The DeanBeat: Casual Connect reveals a scary and hopeful gaming business

This week’s Casual Connect gave us a window into the state of the game industry. It looks both hopeful and scary.

The highlight of the San Francisco event was a fireside chat between journalist Jon Gaudiosi and John Riccitiello, the former chief executive of Electronic Arts. In that talk, Riccitiello made a number of sharp observations. He noted that it is hard for the mobile game companies to come up with two hits in a row or sequels that sell better than the original game. That leads him to believe that they need to build brands.