GDC Day One and Day Two
As I mentioned last week, I’m here at the Game Developer Conference in sunny San Jose California. Here’s my report of the first two days.
IGDA Developer Business Summit:
The Business Summit is a two day seminar meant to have the movers and shakers of the game development industry meet to discuss the various concerns of running a successful business. Various events include lectures by Ray Muzyka of Bioware, Bing Gordon of EA, Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research, and Kathy Schoback of Eidos. There is also a panel with Rob Huebner (Nihilistic Software), Karl Jeffery (Climax), Tamra Nestler Fionda (Tri Synergy) and Greg Richardson (EA), moderated by Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab).
What I expected: As a member of the board of directors of the IGDA, I felt that it would be helpful to the other IGDA folks if I could be around to show support. Also, the business side of the industry fascinates me, and I always welcome a chance to learn more about that side of things.
What I got: All of the lectures were excellent, especially Bing Gordon’s talk on marketing and Michael Gartenburg showing chart after chart of extremely interesting demographic information. I felt the panel was a little unfocused, but was also pretty good.
Some Thoughts:
If you are going to sign a contract, research every aspect of what you want out of that contract, and make sure that you know everything your publisher will own if you sign the contract as-is. To do this, it’s best to hire a lawyer that specializes in this stuff. This will be expensive, so budget for it. A number I heard was $10,000.00 in legal fees. Also, I heard that the negotiation period can last up to six months. Budget for this, as well.
The casual gamer, who plays mostly puzzle and parlor games, represent more than half of all gamers. However, the crowd in this summit still weren’t too interested in dealing with that aspect. On the other hand, the casual gaming tutorial down the hall was packed to standing room only, so someone obviously cares.
Starting a new studio in the fashion that other, moderately successful studios have in the past is now unfeasible. Getting publishing deals in the old-fashioned manner is now so hard and requires so many contacts and so much previous experience as a studio, that it has become nigh-impossible to succeed. However, the good news is that there are new vectors to enter the industry that weren’t present 5 years ago. Outsourcing and alternate funding methods exist to help the new developer succeed and thrive. Further, more experienced developers can be approached to give out much-needed advice on this subject.
All in all, a very valuable time. Look to the IGDA website in the next few weeks if you are interested in the content of this seminar.
IGDA Developer Business Summit:
The Business Summit is a two day seminar meant to have the movers and shakers of the game development industry meet to discuss the various concerns of running a successful business. Various events include lectures by Ray Muzyka of Bioware, Bing Gordon of EA, Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research, and Kathy Schoback of Eidos. There is also a panel with Rob Huebner (Nihilistic Software), Karl Jeffery (Climax), Tamra Nestler Fionda (Tri Synergy) and Greg Richardson (EA), moderated by Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab).
What I expected: As a member of the board of directors of the IGDA, I felt that it would be helpful to the other IGDA folks if I could be around to show support. Also, the business side of the industry fascinates me, and I always welcome a chance to learn more about that side of things.
What I got: All of the lectures were excellent, especially Bing Gordon’s talk on marketing and Michael Gartenburg showing chart after chart of extremely interesting demographic information. I felt the panel was a little unfocused, but was also pretty good.
Some Thoughts:
If you are going to sign a contract, research every aspect of what you want out of that contract, and make sure that you know everything your publisher will own if you sign the contract as-is. To do this, it’s best to hire a lawyer that specializes in this stuff. This will be expensive, so budget for it. A number I heard was $10,000.00 in legal fees. Also, I heard that the negotiation period can last up to six months. Budget for this, as well.
The casual gamer, who plays mostly puzzle and parlor games, represent more than half of all gamers. However, the crowd in this summit still weren’t too interested in dealing with that aspect. On the other hand, the casual gaming tutorial down the hall was packed to standing room only, so someone obviously cares.
Starting a new studio in the fashion that other, moderately successful studios have in the past is now unfeasible. Getting publishing deals in the old-fashioned manner is now so hard and requires so many contacts and so much previous experience as a studio, that it has become nigh-impossible to succeed. However, the good news is that there are new vectors to enter the industry that weren’t present 5 years ago. Outsourcing and alternate funding methods exist to help the new developer succeed and thrive. Further, more experienced developers can be approached to give out much-needed advice on this subject.
All in all, a very valuable time. Look to the IGDA website in the next few weeks if you are interested in the content of this seminar.
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