Business modelling in the game industry.

Introduction

Business modelling in the game industry generally works the same as in any other sector. Nevertheless, there are a few key differences that need to be focused on.

Analysis

Checking the trends of the market might give useful insights to the business potential of specific game ideas. Though, the game industry market is changing constantly. Usually, there is no clear pin point to address.

The Incubator’s Job

A lot of game start-ups begin as hobby projects. From an incubator’s perspective it would make more sense to focus on teams with more defined business models.

At least teams should be thinking of their company as a business with a focus on earning income as soon as possible. A central part of what the incubator does are activities to help them reach that point.

Central Topics

Below are some of the central topics the start-ups need to address and examples of guiding questions the incubator should ask them:

• Key partners
• Cost structure (What is the proposed business model? How do you plan to actually make money with the business?)
• Key activities
• Value proposition (Describe your product, including customer benefits; Information about your business and why you are unique)
• Distribution Channels
• Customer segments (Who are your potential customers?)
• Game income
• Marketing (How will you market and sell your product?)
• Funding (Do you need to raise any funds or will you fund the business yourself?)
• Financials (Project your business’s financial future)

Resources