Cellular promoting firm Liftoff has invited inspirational ladies engaged on a few of the greatest cellular video games to debate their achievements, challenges and future aspirations. This time the main focus is on Laura Savickaite, a Communication Specialist at Nordcurrent.
Laura Savickaite has at all times been a gamer however by no means imagined getting a job within the video games trade. That’s why she calls her place at Nordcurrent, a cellular recreation studio she joined final yr, the “dream job.” Being paid to work with video games was one thing she by no means thought attainable, but she abruptly had the chance to market highly-successful video games with thousands and thousands of gamers like Cooking Fever and Pocket Styler.
A lot of the shock stemmed from the early days of her profession. “I used to be at all times advised that I should not pursue a profession in video video games,” Savickaite explains. “These older than me mentioned that video video games are for kids and that it does not make sense to construct a profession round them.”
Savickaite believed the naysayers, placing her video games trade profession ambitions on maintain to pursue a profession in advertising as a copywriter as an alternative. She studied artistic industries at college earlier than writing voiceovers and scripts for a preferred YouTube channel—a job that taught her seize the viewers’s consideration in just some phrases.
I used to be at all times advised that I should not pursue a profession in video video games
Laura Savickaite
Round two years in the past, Savickaite determined it was time to offer a profession in gaming a go. “I simply thought, ‘Why am I doing one thing I do not actually wish to do after I might simply go and do what I like?’” Savickaite says. “I began looking on-line, and that’s how I got here throughout Nordcurrent.
“I checked their profession alternatives, however they’d nothing for me. They have been searching for programmers and different improvement roles fairly than something to do with advertising. I wrote them a letter saying I believed I might be an ideal asset to the workforce. I received a response inside about three days.”
Maintaining gamers engaged utilizing social media
So what’s Savickaite as much as as a copywriting-focused Communication Specialist? Nicely, she spends a big portion of her time maintaining in shut contact with Nordcurrent’s gamers. She presents a serving to hand via the studio’s social media platforms to make sure everybody enjoys the studio’s portfolio of video games equally. At the moment, her focus is on hospital administration sim Completely satisfied Clinic.
She additionally creates month-to-month content material plans that hold gamers up to date with the most recent occasions coming down the road. That features creating participating posts for social media and writing weblog content material for the Nordcurrent web site. Savickaite additionally writes all of the app retailer copy, similar to product descriptions.
“We now have a devoted platform that I exploit to see all of the messages we obtain on our social media pages, and I reply to each one in every of them,” Savickaite explains. “That is a part of the job that I like as a result of I like serving to gamers, like after they’re caught someplace. When they do not know go a degree or have some form of concern in-game, I like aiding them.
“Generally we additionally get praises, and I’ll reply to these messages too. It’s helpful to ask gamers what they significantly preferred so we will use that suggestions sooner or later, and we’ll ship them a present as thanks for being such loyal gamers and speaking with us.”
I wrote them a letter saying I believed I might be an ideal asset to the workforce. I received a response inside about three days.
Laura Savickaite
Savickaite can be chargeable for reputational administration, responding to consumer opinions throughout numerous storefronts. Gamers typically use consumer opinions to vent their frustrations, particularly in the event that they’ve gotten caught in a fancy recreation space. Right here, Savickaite steps in to assist alleviate their issues by providing recommendation or pointing them towards additional help—one thing Savickaite wouldn’t be capable of do if she wasn’t an enormous fan of Nordcurrent video games herself.
“Normally, the issues our gamers encounter are the identical ones I’ve confronted myself, so I can inform them exactly from my very own enjoying expertise progress,” she explains. “Sometimes, somebody may have a uncommon concern I’m unfamiliar with, so I’ll contact the event workforce straight.
“The primary factor to recollect when speaking with gamers is to maintain issues informal fairly than formal. They are going to perceive a proof higher if we use the language they’re acquainted with, fairly than overloading them with technical data.”
Overcoming group administration challenges
In at the moment’s period of fixed stay service updates, the occasional hiccup is certain to occur in a recreation’s lifecycle, even with rigorous testing. Savickaite’s expertise has taught her that having a disaster administration technique in place for these difficult moments is invaluable.
Savickaite recollects one incident the place a recreation she labored on obtained an replace that appeared to wipe sure gamers’ progress. A repair was rapidly deployed, however as you would possibly anticipate, gamers have been outraged when all their saved information mysteriously disappeared.
“In a single hour, we received over two thousand personal messages from gamers,” Savickaite says. “It was difficult to answer to everybody and calm them down. By assuring gamers that our technical workforce was working arduous on a repair, we stored issues calm whereas we waited out the storm.”
With so many alternative duties maintaining her busy, the opposite difficult facet of Savickaite’s function is time administration.
“I’ve a whole lot of pursuits,” Savickaite explains. “I prefer to handle our group. I take pleasure in copywriting and sometimes nonetheless present voiceovers and scripts for a few of our video games. I wish to do many alternative issues, however solely have the capability for a lot, and sometimes have to decide on fastidiously.”
The expertise of being a girl in gaming
Based on Ukie, simply 28% of the video games trade workforce within the UK is feminine, with comparable numbers reported throughout the globe. Even so, Savickaite solely has optimistic issues to say about her expertise within the trade these previous few years.
Savickaite additionally factors out the gender variety at Nordcurrent as an entire, significantly of their senior administration workforce—together with their CEO, Victoria Trofimova, and Head of Digital Advertising and marketing, Gintare Slezaite. Maybe that’s becoming, as most of Nordcurrent’s cellular video games goal feminine audiences, significantly the fashion-focused Pocket Styler.
“I’ve personally by no means had any issues regarding my gender,” Savickaite says. “Perhaps prior to now, these points have been extra widespread, however my expertise has been that if you’re going to work arduous, you’ll be able to positively show your abilities and obtain something you set your thoughts to.
“Many individuals assume that you must be a gamer to work on this trade. That is likely to be the case for me, however I believe that a very powerful factor for anybody, no matter their gender, is to have that drive to make video games. You need to be captivated with creating one thing thousands and thousands will love.”