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Has Twitter Inc hit a wall with advertisers?

National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 04/29/2015 - 05:39

Twitter Inc. may have hit a wall with advertisers, as they appear unwilling to spend as much money with the company as previously expected.

That’s one reason investors reacted so negatively to the social media company’s disappointing first quarter results, which included US$436 million in revenues that fell well short of analysts’ estimates – missing guidance for the first time and showing material deceleration. Meanwhile, ad revenue was five cents below the Street’s forecast.

The stock fell more than 18 per cent in pre-market trading on Wednesday.

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Mark Mahaney at RBC Capital Markets says Twitter’s poor performance raises the question of how much visibility into consumer and advertiser demand for its offerings Twitter really has.

“Channel checks and our extensive survey work don’t provide convincing evidence that a substantial number of advertisers will commit substantial ad dollars to Twitter,” the analyst said in a research note. “The possible ‘ROI Wall’ increases our concern that Twitter’s lack of real-time commercial intent (a la Google) or detailed, authenticated profiles (a la Facebook) will at some point materially limit Twitters’s ad growth potential.”

Mahaney cut his price target on Twitter shares to US$47 from US$54, while trimming his 2015 revenue outlook by three per cent to US$2.25 billion and his EBITDA forecast by seven per cent to US$529 million.

There are also doubts related to management’s cautious commentary about second quarter monthly average user (MAU) growth. Mahaney said it’s not clear whether the company’s substantial product changes will successfully reaccelerate its user and usage metrics.

Twitter’s MAUs rose 18 per cent year-over-year to 302 million in the quarter. That was in-line with analysts’ expectations, but overall MAU growth continued its three-year pattern of deceleration, after rising 20 per cent year-over-year in Q4 2014 and 25 per cent in Q1 2014.

U.S. MAU growth also slowed to 14 per cent versus 17 per cent in Q4, and international MAU growth was 19 per cent versus 20 per cent in Q4.

“Until now, concerns around Twitter have focused mostly on user growth and the ultimate size of the platform, with monetization being somewhat disconnected,” said Doug Anmuth at J.P.Morgan. “But that will now change some as Twitter needs to show advertisers it can deliver strong ROI and greater scale, albeit on an overall user based with modest growth.”

As a result, he believes visibility into Twitter’s users and advertising is limited at the moment, and management’s credibility has taken another hit.

However, Anmuth doesn’t believe Twitter’s long-term story has changed, maintaining an overweight rating on the stock, while trimming his price target to US$55 from US$67.

He continues to believe the company’s platform is unique, and that the user experience can improve over time to generate substantially higher MAUs, while the ad monetization platform is only in its early stages.

GoPro Inc sales top analysts’ estimates on growth overseas

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 13:59

SAN FRANCISCO — GoPro Inc. beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter revenue and profit, spurred in part by overseas sales that rose to about half of the company’s revenue.

GoPro, the leading maker of action cameras used to shoot first-person video, posted profit of US24 cents per share, excluding certain costs, the company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts on average were projecting US18 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue was US$363.1 million, compared with the average estimate of US$341.1 million.

The improved international sales may show GoPro’s popularity isn’t confined to skiers and other extreme sports enthusiasts in the U.S., said Tavis McCourt, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates Inc.

“To the extent that they’re growing faster overseas, it shows that this is not just a U.S. phenomenon,” McCourt said.

Shares slipped 5.8 per cent in extended trading at 4:23 p.m. New York time after closing at US$47.02. Despite strong holiday sales, shares of the San Mateo, California-based company have dropped 26 per cent this year, in part because GoPro projected first-quarter growth far below the 75 per cent increase posted in the fourth quarter.

Sales increased 66 per cent in Europe and Asia in the quarter from a year earlier. The growth is evidence the company’s Hero-brand cameras are becoming a more mainstream product, GoPro president Tony Bates said in an interview. In a company-sponsored study, about 50 per cent of customers said they bought a GoPro to capture family videos, more than for any other use.

“No. 2 was to get videos of their pets,” Bates said. “It wasn’t all about wing-jumpers and kite-surfers.”

The 50-50 split of U.S. versus non-U.S. sales may vary in the quarters ahead, as new products catch on at different rates around the world. Over time, however, that split is where the business will settle, Bates said.

The company also announced the acquisition of Kolor, a startup that makes software for patching together photos to create 360-degree panoramas or videos.

Bloomberg.com

Twitter Inc, Google Inc team up to sell and measure paid content

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 13:27

Google Inc. is teaming up with Twitter Inc. to help the social-media company sell more ads.

Under the agreement, marketers using Google’s DoubleClick advertising service can buy Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, the search giant said in a blog entry. Twitter charges clients to highlight such postings into users’ feeds across the service.

The deal announced Tuesday helps DoubleClick clients to more easily measure the effectiveness of their Twitter campaigns, Google said.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, is looking for new ways to work with other companies to enhance its advertising and content services. Google and San Francisco-based Twitter earlier this year reached a deal to show Tweets in search results as soon as they are posted.

“DoubleClick Digital Marketing has always been an open platform to give marketers a more complete picture of how their digital marketing works together,” Google said Tuesday. “This deal complements our ongoing push to bring new formats and inventory to DoubleClick.”

Bloomberg.com

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LG unveils G4 flagship smartphone — and it’s eerily similar to the G3

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 13:12

LG unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the LG G4, the company’s new high-end handset designed to compete with Apple’s iPhone 6, Samsung’s Galaxy S6, Motorola and Google’s Nexus 6 and HTC’s M9 during a press conference in New York today.

At first glance the G4 looks nearly identical to its predecessor, the G3. Like the incremental changes seen in the HTC M9, you can hardly see the aesthetic differences between the G3 and the G4.

Patrick O'Rourke/National PostThe LG G4 has a somewhat strange square-texurized backing.

“What LG’s goal here has been is to address three things. One is comfortable elegance, second is great a great visual experience, and the third area is creating human-centric user experience,” said Albert Lee, brand communications manager, LG Canada.

The G4 features a similar plastic body, although this time with square-shaped indents running along its back panel and a slight curvature to its backing, which was added to the device to make it easier to hold, according to LG. The G4 is also slightly taller than its predecessor and more angular, giving the device a refined, more mature look than the G3. The smartphone’s different on/off switch, located on the rear side of the phone, directly under the camera, it also back.

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Under the hood the G4 has received a significant update in some of its components, however the G4 seems to be far from a complete overhaul of the G3

Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 Processor
Display: 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440, 538ppi)
Memory: 32GB eMMC ROM, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM / microSD slot
Camera: Rear 16MP with F1.8 Aperture / OIS 2.0 / Front 8MP with F2.0 Aperture
Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)
Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop
Size: 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3 – 9.8 mm
Weight: 155g
Network: 4G / LTE / HSPA+ 42 Mbps (3G)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.1LE / NFC / USB 2.0
Colours: (Ceramic) Metallic Gray / (Genuine Leather) Black
Other: Manual Mode / Gesture Interval Shot / Quick Shot

The G4’s standout hardware features include a faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 801 feature in the G3 (a camera that, according to LG, will feature better low-light performance thanks to one of the lowest aperture settings available on a smartphone), and a new IPS Quantum display, technology that will reportedly increase the G4’s display 50 per cent over the G3.

Patrick O'Rourke/National Post

In Canada the G4 will be sold at Bell, Rogers, Telus, Vidéotron and Wind Mobile. Canadians will unfortunately only be able to purchase the smartphone in “metallic grey” and “black genuine leather.” In the U.S. the G4 will be sold in what the company is calling “vegetable-aged leather,” in white, black, yellow, red and tan.

Canadian-specific pricing for the G4 has not been released.

Twitter Inc falls after Selerity leaks that its revenue, mobile users miss analyst estimates

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:55

Twitter Inc.’s revenue fell short of estimates in the first quarter, even after the company introduced new products and tweaked features to attract more people.

The number of monthly active members climbed 18 per cent to 302 million, compared with 20 per cent in the prior quarter, Twitter said in a statement Tuesday. Revenue rose 74 per cent to US$436 million, missing analysts’ average projection for US$456.2 million, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The results were first reported by Selerity Inc., a New York-based provider of financial news and information.

Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo has been pushing product and engineering teams, which are being led by new managers, to step up the pace of innovation and dispel any doubts about Twitter’s potential as an advertising and social- media destination. The San Francisco-based company is facing greater pressure to show that such initiatives are delivering more users and revenue, according to Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group.

“When you’re communicating with investors there’s some expectation that you’ll actually deliver on what you’re aspiring towards,” said Wieser, who has a hold rating on Twitter’s stock. “The message needs to be matched by numbers, or Twitter’s credibility starts to become an issue.”
Twitter fell 5.8 per cent to US$48.67 before the shares were halted, pending the company’s earnings release. Selerity disclosed the earnings numbers less than an hour before the end of Tuesday’s trading.

Earnings excluding some items were 7 cents a share, compared with analysts’ average estimate for 4 cents. Twitter’s first-quarter net loss widened to US$162 million from a loss of US$132.4 million a year earlier.

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Slowing Growth

Twitter forecast revenue of US$470 million to US$485 million for the second quarter, compared with the average estimate of US$538.1 million.
Costolo, facing criticism last year because of slowing user growth, promised investors in November that the company would start revamping its products and services to make them easier to use. That has resulted in new features such as “While You Were Away,” which delivers the most popular tweets that occurred during a person’s absence, and Highlights, an Android feature that pushes a twice-daily digest of tweets direct to a person’s phone notifications.

The tweaks, which are helping to minimize the flood of information, are also helping to attract new users. Twitter’s home page, which used to just have an option to log in, now has categories, such as Nascar and cute animals, for people to explore even when they aren’t logged in to an account. Those who do choose to sign up for the first time get an instant timeline based on their phone contacts and interests, making it easier to get started on the product.

Bloomberg.com

 

Tax credits a big part of why Big Viking Games chose Ontario over San Francisco, even if they aren’t perfect

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:18

Over the last few years southern Ontario has quickly become a hotbed for video game development thanks to generous provincial tax credits and other government subsidies, often provided by the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), and a top tier educational pipeline, allowing studios to hire world class talent locally.

However, there has been wide industry speculation the tax credits and other programs the OMDC offers video game studios could suffer from significant cuts and restructuring in the near future – a rumour the OMDC adamantly denies.

A prototypical example of Ontario’s burgeoning video-game industry is Albert Lai’s London-based Big Viking Games, a studio that has grown significantly since being founded in 2011 as a developer that continues to capitalize on the rise in popularity of free-to-play mobile titles.

“We’ve been really focused on making sure that we’re not just creating a great place to work, but that we’re also creating a place to work where people grow their careers, and when you build a reputation around that, it’s kind of cool because you’re able to attract really amazing people from around the world,” said Lai, cofounder and CEO of Big Viking Games.

Since starting with a staff of just four in 2011, Big Viking Games has expanded into two offices, opening up a new Toronto studio, consisting of approximately 70 employees, adding to the 60 already working out of the company’s London, Ontario office. Lai explained both of Big Viking Game’s studios collaborate on projects, but the company is ultimately moving towards what he calls a “headless” organizational structure, allowing staff to work on any project from either of the studios’ two offices. Big Viking Games was also named one of the best companies to work for in Canada, placing seventh out of 50 companies in the 2014 list.

My choices were between San Franciso, where there are mass amounts of venture capital, or there’s Toronto or Canada, where I’d be coming back home.

A significant aspect of what has allowed development studios like Lai’s, as well as other notable Ontario-based game creators such as Capybara Games (Super Time Force), Metanet Software (N++), Drinkbox Studios (Guacamelee), and even larger developers like Ubisoft Toronto, establish themselves in the region, is the OMDC, an Ontario Government-run organization that provides tax credits and financial aid to video game developers and a variety of other creative companies.

“I think it’s important policy makers and the broader community recognize the value of these funds. What they’ve enabled in Ontario (there are also different versions of the tax credits across the country in other provinces, particularity Quebec and B.C.) is the growth of this industry,” said Lai.

Lai explained the Quebec government recently proposed cutting tax credits for the gaming industry, but quickly back-pedalled on the decision, realizing cuts would mean a loss of jobs, the creation of industry turmoil, and that the region would also lose the strong foothold it currently holds in the game industry, thanks to studios such as Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Quebec, Square Enix Montreal and a slew of other smaller, independent Montreal-based developers.

Big Viking GamesThe Big Viking Games' team.

“They quickly reinstated them [the tax credits]. We’re going into a review cycle [of the funds that were provided to us by the OMDC], and the important thing to recognize about the gaming industry is that it’s kind of like the film industry 20, 30, 40 or even 100 years ago. We’re at the tip of the iceberg of what we know as being a cultural contributor, meaning, if you think about how much time people spend in front of their screen and how many of those hours and dollars are spent in front of a game or mobile device, it’s amazing,” said Lai.

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The OMDC funding is staying just the same, says the OMDC itself, though there are a more companies and people accessing the fund.

“At this point and time we’re operating under a business as usual assumption. Our plans at the moment are we’re going out with the funds the same way we have in previous years. So for the next fiscal year we will be running the program in the same way we have in previous years,” said Kim Gibson program consultant at the OMDC. “What we’re finding year after year is the pool of companies is actually growing significantly, the number of companies that are accessing the fund is increasing and we’re seeing different companies come in every year. From one year to the next about 40 per cent of the applications we receive are from new companies.”

However, even if the rumoured cuts don’t end up happening, Lai says the system the OMDC filters tax credits through still have a number of issues. He feels the scope of which companies qualify for the tax credits needs to be narrowed significantly, emphasizing part of the problem is there are a lot of organizations not qualified for the benefits the OMDC provides that are “jamming the pipeline for the review process,” and that in many situations, qualified studios are forced to wait up to two years to receive any funding from the OMDC. According to Lai, this is a significant issue for smaller developers relying on OMDC tax credits to grow and function, as well as the thriving Ontario gaming industry in general.

Big Viking GamesAlbert Lai, Big Viking Games' co-founder and CEO.

The support of the OMDC provides qualifying Ontario-based gaming companies between 35 and 40 per cent of all money the studio invests in developers, artists and marketing costs. Additionally the OMDC also supports new games through the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) fund, a grant covering $150,000 up to 50 percent of a project’s budget. Last year alone the OMDC released information stating 23 gaming companies in Ontario received this $150,000 grant to create new titles.

Lai said he made the decision to establish his studio in southern Ontario, specifically London, because his co-founder lived in the area and also due to the city’s close proximity to Sheridan and the University of Waterloo, arguably two of the top schools in the world for computer science and animation, giving Lai a strong and largely untapped talent pipeline – OMDC tax credits were also a significant factor.

“My choices were between San Franciso, where there are mass amounts of venture capital or there’s Toronto or Canada, where I’d be coming back home. I’d have amazing talent and a great tax credit system. The third option was to go to the far east and whether it be in Shanghai, Bejing or Hong Kong (which is where I’m from). Singapore is also super aggressively investing in startups, but ultimately I settled on London, Ontario.”

Almost amusingly, Big Viking Games is also one of the only companies to actually acquire a title from Zynga Inc., a studio/publisher known for purchasing successful free-to-play games from other developers at the height of their popularity, and then subsequently running them into the ground. Lai’s studio recently purchased Yoville from Zynga, a game set to be shut down by the company because it no longer saw the title as profitable.

Big Viking GamesLai says his studio purchased YoWorld because he still sees potential in the title.

“It has a very, very passionate community, so much so that at one time it had over 60 million registered users and the ones that are left today were still extremely passionate about the community and the game. So when Zynga was about to shut it down, there was a real uproar. So we were able to reach out to Zynga and acquire it back from them (one of our co-founders was actually the creator of the original game),” said Lai.

Lai also explained Zynga acquired YovVille (now called YoWorld) before releasing Farmville in 2009, the title that arguably sparked the free-to-play mobile title concept, and that the game was used as a basis for what eventually became Farmville.

In the future, Lai says his team is concentrated on supporting and creating new content for the studios’ already-released titles, treating its games as platforms rather than just a single title. He also sees games based in Facebook as a growth opportunity for Big Viking Games because many other developers have abandoned the platform for traditional mobile games, as well as HTML5-based titles, an area Lai feels will grow increasingly more important for mobile gaming in the coming years.

“The majority of our existing talent is actually focused on our existing games. There are a few games that are in pre-production that we aren’t quite ready to talk about. Often times when you’re dealing with triple A games you’re working towards the next sequel, or the next Assassin’s Creed or Halo – it’s a complete overhaul of the engine and the story. Whereas with us, it’s about evolving the game gradually and basically over the last year within Dark Heroes there were four to six different revamps of major features,” said Lai.

YouTube to fund new shows, signs deal to release feature films

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:18

Google Inc’s YouTube will directly invest in new shows to be launched in partnerships with its four top content creators, it said in a blog on Tuesday.

The world’s No. 1 online video website also said it entered into an agreement with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc unit AwesomenessTV to release feature films over the next two years.

The partnerships would help YouTube, which completed 10 years last week, secure higher quality advertising as it transitions from a repository of grainy home videos to a site with more polished content.

YouTube has been trying to lure more premium video advertising to boost margins as overall prices for Google’s ads have been declining.

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The website, which attracts more than 1 billion unique visitors a month, far surpassing those of Netflix Inc and Amazon Inc, did not disclose how much it was investing or how the partnerships would be structured.

The investment marks a significant change for YouTube, which has been backing its content creators by providing production facilities and small amounts of funds for creators to test ideas.

Reuters reported in July last year that YouTube was in discussions with Hollywood and independent producers to fund premium content.

Under the deal with the content creators, YouTube will stream the new season of “Prank vs Prank”, a murder mystery reality show featuring online star Joey Graceffa, comedy show “Smosh” and another one by Fine Brothers.

YouTube and AwesomenessTV, a channel aimed at teens and younger adults known as millennials, expect to roll out their first film this fall.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

Thank You for Playing is an elegant, heart-wrenching documentary statement that games are art

National Post Tech Desk - Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:04

Documentaries about video games and the people who make them have become increasingly common, but few dare dive as deeply into the soul of a game maker as Thank You for Playing.

Directed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu) and David Osit (Building Babel), the film focuses on indie game maker Ryan Green, his wife Amy, and their son Joel, who at just one year old is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Looking for a way to express and make sense of his turbulent emotions, Ryan turns to what he knows best: Video games. With the consent and assistance of his wife, he begins developing a poetic game, That Dragon Cancer, about his life with his dying son that will act as an outlet for his thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears.

Ryan’s experience creating the game as his son grows both older and sicker is caught with heartbreaking tenderness by the filmmakers. We watch as he and his wife discuss whether to include recordings of Joel’s crying and laughter in the game, whether to have their other two sons reenact a difficult conversation in which Ryan uses a fantasy metaphor to explain Joel’s sickness, and whether to include facial details on Joel’s character.

The inevitable question regarding the appropriateness of attempting to convey a story so profoundly personal through the medium of interactive entertainment is not ignored. It’s perhaps best answered during a trip to PAX – a game conference open to the public – where the filmmakers capture the deeply emotional, tear-filled responses of some of the first people to play the game. We’re left with little doubt that what Ryan is creating is art, that his game is a wholly valid means of communicating and reflecting upon the human experience.

Post Arcade connected via email with the people who captured Ryan’s odyssey on the eve of Thank You for Playing‘s international premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto.

Below, documentarians Zouhali-Worrall and Osit talk about the parallels between their film and Ryan’s game, knowing and respecting each other’s limits in documenting a difficult subject, and the friendship they’ve developed with the Green family.

David Osit & Malika Zouhali-WorrallThank You for Playing directors Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit.

How did you come to know about Ryan’s story and game project, and when did you decide to make it the subject of your own film?

Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit: We first learned about what Ryan and Amy were doing with That Dragon, Cancer in early 2013, when David read a short one-line description of their game in an article on Kill Screen, a video game arts blog. Based on that one sentence alone it was pretty clear that there was a remarkable story here. So after Skyping with Ryan and his co-creator Josh, we flew out to meet the family in Loveland, Colorado for a few days in June 2013.

How long did you spend following him? I imagine it must have been an intimate and at times painful experience.

We filmed with Ryan, his family and the development team for about 36 days over the course of 14 months. During that time, we were lucky enough to get to know their young son, Joel, as well as their other children, and became very close with the whole family. So it was of course a very difficult process to continue filming with Ryan and Amy during the months when Joel’s health started to deteriorate. And most definitely some of the hardest moments either of us has ever gone through.

That said, we were both profoundly touched by Ryan and Amy’s openness to our filming throughout these difficult times. In many ways, they saw our filming with them as related to the mission they had with the video game: to share their experiences and talk openly about terminal illness, death and bereavement, topics that are so often treated as taboo in western society.

You’re accustomed to exploring human feelings through film. Were you surprised at the emotion Ryan was able to invest into and extract from his chosen art form? Are there parallels to be drawn between your work and his?

Before we went out to Loveland for our first shoot, Ryan sent us their current demo of the video game: a single scene that brought the player into a hospital room, standing in Ryan’s shoes, trying to comfort a distressed and dehydrated Joel. It was a very difficult scene to “play” and immediately convinced us that Ryan, Amy and their co-creator Josh, were working on a fascinating piece of creative non fiction that truly pushed the boundaries of what video games can portray of the human experience.

Over the course of the next 14 months, as Ryan, Amy and Josh developed more scenes for the video game, we saw it become increasingly poetic, surreal and profoundly touching. And we soon realized that That Dragon, Cancer, had become a remarkable work of art, in a medium that society so rarely associates with “Art”.

There are so many parallels between Ryan’s video game and our documentary – we were after all, all working to document aspects of a similar experience: parents living with a terminally-ill young child. And that’s probably partly why we were able to establish such a strong bond of trust and mutual respect with Ryan, Amy and Josh; because we could connect creatively about this very emotionally challenging process. For example, we learned that when it came to how far to go in creatively documenting this very important but difficult experience, we all drew the line at different places. Ryan never wanted to record Joel’s cry, and so had to use audio of other children crying for Joel in the game. Josh wasn’t initially comfortable using Joel’s MRI images in the video game, while that didn’t bother Ryan.

As for us, neither Ryan nor Amy ever told us to stop filming at any point. However, when Joel passed away, we realized that we did not want to film his funeral, but rather wanted to be there without standing behind a camera; so we could be present as the close friends we had become to the Green family.

Having watched Ryan work, what advantages might video games have over other forms of art in terms of connecting with and affecting their audience?

There’s something incredible about a work of creative non-fiction that allows you to walk in the shoes of another human being – and that’s what a video game can achieve.

In That Dragon, Cancer, you look down to see that you’re holding Joel in your arms; your actions comfort him; and, perhaps most importantly, you can play with him for as long as you like. The fact that you can choose how you interact with him, and for how long, is very special and often profoundly moving. In fact, there have been people who have sat down to play the game at video game conferences and chosen to spend five minutes simply pushing Joel on a swing and listening to him giggle. The video game allows strangers to establish a very special connection with Ryan, Amy and especially Joel.

What do you think people will take away from your film as they walk out of the theatre?

We hope that people will see in this film the hope and beauty that can be brought about through art, even when it has come out of a very difficult human experience.

This film is helping to benefit Toronto’s SickKids hospital, right? How did that come about? 

We were contacted by the Hospital for Sick Children’s Garron Family Cancer Center, home to the largest pediatric oncology department in Canada. They asked us to come host a private screening of the film and make a demo of the game available to play for their clinicians and medical staff while we’re in Toronto for Hot Docs, with the goal of providing staff with valuable insight into the experience of the families of cancer patients. So we’re looking forward to the conversation we’ll have with the medical staff there.

Good luck with your film. It’s very moving. I hope many people see it.

Fresh off a run at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Thank You for Playing is making its international premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto Tuesday, April 28th, with two additional screenings Wednesday the 29th and Saturday, May 2nd. It’s slated to debut on television via PBS’s POV documentary series in the summer of 2016. Ryan Green’s game, That Dragon, Cancer, is expected to be released this fall.

David Osit & Malika Zouhali-WorrallThank You for Playing official poster.

 

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