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CSR 2

CSR2 and passing the Starbucks test

As NaturalMotion unveil the first glimpse of its mobile racer sequel, we talk to its CEO about the "cut-throat" nature of mobile game markets.

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Passing the Starbucks test is both development milestone and successful finishing line for some mobile studios. The premise is in offering players a game session that lasts no longer than it takes for them to wait for their coffee to be brewed.

Today isn't the first time the term's been talked about by Torsten Reil, CEO for NaturalMotion, but it's one he's conscious of in creating CSR 2, which'll soft launch in select countries over the next few weeks. Like the original, it's a F2P mobile racer that focuses on collecting and customising big brand cars, then competing in street races, timing finger taps on screen to hit gear shifts correctly to beat your opponent to the finishing line.

The demo presentation is light on gameplay and in-depth looks at game modes and progression. Instead there's a focus on the visual fidelity of the cars as the newly-created development team, headed by ex-Codemasters Development VP Julian Widdows and talent lifted from other racing studios, attempt to get the game on par with its console cousins.

Passing the Starbucks test and wowing visually are two key elements to the company's push on the game. Because according to Reil, they're the most important in surviving a space that he calls "cut-throat" because of the ineffectualness of marketing. In the world of mobile, word of mouth is king.

Reil sees the Starbucks test as consisting of three parts. Session length (five or ten minutes is "just too long for a mobile game") focus ("30 seconds is too long if you have to concentrate" he says, using the Starbucks example) and input frequency.

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"You don't want a game were you have to constantly do this," he says, repeatedly tapping the phone to highlight the issue. He the spaces out the taps. "You want to have this kind of overall frequency, just in terms of intensity. If you look at pretty much all the successful games on the top-grossing charts comply with this."

Less frequency doesn't mean less engagement though, as the CEO says data has tracked mobile play to be on par with that of consoles. "A typical F2P game, when it has good engagement, people will play every day for about one and half hours. And that compares very favourably to a hardcore gamer playing a console game for example, every day. It's not about not playing a lot; it's about playing in short sessions."

The idea carries over from the first CSR. Instead of directly controlling the car from a third-person view behind the vehicle, both CSR and its sequel serve up a side-on view of you and your opponent's rides, camera tracking both as they try and outrace each other on a straight strip. Interaction is limited to tapping the stick shift system to match the revs and transition to a higher gear more smoothly. Timed right, you outpace your rival to hit the finishing line first. Your coffee's still to have cream poured in, but you've just beaten another supercar to the punch.

On paper, not the most compelling gameplay. Even Reil acknowledges that. "The audience won't know what they'll like until you show it to them. CSR was a really good example. People will not have wanted a game about driving in a straight line if that's how we sold it to them. Once we gave it to them it became the biggest racing game ever on mobile."

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CSR 2
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Over 100 million downloads and 147 mostly positive reviews on the App Store makes for impressive numbers on the original, and even with this sequel on the way, the company is still supporting the first title. "A lot of people will have invested in the original game as well," the CEO confirms, "and we want to make sure that they continue to play it. Over time we expect people to transition to CSR 2, but there'll be a long transition."

Selling the sequel initially is the visual punch crafted by the new London team. (remit: "to be the best racing team in the industry"). If it seems odd to so heavily lean on visuals over gameplay on the first reveal, it's because, Reil says, of the need to find something that'll let a title stand out from the rest of the market.

"The problem with mobile is it's a cut-throat competitive market. It's way more competitive in many ways than console, because you can't really use marketing, certainly not at launch, to make a difference. It's down to the audience whether they like a game or not.

"We found that if you want to wow an audience, and if you're able to do that in your game, people will spread the game through word of mouth. that's what we've always been able to do. visuals help with that."

He examples a title from last year called Clumsy Ninja, which had the same animation tech from GTA and Red Dead Redemption powering it. But it was less about its previous pedigree, and more what the technology gave to players. "We used all that technology in real time on an iPhone. The audience doesn't have to care what it is in the background. They only have to care that the character feels alive. So if you have that ‘wow' moment, you just play on a different level of the playing field. you don't have to spend so much money on acquiring users."

CSR 2 will soft launch in select countries over the coming weeks.

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