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Frenzoo is a creator of 3D lifestyle games for mobile and web. With flexible avatar technology and creation platform, it can bring characters to life as they have in the hit Me GirlTM. Co-founder and CEO Simon Newstead shares the company’s love of all things creative and fun. Newstead’s passion and experiences provide him with an understanding of development and technology on a global scale.
Newstead’s has always been interested in the creativity and freedom that games allow. “Real life is always the best, but online you can have experiences that really tap into dream-like imagination,” said Newstead. Before working on mobile games, he ran one of the first web virtual worlds. It had real time chat, shopping, virtual economy and user-generated content tools. Newstead was able to use the knowledge gained from that virtual world and apply it to Me GirlTM mobile games. With Frenzoo, Newstead hopes to further his personal goal of making fun, creative experiences that can be enjoyed by millions around the world.
When trying to reach a global market, developers will often run into difficulties. Newstead advises developers to adopt a broader perspective of game design and development. “Developers should keep in mind global audiences, not just on the technical level with localization, but also cultural adaptation for different markets, different routes and partnerships for different countries and recognizing most global gamers don’t speak English as their first language,” said Newstead. He spoke about the idea of multiple distinct markets rather than an “Asian market” or “Eastern market,” and each have different demographics, play types, interests, and art styles.
It is important to look market by market/country by country to figure out the approach.
Another concept to consider is technology. “Greater memory storage and screen sizes combined with faster processors are opening a wave of new 3D games,” said Newstead. “Combined with using other mobile specific techs-accelerometer, location, touch screen, etc.-all combine to open up play types unthought-of a few short years ago.” With technology improving, the video game industry improves as well. Newstead predicts “the rise of the social platforms and tighter integration, cleaning up the ad infrastructure, more cross-pollination between US, Japan, Korea, etc. game concepts, higher quality games in different segment, and more hybrid game/utility apps.” The video game industry can expect exciting changes, according to Newstead.
Frenzoo strives to benefit the video game industry by providing high-quality 3D games for women. “Letting millions of women around the world experience the glamour of being a fashion stylist or creating a new wardrobe or the thrill of roleplaying as a celebrity—that motivates us every day and I think is a positive development in the overall industry,” said Newstead. He said to expect more games from them this year.
