1 billion in lifetime gross revenue in November 2023. Launched in 2017, the game-as-a-service remains the most important title for the Berlin-based studio, which is part of the Playtika Group. But that doesn't mean they're putting all their eggs in one basket. They are always trying out new projects and ideas - and Sebastian Nußbaum, Vice President New Games at Wooga, talks to GamesMarkt about the importance of this and the creative processes behind it.

GamesMarkt: Wooga has one of the most successful mobile games made in Germany, June's Journey. In this context, how important is the development of new games for Wooga?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "The focus has definitely shifted since Wooga was founded. Where in the beginning it was all about the creation of new games, the focus is now on running live games like June’s Journey while still pursuing the creation of new games as another growth strategy. It is a risky one for sure because you can’t control all aspects of a game becoming a hit, but it's also a huge opportunity when you succeed."

GamesMarkt: What is the creative process behind the development of new game concepts at Wooga, and what principles do you have in place?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "It is key to understand your audience. What products do they consume, which hobbies do they have, what daily routines do they have, what are their desires and how do they have fun. We have created a framework called 'creative pillars'. This helps us increase the success of our games, as it helps us underline our strength as a company and get everyone aligned behind it. The composition of the right team is key in that process - even more important than the game idea itself."

Sebastian Nussbaum is Vice President Creative at Wooga in Berlin, where he started in 2009 having conceived and created games like Pearl's Peril and June's Journey. But his passion is not limited to the games industry. "Prior to Wooga, I worked as a creative director, designer and producer for various developers of award-winning mobile content, starting my career as a level designer for the Game Boy Color in 2000. I also have a deep passion for producing music. New albums are released every few years depending on my time and life schedule with tracks reaching from dub to latin and ska under the alias mabafu," said Nussbaum.

GamesMarkt: How do you try to create the creative space needed to develop new ideas/games?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "This is tough. It's a very different routine creating a new game compared to running a live game. And obviously the live game generates revenue, while the new game only creates cost. It requires constant advocating, inspiring and a strong voice to create that space.""

GamesMarkt: In today's faster and more complex world and environment, how difficult is it to clear your mind and focus on new things?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "New things rather help us to get more efficient so I see this as something positive. Technology changes, trends change, media consumption changes. It's in our DNA to ask ourselves every week if what we do is still the right thing."

GamesMarkt: How do you decide which new game ideas are worthy of development and which ones are not?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "The beginning of a creation is a lot about idea brainstorming and also validating through surveys for example if we are on the right track. We ask ourselves questions like:

• Do we see an opportunity in an underserved audience?
  
• Is there a game we see as an inspiration which we could interpret differently?
  
• Do we think this game will be fun for the audience we have in mind and why?
  
• Do we think we can pay our salaries with it once the game is live?
  
• Do we have the right team or can we hire the needed team?
  
• Is the company currently capable of producing such a game?
  

All these questions help us to make the call."

GamesMarkt: Are there any restrictions from the start, such as platforms (mobile, PC, consoles, Netflix), genres or anything like that?

Sebastian Nussbaum: "We have our core audience demographic of women 35+ in mind. We need to understand how much budget we have for the game to define how complex it can be, and every platform is a business case by itself. If you have good arguments to go with Netflix then this is something to pursue. We also go deeper into our player motivation, for example we think about how cooperative or competitive they want to be. We are pushing for a strong player immersion and fantasy in our games and we also define game ideas that we would not pursue."

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