Vickie Yanjuan Chen is an 18-year gaming industry veteran and serves as the founder and CEO at AviaGames, Inc. With a passion for mobile gaming, Chen’s vision was to bring new social competition solutions to a broader demographic of users. In 2017, Chen built the AviaGames all-in-one platform and subsequent portfolio of Pocket7Games from the ground up with a commitment to providing a fun and fair platform for social and casual gamers to compete with other real people playing their favorite games. Prior to AviaGames, Chen served as the general manager in global publishing for Nasdaq-listed gaming company Changyou.com and Sohu.com. The most successful online game TLBB Chen served as marketer and BD director has generated over $5B gross revenue globally.

My passion for gaming and a desire to bring a new form of social competition to a broader demographic of users.

In today’s competitive gaming landscape, a successful game developer needs to possess a range of traits in order to rise above the noise. This starts with a passion for gaming, and is accompanied by good problem solving and analytical skills, along with patience and good time management. A successful game developer has the creative vision as well as the capacity to take feedback in order to refine an idea to best meet the greater needs of players.

AviaGames develops and publishes a wide range of casual games that allows players to compete against each other for real money prizes through easy and accessible casual games. The gaming model has a proven track record that can be attributed to a combination of a superior player engagement model, smart retention strategies and outstanding game design and playability. The Pocket7Games platform was developed in-house by the AviaGames team and differs from other social, skill-based gaming apps in that users can play Pocket7Games for free as well as compete for cash prizes within a unified wallet. This allows players to try out games, practice and become comfortable before putting money in their mobile wallet.

A great game offers a seamless way for a target set of people to play and connect with others doing what they love. It of course needs to integrate high-quality playing performance and functionality and an unique set of features that adapt to meet the needs of users. However, ultimately, it comes down to creating something that a group of people enjoy doing together socially.

AviaGames has a diverse family of puzzle, card, math, sports, casino, and strategy games. From American casino classics like Bingo Clash and Solitaire!, to popular arcade games like Bubble Gold and 2048 Blitz, the Pocket7Games platform lets users to compete with players of similar skill through 1V1 games, tournaments, free entry events, challenger, multiplayer games, and other match modes.

Players can seamlessly switch among casino, puzzle, action, card, math, and brain games, which ultimately increases user engagement and supports player retention. Several elements of the platform set it apart in the industry, including allowing people to play for free to try out games and practice with the chance to win money before putting money in their mobile wallet. Pocket7Games is also focused on creating a fair community for mobile gaming, offering skill-based matchmaking, comprehensive gaming controls and monitoring of regional legal status, coupled with robust anti-cheating measures using real-time analytics and human intervention. Over a third of the current users play for over an average of two hours per day, underscoring the experience and matchmaking capabilities of the platform.

At AviaGames our ideation process centers around the needs and feedback of our community of players. Currently, the Pocket7Games platform hosts over 15 million players and the AviaGames development team is committed to meeting the requirements of players’ changing gaming habits in order to provide a gaming experience that entices users to come back to play more. We not only monitor usage trends, but we reach out and communicate to players on an ongoing basis to learn more about what they enjoy doing, as well as get feedback surrounding features that need to be enhanced. We host hundreds of tournaments a week, allowing our in-house content and development team to assess playing trends in real-time and integrate into future titles.

The AviaGames team is delighted to receive the NYX Game Award distinction as the honor is a testament to the team’s work to create a competitive social gaming experience where players across the globe come to play both engaging and rewarding games.

Winning an international accolade such as the NYX Game Award further underscores the efforts of the AviaGames team to make the Bingo Tour title the success that it is today, topping both Apple and Samsung store charts.

As a developer, an ongoing challenge is making sure we are constantly providing new content to meet the needs of players who have come to expect frequent and continuous updates and innovation.

The potential audience in the US market alone is massive at 150 million potential players. The AviaGames team saw that there was an incredible opportunity with the untapped social competitive gaming market with a unique business model in mind. While I have a love for gaming, I’m not a typical hard-core gamer myself. I wanted to provide a casual gaming platform for a broader demographic of internet and social media users to enjoy competing with other real people while winning real money and prizes.

There are several trends driving the future of the mobile gaming landscape, from a rise in social tournaments to increased female social gamers and customized AI driving mobile monetization.

Because of the low barrier to entry, mobile gaming has seen a spike in new entrants. As the total number of mobile gamers grows, the percentage that are traditionally “hardcore” – around 20 percent – will begin to wane as a portion of the total addressable market. This opens the door for social mobile gaming to ascend to new heights. More and more, casual gamers are drawn to skill-based, tournament structures as well as the ability to compete and win cash prizes socially with friends online.

Additionally, gaming is no longer a niche pastime as it once was, and has gained traction with a broad demographic. Nowadays, there is no such thing as a “typical gamer” and gaming is no longer exclusive to boys and young men. In fact, the number of female and male gamers is very balanced - according to a 2020 Facebook/Newzoo study, women made up 48 percent of mobile gamers. Studies show that women are 79 percent more likely to make in-app purchases while playing mobile games. For brands, this offers another avenue to raise awareness amongst women for increased engagement within the demographic.

Leveraging AI and machine learning to focus virtually every aspect of social gaming will be the key to optimizing current monetization schemes and developing entirely new strategies. AI’s role in the future of mobile gaming monetization lends developers a helping hand to deliver a better, more tailored experience for users. Embracing AI and machine learning can even assist with user retention by creating custom-built experiences to match players skills or offer in-app event recommendations based on previous preferences to keep users excited and coming back for more.

My top three favorite things about the gaming industry are:

Gaming is a synthesis of art and technology; a good game design is the combination of creative innovation, visual content, playing effectiveness, and other elements of beauty. At the same time, the design needs to integrate a scientific value system, a distribution model and operational needs integrating scientific analysis and management.

Games have inherent interactivity, helping to connect global users and support interaction together.

People in the gaming industry are humorous, passionate and love what they do.

People looking to improve their game design and development should make sure to participate in industry conferences, such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC) where participants can attend seminars and workshops looking at the latest trends, best practices and issues. These events are a great way to learn from peers and connect with industry participants.

As cloud gaming continues to rise in popularity, in the future players will not need to download a client and be able to enjoy the ability to game anywhere and anytime without infrastructure boundaries. In addition, the advancement of the metaverse will allow players to enjoy a more immersive gaming experience that truly merges the physical and digital worlds. In addition, the concept of play-to-earn will become mainstream, similar to the current free-to-play model, where more and more players will own their own virtual assets and add value. Gaming will move away from consumable consumption.

My first workplace director became my role model for my entrepreneurial journey. She provided an example of confidence for a young woman and inspired the free pursuit of a career.

Similar to gaming, there are wins and losses in entrepreneurship. It takes perseverance to lead a gaming development company and the ability to take full responsibility for the survival and growth of the business. I have been fortunate to have a range of incredible people who have helped with the success of AviaGames along the way. While building a successful company isn’t easy and requires hard work and dedication, it is not something that can be done solo. It’s important to have a strong team that builds each other up and compliments each other's strengths to drive strategy and meet goals. It takes several key functioning heads working together to be successful. Teamwork truly is invaluable.

I would nominate game developer, Lion Studio Plus and the game title “Wordle!” The game is a lot of fun to play and has topped Apple App Store charts.

Gaming brings joy and entertainment along with a host of other social and health benefits to people. We believe creating a platform for social competition has the ability to bring different cultures together through the common interest of gaming to learn from one another and share in each other's accomplishments and wins.