American McGee has been making games for 23 years now, having been part of id Software’s early first-person shooter PC glory days. The developer has succeeded in making a name for himself outside of his early work on games like Doom and Quake. McGee left the console and PC market behind seven years ago after developing games like American McGee’s Alice,Scrapland, Bad Day LA, Alice: Madness Returns, and American McGee’s Grimm.

After releasing free-to-play mobile games such as BigHead Bash, Akaneiro, and Crazy Fairiesthrough his Shanghai-based Spicy Horse studio, McGee has a new mobile game available for Android and iOS. Critter Academy blends tower defense and role-playing with deck building tournaments. McGee talks about the evolving mobile games industry and what the challenges are to succeed as a indie studio in the growing mobile video game market in this exclusive interview.

How have you seen the mobile video game space evolve since you first entered it?

At the end of the last console cycle we saw many studios, like Spicy Horse, make the pivot from AAA PC/console development to mobile/web development. At the same time, 3D art content and multiplayer game play became more common in mobile apps. F2P design combined with traditional game mechanics across a dizzying array of new game apps. A handful of big hits helped transform indie developers into publishing powerhouses – while at the same time driving existing publishers (who made the transition to mobile) to greater and greater profits.

Early on, developers in this space had reason to believe they could successfully self-publish. They could also choose to partner with existing publishers to larger, reach pre-existing audience networks. Over time, the cost for small studios to self publish increased, pushing more developers to chase a shrinking number of third party publishing options. In recent years the cost of User Acquisition and development have skyrocketed to the point where third party publishing deals are no longer viable options for either developers or publishers.

Smaller studios working to self-fund development and self-publish original games are facing serious difficulty in an environment where UA costs continue to rise. This is driven by war of attrition strategy among the industry giants, many of whom are spending millions of dollars a month on marketing/promotion with little chance of recouping their costs. In my view, the model isn’t sustainable — not for the indies, and not for many of the current giants.

What are the biggest challenges today for an indie studio like Spicy Horse?

Visibility, plain and simple. A game can’t be successful if people aren’t aware of it. The cost of acquiring users outstrips the profit potential of all but a select few users. The limited pool of valuable users is being oversold. And, as much as “mobile use” might increase month by month, I doubt whether the pool is being replenished with the kind of quality users the industry needs in order to sustain the current cost structure.

Beyond that, we’re pretty happy with our setup — we’ve proven our ability to efficiently convert cash into content. Our 35 person team has repeatedly out-produced 100 person teams in terms of quality/amount of content in similar mobile game genres. If speed to market and quality were all it took…

So many mobile games are just copies of other games. What role has originality played in Spicy Horse’s longevity?

We have to balance risk with creativity. Players are comfortable with certain mechanics and interfaces on mobile devices – there are things we know work, things we know don’t work, and lots of things we’d like to experiment on, but don’t for fear of innovating ourselves out of existence. Where we work hardest on originality is in our art, story, and presentation. But then, this is nothing new for our team — the same is true when you look at a AAA title from our studio, like Alice: Madness Returns. The innovation is in the art.

Where do you draw inspiration from for mobile games?

When it comes to the stories, I look to the classic foundations of drama. Some of our recent games have explored themes related to the human condition, using hell as a backdrop for the narrative. In Chains of Darkness, the player was thrown into an environment that looked like hell, surrounded by a cast of damned characters. As the story unfolds, a theme of competition and survival emerges; it’s a long form exploration of “hell is other people.”

How is bad free to play impacting mobile games for everyone?

I think F2P is the ultimate expression of consumer driven enterprise. There’s no chance you’re going to be fooled by a multi-million dollar, months-long marketing campaign for a $60 game, then purchase it only to realize it wasn’t what you’d hoped for. F2P is like walking into a retail shop at the mall — it costs you nothing to open the door, and take a look around. If you like what’s on offer, you engage. If you don’t, you check out the shop next door. What’s more, if you do engage, then decide you’re unhappy about the way the shop is being managed, then you have multiple ways in which to express your dissatisfaction – stop spending, tell the developers, and write a negative review.

F2P isn’t going away. Bad F2P is punished. And good F2P still has a lot of innovation and improvement it can make. Players, through their choices, can drive that positive innovation in real-time.

Ultimately, it’s just one of many choices consumers have on mobile devices. Don’t like the F2P model? Purchase a premium game. If consumers en masse really dislike F2P, they can help the model die through their choices.

How is the sheer amount of free-to-play choice in the overcrowded mobile marketplace impacted the development of Critters Academy?

It all goes back to the question of visibility and user acquisition costs. There are a lot of major publishers of F2P games out there who, by virtue of their existing player networks, spend very little on user acquisition. As a small indie studio with limited marketing budget, that’s very difficult for us to compete against. We have to be better where we can — through our 24/7 customer support channels, through art and story, and through implementing better mechanics, through listening to our customers.

What do you feel differentiates Critters Academy in the mobile market?

At its core is a unique story which explores the politics of power in a universe of magic. The art style has been described as “creepy cute,” and combines Asian anime style with Western character themes. The game play, while not completely unique, is presented in a fast-paced, low friction style. I’m biased, but I feel confident in saying it’s the best mobile title we’ve produced to date.

We’re seeing more Hollywood actors appearing in expensive TV commercials for mobile games in the U.S. like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Liam Neeson. Where does that leave the smaller game studios in finding an audience?

Trampled under food on the battlefield of giants! These huge celebrity deals, license IPs, and massive marketing budgets all echo trends that emerged with PC/console publishers a few cycles back. It seems this is a natural pattern that appears as new platforms are transformed by success. If the past is any indicator, smaller studios won’t have much chance in the emerging publishing environment. Many small studios are pivoting to VR/AR. One of the more ominous pivots, in my opinion, are the huge number of game devs who are moving into the User Acquisition space. Again, I think the value of the space is dangerously oversold. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re start seeing some spectacular blowups of major players as the bottom falls out of the market.

How are you marketing Critters Academy?

The traditional routes — Facebook, Google, and through a variety of ad network partners. I’m also leveraging my personal social networks and reaching out to traditional media. But I’m honest with myself and my team about the challenges we’re facing. This might be our last original title in the mobile/F2P space. At this point, a lot is riding on support from Google and Apple. They can make or break an indie these days.

What have you learned from being immersed in Shanghai culture for over a decade that has helped with mobile game development?

What I’ve learned is really only applicable to development here. With so many years behind me, it’s going to require a book in order to properly tell the story.

How do you feel your PC and hardcore gaming background has influenced your mobile games?

I’ve been making games for 23 years now — and everything’s an influence, one way or another. Difficult to pinpoint it on a day to day basis.

What are your thoughts on the transition of mobile games to the big screen with devices like Amazon TV, Apple TV and Android TV?

I could be wrong, but I feel like it’s a solution looking for a problem. Here in Asia, people just aren’t interested in sitting around a TV and playing games. Everyone’s out on their mobile phones, playing games, watching movies, and engaging with social media. My perspective is limited to Asia, but if the rest of the world is at all similar, then I would expect the focus on mobile only to increase.