Georgia Gamerz

With 2007 a record-setting fiscal year for the interactive entertainment business – according to NPD, total industry sales were up 52% to $2.63 billion in November alone – hopes presently run high for market leaders’ continued success in 2008. 

But with the waxing and waning of the calendar also comes a changing of the guard in terms of executive mindset. The dawn of an entirely new era for the sector is upon us, one in which game industry professionals are sure to find themselves facing previously unseen challenges including: 

·  Increasing consolidation, as evidenced by EA’s recent purchase of BioWare/Pandemic and Activision/Vivendi’s merger, fueled by an ever-more hostile commercial climate that’s also prompting the shift to more online-ready direct distribution and marketing efforts. 

·  The advent of Web 2.0, heralding a golden age for social networking, ad-supported gaming, digital merchandizing and viral promotions, as well as a renaissance for user-generated content. 

·  Rising production costs and shrinking shelf space, even as technological overhead on software development projects falls following the maturation of current hardware lifecycles and a ramp-up in next-generation PC/console development. 

·  The shift to more mainstream-friendly traditional and mobile content, per the rise of the $2 billion casual game sector and Nintendo’s family-friendly Wii. 

·  A need for greater transparency in the development, publishing and (most importantly) advertising and branding process, as evidenced by the “Gerstmann-gate” controversy, which shook public confidence in the medium to its very core. 

Thankfully, we’re confident that today’s market leaders will rise to the occasion. With 2008 having just arrived, we can’t think of a better time to pause and reflect upon the business mistakes of the past – and how you can ensure a brighter tomorrow for your company using the lessons learned from these stumbles. 

Fancy yourself ready to meet the coming months, and professional challenges, head-on? Heed the following expert advice, and you’ll have no trouble achieving both personal and strategic goals throughout the sure-to-be-tumultuous, but also gleefully exciting next twelve months and beyond: 

Mike Wilson 

Serial entrepreneur noted for his pioneering marketing and executive work at id Software and Gathering of Developers. Currently “Grand Champeen” of upstart publishing house Gamecock Media, which aims to bring fresh perspective to the videogame business. 

“Problems with game publishing mostly have to do with ego and self-interest issues, a common trait with many who reach the executive level in any industry. The cardinal sin in gaming is for an executive to believe that he or she is really the reason for any particular game’s success, rather than the people who are actually developing the title. Sadly, the hit-driven nature of the entertainment industries encourages everyone remotely involved in any successful project to add it to their CV and take credit for it. 

“Fall in love with the medium, take personal responsibility for making the industry more creative and interesting, and most importantly, remember who the talent is and be glad to be working with them, not looking to control them. “ 

I think that the corporate, particularly Wall Street-driven mentality of the people in charge has also severely stunted this industry’s growth. Way too much of what consumers see has made it through the same gauntlet of doubts from a small group of companies with very similar goals and points of view, homogenizing everything for the mainstream, which ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The bigger you get, the fewer real chances you take, and the fact that no matter how well these companies do in any given year, that they have to do 20% better the next year to keep things moving is just a model built to fail. 

How to avoid these traps? Fall in love with the medium, take personal responsibility for making the industry more creative and interesting, and most importantly, remember who the talent is and be glad to be working with them, not looking to control them. [Far be it from me to cast stones too.] I have also been guilty from time to time of either: 

A. Taking myself too seriously. I get a lot of press and sometimes it seeps in to my reality. This led to my midlife crises earlier this decade which of course led to…
B. Sometimes not taking myself or the industry as seriously as maybe I should. In my quest to lighten the mood a bit and bring back the fun old days, I sometimes insult those who enjoy being very serious and ‘grown up’ about it all. 

But, on the whole, as long as I demonstrate that keeping things light and fun for me on a personal level only reinforces my belief in the creative minds of this industry, rather than undermining or overshadowing it, I think it’s all good. Never forget that the opportunity to excel in interactive entertainment is much bigger than what is currently being addressed, and I think we all know that. Most big companies are clumsy and wasteful, but this waste is often effective at snuffing out the littler guys by flooding the channel with crap and noise in ways that more progressive, profit-minded companies have a hard time competing with. There is much work to be done here, and the leaders who break out of the status quo will see success that dwarfs the meager strides made thus far. 

Ubisoft is by far my favorite of the current crop of big public company publishers right now… they have taken chances, made great games, and seem genuinely interested in the advancement of the medium in addition to return on investment. I worry for them though now that they have gotten to the size they are… the pressure to keep growing would seem to lead them into ‘bad idea’ land soon. I pray that they don’t merge with a bigger company and lose their vision in an attempt to cash in or to ‘keep up’ with their peers. On the developer side, Valve is the clear leader for American independents – strong, outspoken, and relentless with their level of quality, all the while fighting the good fight with digital distribution, which only makes them stronger. Bethesda Softworks is also supremely impressive with their handling of Oblivion, having become another development/publishing hybrid completely focused on making money with what they do well, with seemingly very little artificial pressure to do anything else. 

As for the one thing you should never, ever do if you want to be successful in the PC/videogame business? This one’s tough, as I seem to have done them all, and I’m still getting paid. [Laughs] I guess maybe never lose sight of the fact that entertainment is (like the stock market) only professional gambling, and that a good day at the track is just that. Beyond making something you’re proud of (whether it’s a company, a game or both) remember that executives aren’t really in control of all that much. Which I suppose is a relief unto itself…” 

Co-Founder and Studio Director of Team17, one of the U.K.’s oldest and most storied development houses, known worldwide for its success with the best-selling Worms franchise. 

“From my point of view (i.e. someone involved in a development capacity), the most common errors industry insiders make are mistakes of assumption. It’s often all too easy to assume something is fine, or that X is happening or Y is in good shape, particularly when a lot of the interfacing and detail is so high-level. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred though, the reverse is the case. It just pays to double-check… 

“As a developer, you’ve got to ensure you have someone looking after the planning and business side, but only once you have the production side in order.” 

From a publishing executive’s perspective, there are also three common mistakes I often see: 

1. A lot of due-diligence is either not happening or simply not good enough. There have been a lot of projects handed to incapable teams/studios. It’s no wonder that causes problems. 

2. Treating game development with a factory mentality. Whilst vastly improved production techniques are in place today, execs have to understand the full and wide ramifications of proper pre-/post-production periods, rather than just thinking about build and ship dates. An 18-month project start to finish tends to take half that time in actual build/implementation, while publishers assume they’re actually getting 18 months of build. A well-defined pre-production process is perhaps the best investment anyone can make. 

3. Finally, many execs fail to really appreciate the needs of a development studio in terms of the period it takes to sign up titles and move forward. Studios cannot survive for long periods without work and this is sometimes lost on execs, particularly those without direct development/studio experience. 

As a developer, you’ve got to ensure you have someone looking after the planning and business side, but only once you have the production side in order. Building a ‘next-gen’ game with an old-school team isn’t going to happen. As a publisher, it’s all about information and understanding the development process, assuming nothing and planning effectively. 

Note that I’ve made a ton of mistakes myself! I don’t mind – the big error is making the same one twice. Most have either been down to an assumption that was misplaced or the notion of putting all our eggs in one basket, which will never happen again unless the offer is too good to refuse, since the last time we did that, we only barely survived when the publisher went pop. Never assume anything. And if you do, hope you assumed correctly! The consequences are likely to be disastrous if not.” 

Josh Resnick 

Co-founder and president of newly-acquired Electronic Arts subsidiary Pandemic Studios, makers of hit series such as Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans!, Full Spectrum Warrior and Star Wars: Battlefront. 

“The biggest mistake that most studio leadership tends to commit is forgetting who they work for. Exec-level leadership can easily become so consumed by business issues, legal concerns, the market, operations, etc. that they start neglecting the core talent that is responsible for driving the long-term success of their products. 

“Everyone on a team has the ability to contribute something magical to the project. You can’t predict whether that spark of brilliance will come from your lead artist or junior programmer.” 

As a part of this, some studio leaders also forget the simple fact that we’re making games here. Our businesses should be dynamic, creative, entrepreneurial companies. Once you lose sight of the value of fun and you start running your business like any other business, then the fun vanishes from your games too and everyone loses. Happy, motivated, passionate and talented people make great games: It’s as simple as that. How your talent is feeling during the creative process – if they’re motivated and inspired, or demoralized and burned out – is reflected entirely in the quality of that finished product. 

[It’s important to remember this, as] the risk of not staying focused on your talent is that they’ll leave – and they won’t return. Very talented people have great choices available to them; they can chart their own path in the industry. You have to stay focused on keeping them positively engaged in their projects and invested in the success of the company, otherwise you risk losing them for good. 

I will say that early on in Pandemic Studios’ history, we made the mistake of hiring talent with strong egos. This was very damaging for us and, back then, was nearly detrimental to our future success. Now, instead of focusing on individual talent, our approach is to focus on team talent and team success. It’s not about one person repeating an individual success. Everyone on a team has the ability to contribute something magical to the project. You can’t predict whether that spark of brilliance will come from your lead artist or junior programmer. Creating games really is a team effort, and having a focus on ‘team talent’ is essential.

Oh, and if you’re a studio leader and feel that perhaps you’ve lost sight of your talent, don’t think it’s over. It’s never too late! The sooner you can show your employees that you care, the better. Stop everything and engage them personally. Start simply by asking about their opinions: How do they feel and what concerns do they have? It’s really simple when you break it down. First: Ask. Next: Actively listen. And finally: Act on it.” 

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