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The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry

Session Name: 60-Minute MBA
Speaker(s): Scott Corley, Scott Corley, Scott Corley, Scott Corley
Company Name(s): Red Mercury, LLC, , ,
Track / Format: Audio
Overview: Experience a two-year MBA program in 60 minutes. Game developers are creators at heart, but we can only survive to create more if we get a handle on the business. We enter the video game industry with stars in our eyes, and the greatest of intentions in our hearts, ready to embark on a career making our creative visions come to life. But whether you work for a large publisher, a small developer, or yourself, it doesnt take long to learn that games need to make money. Anybody who wants a long career in the game industry needs to understand how businesses are run, how they make money, and how to help them make more money. In large companies, game creators may get frustrated by the decisions that their managers make. The frustration may or may not be justified would you make the same decisions if you were managing the company? If you criticize a decision, can you suggest a better alternative that can actually be implemented? Once you have a good understanding of what the goals and capabilities of the business are, you can credibly critique decisions, suggest business strategies, and avoid misplaced frustration. For small companies, important business issues may be ignored entirely. In your 5-person company, does your library of business books match up to your collection of Game Programming Gems books? Do you know how you are going to make money, and what your options are if you dont?

This overview touches on finance, operations, marketing, and negotiation to give game developers an initial foothold in the lifelong climb of understanding how their businesses work, and how to make them work better.

GDC 2006

Scott Corley

Red Mercury, LLC

Scott Corley

Scott Corley

Scott Corley

free content

Audio

Audio