How can indie studios make themselves more resilient against factors that could shut them down?
After reading a recent article on GameSpot regarding recent studio closures ("Spot On: Studios bust as industry booms", Apr 25 2008, http://www.gamespot.com/news/6189861.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;5 ) I'm curious to hear what opinions exist on how studios can avoid the problems that eventually force them to wind up. Is there any answer to this, or is it simply a fact of life in the game development industry?
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Jacques P
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I'm sure there are any lessons to be learned from the independent film industry, and Silicon Valley's tech startup industry, in this regards.
Certainly the high-risk nature of independent game development isn't going to go away anytime soon. The majority of projects will continue to fail, so building flexibility in your studio to handle the inevitable failures will be critical, including being smart and savvy when negotiating with the moneymen.
By the way, there's another way to avoid failure: don't have an antagonistic relationship with the money. You have the creative skills but no cash; they have cash but need creative ideas to invest it in. The right pairing of creative and business (Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole is one example from the fashion industry) can be unstoppable. Finding not just the money, but the RIGHT money, will make a big difference.
They have MBAs now in entrepreneurship; they were just starting at NYU when I went there for mine 8 years ago. I'm sure there's a host of literature from Wharton, Harvard Business School and others on success factors in high-risk startup ventures.
As long as developers are utterly reliant on publisher financing, and forced to accept deal terms that make it virtually impossible to recoup advances, they are and will continue to be screwed. The number of close-downs is only one side of the equation; the other is the number of developer acquisitions by publishers, since the only way to get off the "gotta make the next deal" treadmill is to sell out.
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I feel the answer to the current state of affairs lies in the business model that studios adopt. A two pronged approached intent on cutting out the middle man role publishers occupy. A studio with private VC/Angel capital with a 5 year plan of 3 solid titles working with companies like channel advisor's could in theory distribute to all the major online outlets and self publish. the second way to avoid the closures is to created agile/RAD teams using preexisting engines like the unity engine and by keeping the core team smaller then 10 full time employees and contract the rest out. Right now, both Brazil and Mexico have many very talented artist, also abandoning the brick and mortar office in favor of a virtual work place.
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Form a formal network which is presented as the indie's voice to market, advertise and receive enquiries - thus having combined power as an organisation.
"the voices of a hundred mice are never as powerful as the elephant's trumpet. But working in unison they can divert attention."
