“I’m Proud to Be a Geek; It Runs in the Family”
Keela Robison joined GameHouse as the new Vice President of Operations recently, bringing more than 15 years of experience in consumer technology product and operations management, business development and strategic marketing.
Keela’s passion for technology started at an early age. She grew up in Santa Cruz, California in a family of technologists, including her parents who were both software developers, and an older brother who also joined the booming tech industry in Silicon Valley.
Keela’s mother Patricia was among the first women programmers who helped pioneer the career path for women in technology. Patricia came to the United States from England, and graduated from Harvard Business School before joining the computer giant IBM in the 1960s.
Keela enjoyed experimenting with programming while in elementary school, and like many young geeks, she spent most of her computing time gaming. Her family’s background and her early experiences gave her incredible respect for technology and those in the industry – especially developers.
After graduating from Stanford University, Keela jumped into the tech industry and held executive leadership positions with companies including RealNetworks, T-Mobile, WhitePages and Amazon.
We sat down with Keela to discuss her experiences, thoughts about GameHouse, and the biggest opportunities and challenges in today’s digital market.
Q: Tell us more about your career in the technology industry.
A: I have to admit – I’m a consumer tech junkie – both personally and professionally. I’m proud to be a geek; it runs in the family.
I find it remarkable: the small and large ways that technology can enhance our lives – whether helping us to be more productive and connected, or allowing us to have more fun. I feel quite lucky to have been able to pursue my passion for technology in my career as well. For the last 15 years, my professional experiences spanned software, hardware, apps, and e-commerce. All of these shared a common goal: creating transformative experiences for consumers.
Q: In your opinion, how does the digital marketplace compare to the traditional brick and mortar marketplace?
A: Digital has enabled an entirely new purchase model where consumers are in control much more so than retailers or developers. Today, consumers have instant, 24/7-access to sites that must compete based on customer experience and value rather than location and store hours. Consumers publicly share praise or criticism of a company with a simple tweet or status update. The relatively low barriers to entry in the digital marketplace and the immediacy of social sharing force innovation that benefits all of us as consumers.
We’re seeing a similar transformation in the video games market. Console games sold at retail are the result of lengthy and expensive development cycles with new titles priced at $40 – $60 and effectively no enhancements after games are released. Social and mobile games on the other hand are much different. Freemium games aren’t driven by massive multi-year production processes, but by iteration after iteration in response to consumer usage, feedback, and rapid testing.
On new gaming platforms, consumers can see improvements literally overnight, rather than waiting months or years for the next generation installment. It’s a huge benefit to games developers and consumers. And because of the low (or non-existent) cost to play, we’re reaching a substantially bigger segment of consumers who probably don’t consider themselves gamers, but really love to play casual games.
Q: What are you responsible for as the new VP of Operations at GameHouse?
A: My immediate focus is on the traditional casual games business for GameHouse, which includes a strong portfolio of mobile and downloadable PC titles that have attracted millions of active players.
I’ll be working to optimize GameHouse.com and our international consumer sites, including marketing and sales. Additionally, my team is responsible for the distribution of first and third party titles. We will continue to extend our game portfolio to other platforms like social and mobile, giving customers the choice to play the games they love when they want and where they want.
Q: Why did you decide to return to RealNetworks, and how will your experience away from the company also help in your new role?
A: Matt Hulett (President of GameHouse) convinced me twice to work with him at RealNetworks; the first time was nearly 15 years ago. I’m just as excited to join the GameHouse team now as I was to help build RealPlayer many years ago.
GameHouse has all of the key elements that are fundamental to success: a talented team, world class technology, and strategic vision. Moreover, GameHouse enjoys the benefit of a strong core PC download business to fund rapid innovation in the social and mobile space. The games category inherently requires a high risk threshold, and GameHouse has the people, content, culture, and business intelligence to build a mass market casual games brand that delights millions of customers worldwide.
Q: Where do you see GameHouse, and the social and mobile games market, five years from now?
A: The current social and mobile games market has been more of a sprint, rather than a marathon. But, that will change soon.
I expect to see the wave of mergers and acquisitions continue in the social and mobile games market, but I also anticipate that we’ll see a significant number of poorly run games companies in this space closing in the next couple of years. It’s been a “gold rush” period where everyone with a game concept (too often a bad clone of a successful game) quit their day job to become a game developer; it’s not sustainable. This may create some fear and uncertainty in the social and mobile arena, but it will be the first indication that the market is beginning to mature – and that’s a good thing.
I see this evolution as a huge opportunity for GameHouse. While others are scrambling to figure out a revenue and customer acquisition model, GameHouse can withstand the instability and win customers by doing what we do best: create fun.