How to Start a Video Game Business
The video game business is one of the most profitable and promising today. Along with the technology race, studios compete with each other and create new and unique game projects. But everything has its pros and cons. In particular, this business is quite difficult to start if you do not know about all the features and tests or have no idea how this works.
How to Start a Video Gaming Business
The gaming business is multipolar and multicultural. Leaving aside the social aspect of this issue, you can see that major computer game developers earn millions of dollars a year, sometimes exceeding the income from making big-budget films.
This business was only created through technological development at the end of the 20th century, so there are many prospects today. However, aspiring developers must go through a lot before achieving success, no matter how talented they are. Therefore, to begin with, it is important to note 4 main aspects.
- Research and Planning. Before launching your game development studio, evaluate how ready you are to dive into this topic and what you expect from the launch. This business, just like everyone else, has its risks, prospects, strengths, and weaknesses. The more you understand this ecosystem, the greater the chance of success.
- Legal considerations. Before any of your games will be sold, you will have to go through many registration procedures. Given the need for significant initial investment, it will be necessary to register or operate in the form of a legal entity. Without this, legally and successfully conducting business will not be possible.
- Funding Your Gaming Business. Any video game business ideas require resources. Suppose you want to get a quality product and be able to enter the global market. In that case, it is essential to provide the studio with everything they need: software, a comfortable place to work, devices for artists, computers, etc. Also, do not forget the constant investment in advertising, updates, and promotions.
- Developing Your Team. If you want to run a games business alone or with a couple of friends, as indie developers do, this will not work. The command is the main mechanism that drives all the previous aspects. It is not difficult to find enthusiasts and a promising team; it is only important to devote enough time and money to this.
If you have difficulties or misunderstandings at any stage, you can always ask for help from various video game consulting companies. At a minimum, this will come in handy regarding law and legal considerations. If you do not have the necessary knowledge and skills in this field, you cannot conduct business legally and smoothly.
Game Art Outsource
Most studios use game art outsourcing services to implement gaming business ideas in terms of visual design and graphics. This allows them to save resources and funds that would have to be spent by the core team of artists and designers. As a result, the launch of game projects is much faster and more efficient.
The reason why outsourcing has become so popular is the ability to shift the focus of the core team to more important tasks, such as coding, advertising, or gameplay testing.
Importance of Game Art Outsource
Today, outsourcing is a powerful tool used to expand the workforce base globally while attracting talented people worldwide. With so many choices about what to outsource and who to outsource, organizations have many reasons to go beyond the standard employee-employer relationship. Why is outsourcing so important?
Cost reduction is one of the most important driving factors. Outsourcing can save a whopping 20-30% of online gaming business costs.
Another driving factor is the time savings that small jobs and labor-intensive, unskilled tasks are outsourced. This time can also be used to train the team on new features, design styles, or tools. As a result, the company receives a finished game, and employees can be able to support it.
Finding the Right Game Art Outsource Partner: Real Example
Outsourcing is a business strategy, and finding those who can be trusted with all the most critical aspects and tasks of any project is essential. Let’s take the development of horror games as an example.
This genre is quite popular but, at the same time, inferior to various fantasy or casual games. Based on this, horror games are rare representatives in the game market. This is an ideal opportunity for the video game business to implement and release a promising project.
But horror games are challenging to create visually and storytelling, so you must pay special attention to the characters and their appearance. An excellent example of a horror game female character is the main villain or victim who must be rescued from a mess. It is not enough to make them simply fearful or helpless. It is essential to fit them into the gameplay and that they are the reasons for being in the game.
Character interaction is part of storytelling, and if a character is not interesting or attractive to gamers, it can lead to dialogue skips or gameplay endings. The vision from the side of a female character brings completely different and, at the same time, unique motives and ideas to the game. To create a memorable female character, you must create a unique outer and inner shell that fits perfectly into the gameplay.
One of the main challenges for game studios and artists when creating female characters is to avoid stereotypical and familiar images. The female character is not always the victim; in modern games, a woman is much more likely to act as the main villain and fear for gamers. Creating such an image is much more difficult than a male one.
Managing Game Art Outsource
Finding professional outsourcing studios today is quite simple and easy. But still, there are some tips on how to start a gaming business with it.
First of all, pay attention to the portfolio and the art style. Most studios have 2-3 main art creation vectors. Just as important is communication and constant contact between the core team and outsourcers so that your video game business ideas are the way you want them to be.
And last but not least, these are the prospects for cooperation. If you like the work of an outsourcing studio, discuss with them the possibility of ongoing cooperation to correctly allocate budgets and time for future projects.
