During one of our class, we watched one of the episode of "Shark Tank" in order to learn how to pitch and negotiate with the investors of your company or product. When I watched the videos, I realized my last post about how to find investor for your game.
I said that finding a publisher is the essential part of the company. When I watched these videos, I understand how true that was. Developing a video game is very risky for the investors. You have to spend millions of dollars for years and there is not guarantee that you will sell as much as you want. In order to lower the risk, finding a publisher will be the best for lowering the risk. Investors will think more carefully because finding a publisher provide a guarantee for the investors.
Finding a publisher is not the only think that you have to do. You have to build a stable marketing plan. If no one knows about your game, you won't sell anything to anyone. Investors will look for a sound marketing plans too. Because like many products in the entertainment industry, a marketing plan will directly affect your sale numbers.
Of course organizing a budget and sale assumptions will be important too. Nevertheless, investors will look for these first. A good organized budget and realistic goals will improve your chance to finding a publisher and investor.
Also, pitching your project will be important. During your pitch, make sure that bring a lot of visuals to describe gameplay, characters, design and story of your game. Using visual tools for your pitch is much more effective to both publishers and investors. Also, it will make easier to understand than the text and your words.
The investors like Risa Cohen and Marc Jackson will definitely interested on these subjects on your business plan. Nevertheless, distribution, marketing, finance and presentation is the key elements for all products in the entertainment industry.
7/11/2011
Investors of the Video Games
Video Game Industry is a growing industry. A lot of many spend to create these marvelous games and many developers and publishers gain a lot of money from it. However, it is not easy to financing a game. Many publisher already receive a lot of business plan from many developers so they are very selective about who they are going to choose. This situation is very common in the entertainment industries namely movies and musics.
However, in video game industry it is impossible to fund a game without publishers. Because of their need of millions of dollars, high risk and length of the development process, many banks and investors don't even consider a video game business plan for investing.
However, some investors using completion bonds to invest a game. With completion bonds the lenders can spread out of risks and game publisher and developers gain money. This way many more ideas will receive green light.
This new venture system is using by the Risa Cohen who manages guarantee of completion for EFB. The other player of this game is Marc Jackson who is the managing director of Seahorn Capital Group in Los Angles. Let's learn about who they are in more detail.
Risa Cohen
Risa Cohen was born and raised in New York City, She started her career in entertainment as a Playwriter and Producer for theatre. In 1994 she started producing games and has since worked for Kalisto, Atari, Exmachina Image and Disney. In 2010, Risa Cohen Productions and European Film Bonds in Copenhagen, Denmark formed a joint venture to provide completion bond services for videogames and digital media productions In addition to her production work, Risa is a member of the faculty and president of the educational steering committee for the multimedia masters program at the Institute International Multimedia in Paris.
Marc Jackson
arc has 20 years entertainment industry experience in senior management roles in theme park development, new media and interactive entertainment, including 5 years as CEO of video game companies. Marc began his career working in project management for the Walt Disney Imagineering group on its Paris theme park, and pursued his MBA in Europe where he developed his passion for digital entertainment businesses. rom 1997 to 2001, Marc was CEO of LA-based console game developer Player 1 where he managed licensing and publishing partnerships with Sega, Midway, Interplay, and Universal – and successfully delivered eight Playstation and Nintendo console video game titles. In 2000 Marc began advising investors and media companies, and by 2002, Marc had become a pioneer and innovator of film-style production finance and risk management techniques applied to interactive entertainment and video games.
Ok we know who they are but they are not going to accept any offer they will receive. So we need to know what is important for creating business plans.
Best way to creating a business plan is focused on how are you going to take opportunity from the market and how are you going to distribute your games. Especially finding a decent distributer is very important for the investors. Other important factor is the sound marketing strategy. Without marketing you won't be able to sell your games. If you are going to decide to distribute yourself, then it is very hard to find an investors too unless you have a great understanding from markets, demands and a great marketing strategy. Also, the resumes of the development team will affect the investors too. Their past experiences and knowledge may charm the mind of the investors.
If you are going to look for investors for your games, good luck because you are going to need it. But if you careful about your marketing strategy and working with an experience crew then you will have a better chance to find an investor you need.
Sources:
1. http://brbent.com/team/marc-jackson/
2. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3254/writing_a_business_plan_for_.php
3. http://europeanfilmbonds.com/risacohen.html
4. http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/15/video-game-investors-seek-to-fund-games-via-film-financing-methods/
However, in video game industry it is impossible to fund a game without publishers. Because of their need of millions of dollars, high risk and length of the development process, many banks and investors don't even consider a video game business plan for investing.
However, some investors using completion bonds to invest a game. With completion bonds the lenders can spread out of risks and game publisher and developers gain money. This way many more ideas will receive green light.
This new venture system is using by the Risa Cohen who manages guarantee of completion for EFB. The other player of this game is Marc Jackson who is the managing director of Seahorn Capital Group in Los Angles. Let's learn about who they are in more detail.
Risa Cohen
Risa Cohen was born and raised in New York City, She started her career in entertainment as a Playwriter and Producer for theatre. In 1994 she started producing games and has since worked for Kalisto, Atari, Exmachina Image and Disney. In 2010, Risa Cohen Productions and European Film Bonds in Copenhagen, Denmark formed a joint venture to provide completion bond services for videogames and digital media productions In addition to her production work, Risa is a member of the faculty and president of the educational steering committee for the multimedia masters program at the Institute International Multimedia in Paris.
Marc Jackson
arc has 20 years entertainment industry experience in senior management roles in theme park development, new media and interactive entertainment, including 5 years as CEO of video game companies. Marc began his career working in project management for the Walt Disney Imagineering group on its Paris theme park, and pursued his MBA in Europe where he developed his passion for digital entertainment businesses. rom 1997 to 2001, Marc was CEO of LA-based console game developer Player 1 where he managed licensing and publishing partnerships with Sega, Midway, Interplay, and Universal – and successfully delivered eight Playstation and Nintendo console video game titles. In 2000 Marc began advising investors and media companies, and by 2002, Marc had become a pioneer and innovator of film-style production finance and risk management techniques applied to interactive entertainment and video games.
Ok we know who they are but they are not going to accept any offer they will receive. So we need to know what is important for creating business plans.
Best way to creating a business plan is focused on how are you going to take opportunity from the market and how are you going to distribute your games. Especially finding a decent distributer is very important for the investors. Other important factor is the sound marketing strategy. Without marketing you won't be able to sell your games. If you are going to decide to distribute yourself, then it is very hard to find an investors too unless you have a great understanding from markets, demands and a great marketing strategy. Also, the resumes of the development team will affect the investors too. Their past experiences and knowledge may charm the mind of the investors.
If you are going to look for investors for your games, good luck because you are going to need it. But if you careful about your marketing strategy and working with an experience crew then you will have a better chance to find an investor you need.
Sources:
1. http://brbent.com/team/marc-jackson/
2. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3254/writing_a_business_plan_for_.php
3. http://europeanfilmbonds.com/risacohen.html
4. http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/15/video-game-investors-seek-to-fund-games-via-film-financing-methods/
6/17/2011
Importance of Fansites for the Game Industry
Right now we are bombarded by the news of the games and the industry because of the "E3". There are tons of videos, trailers, interviews and previews of the games that, we cannot even trace all of them. When I tried to find information about the upcoming game of the "Bethesda", "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim", I found an interesting fansite that, summarize all the information about the events of the "E3" for the Skyrim's fans.
The fansite I found was "The Skyrim Guild", which is the one of the important fansite of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". "The Skyrim Guild" offers information about the lore, skills, items, news and trailers of the Skyrim. Also, you can find interesting topics and share your ideas with the other fans of the Skyrim in their forum page. Moreover, they have their own facebook and twitter page. Furthermore, I noticed the countdown of release date of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" (It's actually very painful to watch because there is still 147 days to release.).
After I searched how important "The Skyrim Guild" for the fans, I decided to make a little bit research about the importance of the fansites to the industry. I found out that many important games have their own fansites such as "Batman Arkham City" and "No Mutants Allowed" for the Fallout series. These fansites are more likely to "The Skyrim Guild" which offers information and a community place for sharing ideas and discuss about their favorite topics. There are also, wikia pages which are created by the fans and offer lore, information and walkthrough about their games.
I noticed that, many developer offer fansite kit in their official site (most likely in their forum page) for the fans who want to create such websites. I downloaded such a fansite kit in order to understand what are they contain for the fansites. Most fansite kits offer various screenshots, videos and design materials for creating a fansite. I understand that many developers use fansites for their own marketing plans. Especially, fansites are really effective to create an awareness of the game.
Furthermore, many fansites have their own facebook, twitter, rss feeds and other social media channels like "The Skyrim Guild". This activity of the social channels offer developers a chance to reach more players with the help of their fans (and lowering their cost of marketing). Also, fansites are platforms which developers can listen their audience and make some changes for meeting the demands of the market. Although fansites can be effective for the marketing of the game, they can be some drawbacks.
Fansites cannot be controlled by the developers. They are under total control of the fans and these fans may not be happy about the some changes of the game like gameplay, graphics or interface. This can be a huge problem for the developers because they may face an organize complaints from huge amount of crowds.
The best example of this situation is the resistance of the "No Mutants Allowed" fansite for the changes of the "Fallout 3". They were worried about the game would change into "Oblivion with guns" so they protested the changes of the Fallout 3. This situation created an awkward relation between Bethesda and the fans of the Fallout series, but Bethesda overwhelmed the problem with receiving many good reviews, awards and of course sales.
In the conclusion, fansites does a great job nowadays and they become more important for the marketing plan of the developers. Their "reach" gave a huge advantage for their marketing even though they cannot control it. Thus, many developers creating fansite kits to hope their fans create a huge fansites and deliver them to that "reach" to create a game, which attends the needs of their audience.
The fansite I found was "The Skyrim Guild", which is the one of the important fansite of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". "The Skyrim Guild" offers information about the lore, skills, items, news and trailers of the Skyrim. Also, you can find interesting topics and share your ideas with the other fans of the Skyrim in their forum page. Moreover, they have their own facebook and twitter page. Furthermore, I noticed the countdown of release date of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" (It's actually very painful to watch because there is still 147 days to release.).
After I searched how important "The Skyrim Guild" for the fans, I decided to make a little bit research about the importance of the fansites to the industry. I found out that many important games have their own fansites such as "Batman Arkham City" and "No Mutants Allowed" for the Fallout series. These fansites are more likely to "The Skyrim Guild" which offers information and a community place for sharing ideas and discuss about their favorite topics. There are also, wikia pages which are created by the fans and offer lore, information and walkthrough about their games.
I noticed that, many developer offer fansite kit in their official site (most likely in their forum page) for the fans who want to create such websites. I downloaded such a fansite kit in order to understand what are they contain for the fansites. Most fansite kits offer various screenshots, videos and design materials for creating a fansite. I understand that many developers use fansites for their own marketing plans. Especially, fansites are really effective to create an awareness of the game.
Furthermore, many fansites have their own facebook, twitter, rss feeds and other social media channels like "The Skyrim Guild". This activity of the social channels offer developers a chance to reach more players with the help of their fans (and lowering their cost of marketing). Also, fansites are platforms which developers can listen their audience and make some changes for meeting the demands of the market. Although fansites can be effective for the marketing of the game, they can be some drawbacks.
Fansites cannot be controlled by the developers. They are under total control of the fans and these fans may not be happy about the some changes of the game like gameplay, graphics or interface. This can be a huge problem for the developers because they may face an organize complaints from huge amount of crowds.
The best example of this situation is the resistance of the "No Mutants Allowed" fansite for the changes of the "Fallout 3". They were worried about the game would change into "Oblivion with guns" so they protested the changes of the Fallout 3. This situation created an awkward relation between Bethesda and the fans of the Fallout series, but Bethesda overwhelmed the problem with receiving many good reviews, awards and of course sales.
In the conclusion, fansites does a great job nowadays and they become more important for the marketing plan of the developers. Their "reach" gave a huge advantage for their marketing even though they cannot control it. Thus, many developers creating fansite kits to hope their fans create a huge fansites and deliver them to that "reach" to create a game, which attends the needs of their audience.
6/16/2011
6/02/2011
In-game Digital Marketing
I know I wrote another post about advertisement in video games couple of months ago. However, this post is not just about advertising. It is about in-game digital marketing which grows in the game industry.
Many games use in-game advertising model in order to get more revenue. This business model create win-win situation because this is the only model which advertisement actually liked by the audience. The reason is simple, in-game advertisement adds realism to the games and because of that many players actually prefer to see advertisement campaigns. The best example is the NBA2K series. You can see a lot of brands in match which are well-known by the players.
Especially since game industry grow more than Hollywood, many digital marketing campaigns hubs around massive online games. Most notably, World of Warcraft and Second Life. This development in the game industry adds more opportunity for the developers like sharing your achievements and progress of the games in the social media channels like Tweeter and Facebook create free digital marketing for the developers.
Also, this system sometimes works like Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Achievements and progress of the game is mining by the developers. This in-game data mining offers a chance to analyze the audience behavior which will use as a feature in the next project. "Mass Effect" series is the best example of this new in-game data mining system. With uploading player's progress in the games, developers enjoyed %50 more profit of the "Mass Effect 2" compared the first game.
As the digital world changing continuously, many entertainment business change their marketing plans to reach their audience. Especially for the industries like games, analyzing your audience and understanding of their demands is the most important aspect of their products.
Related Articles:
1. http://nishithsblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/in-game-advertising-next-big-thing-in-digital-marketing/
2. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1117896p1.html
3. http://www.know-what-im-sayin.com/video-games/digital-marketing-strategy-of-mass-effect/
4. http://www.sophisticatededge.com/what-is-digital-marketing.html
Screenshots
1. http://blog.pcnews.ro/wp-content/photo/2008/03/adsingame21.jpg
2. http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Doiggy2007/ManagerScreen-1.png
3. http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/111/1117896/crazy-mass-effect-2-stats-and-what-theyre-used-for-20100903105831289-000.jpg
Many games use in-game advertising model in order to get more revenue. This business model create win-win situation because this is the only model which advertisement actually liked by the audience. The reason is simple, in-game advertisement adds realism to the games and because of that many players actually prefer to see advertisement campaigns. The best example is the NBA2K series. You can see a lot of brands in match which are well-known by the players.
Especially since game industry grow more than Hollywood, many digital marketing campaigns hubs around massive online games. Most notably, World of Warcraft and Second Life. This development in the game industry adds more opportunity for the developers like sharing your achievements and progress of the games in the social media channels like Tweeter and Facebook create free digital marketing for the developers.
Also, this system sometimes works like Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Achievements and progress of the game is mining by the developers. This in-game data mining offers a chance to analyze the audience behavior which will use as a feature in the next project. "Mass Effect" series is the best example of this new in-game data mining system. With uploading player's progress in the games, developers enjoyed %50 more profit of the "Mass Effect 2" compared the first game.
As the digital world changing continuously, many entertainment business change their marketing plans to reach their audience. Especially for the industries like games, analyzing your audience and understanding of their demands is the most important aspect of their products.
Related Articles:
1. http://nishithsblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/in-game-advertising-next-big-thing-in-digital-marketing/
2. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1117896p1.html
3. http://www.know-what-im-sayin.com/video-games/digital-marketing-strategy-of-mass-effect/
4. http://www.sophisticatededge.com/what-is-digital-marketing.html
Screenshots
1. http://blog.pcnews.ro/wp-content/photo/2008/03/adsingame21.jpg
2. http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Doiggy2007/ManagerScreen-1.png
3. http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/111/1117896/crazy-mass-effect-2-stats-and-what-theyre-used-for-20100903105831289-000.jpg
5/25/2011
Visual Novels
I know you properly wonder why I am writing something about novels in a blog, which is about RPG and game industry. The truth is the other name of the visual novel is anime games.
Anime and game fans properly know what visual novel is but, they are many people out there never even heard about it. Visual game is an interactive fiction game using state anime art graphics. They are a lot like a RPG games with a lot of dialogue feature.
Most of the visual novels narrated as first person rather than third person like the printed version. It feels like you are in the story as the protagonist as many mainstream games do. Also, visual novel use days rather than chapter as primary structure unit.
Even though visual novels are also called as anime games, they offer minimal gameplay. Sometimes you can choose multiple options or interactive story driven actions like Da Capo which use the map of the school and surroundings in order to make you choose how do you plan to do in this time. In addition, many novels offer multiple endings which depends on your choices during the novels.
There are a lot of genres for this games but, most popular are science fictions, horrors and tragedies (which also mentioned as crying games.). It is hard to say which one is the most popular genre but, right now the eroge genre which also called erotic genre are more popular than other adult content products in the different industries. Most of these games were focused on story rather than the erotic content. They became so popular that some of the other genre visual novels starting to offer adult version or adult pictures as add-ons.
If a visual novel became successful than there will be a good chance that, the content of the novel will be adopted to manga and anime if they became popular as a visual novel like Da Capo, Fate/Stay Night, Clannad and School Days.
Because, most of the visual novels do not distributed in the West, visual novels have a small market in here. Although it seemed visual novel market in the West tart to growing as many visual novels translated to English, French and Russian.
By the way, you can find many information about visual novels in this website. They provide great database for the visual novels as well as information about their release platforms and language.
Screenshots:
1.http://s.vndb.org/sf/06/1306.jpg
2.http://s.vndb.org/cv/65/8565.jpg
3.http://s.vndb.org/sf/02/2302.jpg
Anime and game fans properly know what visual novel is but, they are many people out there never even heard about it. Visual game is an interactive fiction game using state anime art graphics. They are a lot like a RPG games with a lot of dialogue feature.
Most of the visual novels narrated as first person rather than third person like the printed version. It feels like you are in the story as the protagonist as many mainstream games do. Also, visual novel use days rather than chapter as primary structure unit.
Even though visual novels are also called as anime games, they offer minimal gameplay. Sometimes you can choose multiple options or interactive story driven actions like Da Capo which use the map of the school and surroundings in order to make you choose how do you plan to do in this time. In addition, many novels offer multiple endings which depends on your choices during the novels.
There are a lot of genres for this games but, most popular are science fictions, horrors and tragedies (which also mentioned as crying games.). It is hard to say which one is the most popular genre but, right now the eroge genre which also called erotic genre are more popular than other adult content products in the different industries. Most of these games were focused on story rather than the erotic content. They became so popular that some of the other genre visual novels starting to offer adult version or adult pictures as add-ons.
If a visual novel became successful than there will be a good chance that, the content of the novel will be adopted to manga and anime if they became popular as a visual novel like Da Capo, Fate/Stay Night, Clannad and School Days.
Because, most of the visual novels do not distributed in the West, visual novels have a small market in here. Although it seemed visual novel market in the West tart to growing as many visual novels translated to English, French and Russian.
By the way, you can find many information about visual novels in this website. They provide great database for the visual novels as well as information about their release platforms and language.
Screenshots:
1.http://s.vndb.org/sf/06/1306.jpg
2.http://s.vndb.org/cv/65/8565.jpg
3.http://s.vndb.org/sf/02/2302.jpg
Mods...what are they?
I know many of the hardcore gamers know what is a mod and how important it is for players. But, during my conversation with other players I realized that there are many gamers still don't know anything about mods and how mods can affect them.
Basically, mods are additions created by the players (they were called as modders.). They are made for especially role playing games, real time strategy games, turn based strategy games and rarely first person shooter games. Although as I mentioned many modders are players, many of them have programming and graphic design background and they were some cases that some mods created by the current developers and unemployed game developers.
However, downloadable contents (DLCs) and mods are a little bit different. DLCs are created by the official developer teams and that kind of addition are created for gaining another source of revenue. But, mods are created for sharing your work with the fans of the games and they are free for the players.
Some games offer toolset of the game in order the create mods. For example, games like Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout Last Vegas (although they use the same G.E.C.K toolset.) and Dragon Age Origins. These mods created by the modders usually shared with modding community websites or some social websites that created by the developer team. However, some games do not offer any mods and many modders change the code of these games and add their designs to make mods for them. Best examples are mods for Total War and Civilization series.
Why it is so important to download the mods? Actually if you like your game and satisfy with everything and do not want to change the original content of the game you do not need to (and possibly you do not want to) download mods. However, many mods adds additional varieties and more options to the games. For example, with the mods you can have more weapons, armor, items, enemies and quests in your game database. In addition, with the mods you can add more realism or more arcade overhauls to your games. They are definitely worthwhile to download especially you want to add more fun to the games and I can guarantee you that there are many good modders which offer you the mods that you do not want to miss this chance to download.
P.S I also want to thank all the modders who use a lot of times and work to create these wonderful mods.
I think Nexus websites are great for searching mods for your preference. If you search mods for your games here are the links for the nexus websites;
http://www.tesnexus.com/ (for Oblivion)
http://www.dragonagenexus.com/ (for Dragon Age: Origins)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/ (for Fallout 3)
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/ (for Fallout New Vegas)
Screenshots:
1. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/38336-1-1304674120.jpg
2.http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/3374-1-1286773944.jpg
3.http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/images/2822-1-1305486739.jpg
Basically, mods are additions created by the players (they were called as modders.). They are made for especially role playing games, real time strategy games, turn based strategy games and rarely first person shooter games. Although as I mentioned many modders are players, many of them have programming and graphic design background and they were some cases that some mods created by the current developers and unemployed game developers.
However, downloadable contents (DLCs) and mods are a little bit different. DLCs are created by the official developer teams and that kind of addition are created for gaining another source of revenue. But, mods are created for sharing your work with the fans of the games and they are free for the players.
Some games offer toolset of the game in order the create mods. For example, games like Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout Last Vegas (although they use the same G.E.C.K toolset.) and Dragon Age Origins. These mods created by the modders usually shared with modding community websites or some social websites that created by the developer team. However, some games do not offer any mods and many modders change the code of these games and add their designs to make mods for them. Best examples are mods for Total War and Civilization series.
Why it is so important to download the mods? Actually if you like your game and satisfy with everything and do not want to change the original content of the game you do not need to (and possibly you do not want to) download mods. However, many mods adds additional varieties and more options to the games. For example, with the mods you can have more weapons, armor, items, enemies and quests in your game database. In addition, with the mods you can add more realism or more arcade overhauls to your games. They are definitely worthwhile to download especially you want to add more fun to the games and I can guarantee you that there are many good modders which offer you the mods that you do not want to miss this chance to download.
P.S I also want to thank all the modders who use a lot of times and work to create these wonderful mods.
I think Nexus websites are great for searching mods for your preference. If you search mods for your games here are the links for the nexus websites;
http://www.tesnexus.com/ (for Oblivion)
http://www.dragonagenexus.com/ (for Dragon Age: Origins)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/ (for Fallout 3)
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/ (for Fallout New Vegas)
Screenshots:
1. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/38336-1-1304674120.jpg
2.http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/3374-1-1286773944.jpg
3.http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/images/2822-1-1305486739.jpg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)