40 min
EA’s Mike Blank on Keeping a “Player First” Mindset within a Subscription Business Subscription Stories: True Tales from the Trenches
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- Entrepreneurship
Electronic Arts’ Mike Blank joins Robbie to talk about his journey bringing subscription to the world of gaming. They discuss the challenges of subscriptions in the gaming industry, how to encourage consumers to discover new content within the subscription, and how EA offers multiple consumer models to support their “player first” promise.
Highlights from this episode:
2:15 - EA’s journey to subscription and why subscription models are particularly challenging in the gaming industry
8:00 - How EA used their “player first” mindset to create a subscription that would not cannibalize their business
11:29 - The importance of giving subscribers a taste of the product that leaves them wanting more
12:50 - EA Play’s ideal customer
16:47 - The metrics EA used to measure success, and the key data point for tracking returning customers
18:58 - Why helping a customer discover more content is so critical in a subscription business
21:53 - How EA shares subscription data across the company without distracting from other “player first” projects.
24:45 - How to tackle pricing in the gaming world and how EA chose its pricing model
30:16 - How to create a subscription that is beneficial from both a business and a “player-first” standpoint
33:29 - Mike’s advice for someone tasked with bringing subscription to a transactional or episodic business
35:51 - Mike’s advice for creating something evergreen within a “hits” or season based industry
37:21 - Robbie’s Speed Round
Mike's Bio:
Mike Blank is EA’s SVP of Player Network. In this role, he oversees how the company enables players to connect together, discover games and evolve to new distribution models. Mike is responsible for building teams, providing vision, and helping to invent the next generation of EA including the consumer platform and subscription-based products. Before his 18+ years with EA, Mike worked in law. He received a BA from McGill University and a JD from The University of British Columbia.
Links:
Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blankmichael/
EA Play, EA’s subscription service: https://www.ea.com/ea-play/news/welcome-to-ea-play
Robbie’s Book THE FOREVER TRANSACTION: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-forever-transaction/
Robbie's website: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/podcast
Electronic Arts’ Mike Blank joins Robbie to talk about his journey bringing subscription to the world of gaming. They discuss the challenges of subscriptions in the gaming industry, how to encourage consumers to discover new content within the subscription, and how EA offers multiple consumer models to support their “player first” promise.
Highlights from this episode:
2:15 - EA’s journey to subscription and why subscription models are particularly challenging in the gaming industry
8:00 - How EA used their “player first” mindset to create a subscription that would not cannibalize their business
11:29 - The importance of giving subscribers a taste of the product that leaves them wanting more
12:50 - EA Play’s ideal customer
16:47 - The metrics EA used to measure success, and the key data point for tracking returning customers
18:58 - Why helping a customer discover more content is so critical in a subscription business
21:53 - How EA shares subscription data across the company without distracting from other “player first” projects.
24:45 - How to tackle pricing in the gaming world and how EA chose its pricing model
30:16 - How to create a subscription that is beneficial from both a business and a “player-first” standpoint
33:29 - Mike’s advice for someone tasked with bringing subscription to a transactional or episodic business
35:51 - Mike’s advice for creating something evergreen within a “hits” or season based industry
37:21 - Robbie’s Speed Round
Mike's Bio:
Mike Blank is EA’s SVP of Player Network. In this role, he oversees how the company enables players to connect together, discover games and evolve to new distribution models. Mike is responsible for building teams, providing vision, and helping to invent the next generation of EA including the consumer platform and subscription-based products. Before his 18+ years with EA, Mike worked in law. He received a BA from McGill University and a JD from The University of British Columbia.
Links:
Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blankmichael/
EA Play, EA’s subscription service: https://www.ea.com/ea-play/news/welcome-to-ea-play
Robbie’s Book THE FOREVER TRANSACTION: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-forever-transaction/
Robbie's website: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/podcast
40 min