Confessions:. Starting your own game business. Jussi Laakkonen Everyplay. February 10-12 2009. Casual Connect Europe 2009. Full presentation with notes & audio track:. http://jussilaakkonen.wordpress.com. February 10-12 2009. Casual Connect Europe 2009. Hi, I’m Jussi!. CEO, founder. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Confessions:
Confessions:
February 10-12 2009 Casual Connect Europe 2009
Starting your own game business
Jussi LaakkonenEveryplay
February 10-12 2009 Casual Connect Europe 2009
Full presentation with notes & audio
track:http://
jussilaakkonen.wordpress.com
Hi, I’m Jussi!
CEO,founder
since
Aug 2008
Main organizer
Entrepreneur for 15 years
Demo & LAN party with >6000 visitors a year
Business developmen
tdirector
Multimillion € deals
Produced games
Filled the dishwasher
Console racing games
>3M units sold
previously
Confessions
confess
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Why starta (game)business?
Passion – I got to do it!Do your own thingNobody else gets it!Change the worldThe last great adventureGet rich quick epic fail
must have killer idea,
right?
your first idea
will suck.
get over it. get going.
so,my first idea?
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”Hype or real deal?” panel
virtual worlds, microtransactions
heureka!the
future of games!
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Guild Wars
+co
nfessions
”Diablo 2 Casual MMO”
&
a ”me too” idea
killed it earlyP.S. check out Guild of Heroes
on Facebook ;-)
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Just a speed bump.
I knew the future!
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Look for the
opportunity
big risks
high growth
new audiences
mass distribution
change in behavior
disruptive technology
unclear business models
something that currently sucks
Customer baseViral distribution
Rule changing
Persistent onlineVirtual goods
Flash
DistributionPaying customers
Finally mobile doesn’t suck
Persistent onlineVirtual goodsUnity, Flash
XBLA / PSN?
Games in non-game apps
New domain & customersUnproven
social gaming
co-creation with users
persistent world
virtual goods
open web APIs
Flash client
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Does it make a tasty soup?We’ll see...
an idea & promising market =
ideas are a dime a dozen
execution is king
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE!!!
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE!!!
So good that they can walk
on air!
2-4 founderstech, biz, art, design
because you have toget more done with less
Smart people who get things done
Marissa Mayer, Google
FIERYPASSION
Get somebody who hates selling less than starving
don’t hire a suit
No assholesA single person can
destroy your new company.
Bizdev
Sales, marketingPartnersStudio mgmt
Server lead
Game server
CEO
Product ownerProductionPR, finance
CTO
Game client
Design
Detailed designGame mechanics
All art
AD
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GET STUFF DONEFAST
Agile & Lean for
EVERYTHINGNot just code, but also
business and management
All your plans are just guesses
Release early & often
Measure
Learn
Implement
9/10
startups
die because
they
couldn’t
find
customers
Develop your customers
Don’t worry,
be crappy.Guy Kawasaki
We game developers in general SUCK at real user driven
iterative development.
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Radically new stuff for me.
Scrum for productionCustomer development
for biz.
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Still learning it.
It always takes longerthan what you expect.
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5 months of iterating, learning. Reduced scope for earlier
launch.
So, where do I get the money so that
I can start?
nobody said it was easy.
your own savings
1.
Friends & Family
2.
Work for hiregames and other industries
3.
R&D tax creditsAvailable in most EU countries
Tax credits, grants or loans
15-70% of R&D costs
Paid months after costs were incurred
4.
Preproduction grants
National, regional & EU wide programs
10 – 100 k€, max 50%
5.
Angel investorsNot many ”game millionaires”
vs. a lot of ”IT millionaires”
Hard – not impossible
6.
publisher advancesa.k.a. paying customers
Only after you’ve alreadyspent lots of money
on the prototype
7.
Seed fundsSemi-governmental
e.g. VeraVenture in Finland 50-500 k€
SeedCamp, Y-Combinator...10-50 k€
8.
Venture CapitalFuel to grow faster.
Not for new companies or hit-driven game studios
Only for scaleable businesses like MMOs
Great if you will be sold for >50M€ in less than 5 years.