Business planning in the gaming industry
In April, the HSE Graduate School of Business Informatics held a closed lecture on business planning in the gaming industry from Rocket Jump producer Alexander Tezyaev . The lecture was held within the framework of the educational program “Game Project Management” , where we often hold such events for students and graduates of our programs. Under the cut we offer you a brief summary of the lecture.
Business planning is the process of defining goals and ways to achieve market success.
Business plan - a plan of activities, developed in the course of business planning.
A roadmap is a document about what and when we do in order to achieve our desired future.
Well, the most important components for creating a game are money, time and people.
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Do you need a business plan? And if so, why? How can you logically come to the answer?
To do this, you must first have an idea. Then you should evaluate your own strengths (let's call them resources, this is the most correct term) and understand whether they are enough to achieve your goal. If something is missing, you must find the missing resources. It is important to know that if you are joined by people who will help you achieve your goals, then how and when will you return the investment to them and how will you then go away and share money, fame.
Including for this purpose the business plan in which all main points will be registered is made.
Development of the game usually lasts long enough, it happens that people lose their goals and motivation. In such cases, the business plan helps a lot.
Targets and goals
The business plan of your game serves two main purposes.
A business plan helps to solve the following tasks:
The business plan of the game helps to give answers to the questions:
Key points of a business plan:
Licenses and copyrights
If you want to do anything in the game, make sure:
There are a lot of license options and they need to be taken into account and understood so that there is no conflict with the story and you are not blocked from playing.
It is very important to follow the copyright: any line of the programmer’s code equals a literary work. The sound is also protected by copyright, even if it is very short.
From practice: any challenge to copyright in Europe or the United States costs from $ 50,000.
Possible consequences of violation:
Marketing plan
Key points of the marketing plan:
Production plan - how are we going to make the game?
The main points of the production plan:
For large titles, the cost of developing the game is less compared to the costs that go on promotion.
Budget
Budgeting is the process of planning future income and expenses. It helps to understand if you have enough money or not, and if enough, for how long.
A budget is a plan for future expenses and revenues.
The budget of the game - a document in which you register the investment, the cost of the game and the planned time to return on investment.
The main points of the financial plan:
What else you need to specify in the financial plan?
Financial plan
There are 2 points: the payback point and the date of return on investment. These are the most important 2 points in the graph about which you need to know and be able to calculate them.
Staff
There are visible personnel risks, and there are those that are hidden. In the example in the picture there is a problem: no one knows how to balance the game. There is also a less obvious one: only the employee number 5 can do the fill of the build. This means that if you get some critical bug, no one else can fix it. If this is an outsourced person, you need to teach someone else to do it.
Risks
Force majeure risks are things that cannot be foreseen. For such risks, it is useful to immediately put a reserve amount - a conditional $ 10,000 or 10% of the budget.
Examples of risks with the release of the game:
Game release plan
The main point of the plan is the release of the game for the business plan:
And let's summarize with you a more detailed scheme of who and why you need a business plan for the game.
In the near future we will post on our blog on Habrahabr summaries of several more lectures from our other events. Subscribe to get notified when they exit.
In the fall, we start training on the educational program “Game Project Management”, we invite you to open doors on June 28!
Business planning is the process of defining goals and ways to achieve market success.
Business plan - a plan of activities, developed in the course of business planning.
A roadmap is a document about what and when we do in order to achieve our desired future.
Well, the most important components for creating a game are money, time and people.
')
Do you need a business plan? And if so, why? How can you logically come to the answer?
To do this, you must first have an idea. Then you should evaluate your own strengths (let's call them resources, this is the most correct term) and understand whether they are enough to achieve your goal. If something is missing, you must find the missing resources. It is important to know that if you are joined by people who will help you achieve your goals, then how and when will you return the investment to them and how will you then go away and share money, fame.
Including for this purpose the business plan in which all main points will be registered is made.
Development of the game usually lasts long enough, it happens that people lose their goals and motivation. In such cases, the business plan helps a lot.
Targets and goals
The business plan of your game serves two main purposes.
- It gives the investor an answer to the question whether it is worth investing resources in this project.
- Serves as a source of information for those directly implementing the game.
A business plan helps to solve the following tasks:
- Identify the markets . This item is not the first in vain - everything else depends on it
- Long-term and short-term goals
- Responsible . It is very important in the business plan to determine the area of ​​responsibility of each participant.
- Basic KPI . Here you can write any KPI that is important to you personally or to investors.
- The cost of developing the game . It always consists of many things. This must be taken into account and have some reserves.
- Relevance of existing personnel and their motivation . Always remember that the main responsibility lies with you as the business creator.
- Marketing events
- Assessment of financial and financial situation
- Risks . You definitely do not have enough in the development process. Try to anticipate this in advance.
The business plan of the game helps to give answers to the questions:
- What is the market demand for the game and how will it change
- What resources and in what quantities will be required to develop the game
- How much will resources cost and where to find them
- What will be the performance of the game. The easiest and cheapest way to identify them is to make a soft launch.
- What can be the total income and how should it be distributed among all participants
- What to do at risk. It is important not only to write what risks you may face, but also to think about what you will do with them.
Key points of a business plan:
- Licenses. Copyright Legal features;
- Marketing plan. Competitive analysis;
- Production plan. Budgeting;
- Staff;
- Risk assessment;
- Game release plan;
- Investment plan;
- Business model
Licenses and copyrights
If you want to do anything in the game, make sure:
- That you do not violate any license agreement
- That you will and can comply with all the rules of the market and the market in which you want to exit.
There are a lot of license options and they need to be taken into account and understood so that there is no conflict with the story and you are not blocked from playing.
It is very important to follow the copyright: any line of the programmer’s code equals a literary work. The sound is also protected by copyright, even if it is very short.
From practice: any challenge to copyright in Europe or the United States costs from $ 50,000.
Possible consequences of violation:
- The game will not be released in the store
- The game will be removed from the store after you flood traffic
- The media will illuminate the game and you in a negative light
- You will be fined or you will receive a claim from the copyright holder
Marketing plan
Key points of the marketing plan:
- Determine the main market for the game
- Find out all the specifics of the main market . What is meant by this? There are cultural, social and political differences. It is very important to know them.
- Identify a niche for your game
- Find out your players . You can look at the players of competitors, collect information on the forums, read the reports of large companies and so on. It is important for you to know as much as possible about them.
- Competitors . Small companies and startups find their competitors very simple: you need to go to the site and see similar games. Big companies need more tools for this, because they need more information. The main goal is to understand what is already there and not copy it, or copy it, but do better.
- Determine your unique competitive advantage . You should immediately understand how your game will appeal to players and to emphasize this everywhere.
- Traffic and other means of promotion . The price of traffic is now very large, so you need to focus on other means of promotion: pr, social networks, messengers, viral mechanics, special projects, and so on.
- Prepare a game release plan . If it seems to someone that releasing a game is simple, he is mistaken. Unfortunately, after the release, your work is just beginning.
Production plan - how are we going to make the game?
The main points of the production plan:
- Setting and Genre
- Who needs and what you need to create a game . Who - of course, these are people, but what will be involved in the development - you need to think. First is the computer. They also often forget that the game will need to be tested, and for this you need devices. In addition, you may need tables, chairs, stands - anything
- Do not forget about the license!
- What resources do you have to create the game . If, for example, you have connections that will help you find an investment or promote a game, you need to register it
- Determine the order of use of resources . It is advisable to mark key points on your timeline. When you need to find a publisher, when you need to buy something, and so on. This will help you distribute the money.
- Determine the risks and how you will eliminate them.
- Calculate KPI games . There are calculated KPI and the one that is in fact. The more accurately you calculate the KPI, the easier it will be later
For large titles, the cost of developing the game is less compared to the costs that go on promotion.
Budget
Budgeting is the process of planning future income and expenses. It helps to understand if you have enough money or not, and if enough, for how long.
A budget is a plan for future expenses and revenues.
The budget of the game - a document in which you register the investment, the cost of the game and the planned time to return on investment.
The main points of the financial plan:
- Make a budget . The budget is so important that if you make a game without a budget, you will not be able to assess whether the game has fired or not, because you do not remember your expenses.
- Register the main sources of funding . These are the people or organizations that gave you money and your agreements with them.
- Determine financial risks and what you will do if they come
- Calculation of payback date
- Calculate the date of return on investment
What else you need to specify in the financial plan?
- Devices
- Development and associated costs
- Salary
- Room rental and everything connected with it
- Do not forget about the license!
- Cost of game development
- Cost of game promotion
- The total (total) cost of the game. It is she who lets you say whether the game was successful or not.
Financial plan
There are 2 points: the payback point and the date of return on investment. These are the most important 2 points in the graph about which you need to know and be able to calculate them.
Staff
There are visible personnel risks, and there are those that are hidden. In the example in the picture there is a problem: no one knows how to balance the game. There is also a less obvious one: only the employee number 5 can do the fill of the build. This means that if you get some critical bug, no one else can fix it. If this is an outsourced person, you need to teach someone else to do it.
Risks
Force majeure risks are things that cannot be foreseen. For such risks, it is useful to immediately put a reserve amount - a conditional $ 10,000 or 10% of the budget.
Examples of risks with the release of the game:
- Ruble exchange rate to major world currencies
- Outsource price
- License terms have changed
- Legislation has changed
- The cultural perception of your game has changed.
- Changed terms of cooperation / investment
- Care leading specialists
- Theft of your work
- Lost motivation
Game release plan
The main point of the plan is the release of the game for the business plan:
- Positioning the game on the market. Take from the marketing plan
- Portrait of Central Asia. Can be taken from Facebook Insights
- Development of the business model of the game
- Calculation of KPI games - what you considered from those indicators that you can find
- Determine the growth points and your actions on them. When your game shoots, you urgently need someone: a copywriter, CM, a marketer, etc. You must take this into account.
- Determine the ways of promotion
- Create a budget for soft launch
- Determine the soft launch date and other key dates for the project.
And let's summarize with you a more detailed scheme of who and why you need a business plan for the game.
In the near future we will post on our blog on Habrahabr summaries of several more lectures from our other events. Subscribe to get notified when they exit.
In the fall, we start training on the educational program “Game Project Management”, we invite you to open doors on June 28!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/331642/
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