Feature: 'Building A Successful Game Business: The People'

How do you build a successful game business from scratch? In the first part of a high-level feature series, veteran exec Clarinda Merripen, formerly of Cyberlore and Cryptic Studios, explains why the best game companies "...encourage their business side to flourish with the same creativity and passion seen in their games." As she begins the article, Merripen explains why “the first step in creating a successful business is to make sure a company has the right roles and that they are filled with the right people,” and offers why this is such a problem within the video game industry: The game industry has a higher than normal set of the right people in the wrong places. Creative people start game studios, often just out of college. While possessing a great deal of enthusiasm and talent, they rarely share the same desire for negotiation, operations, finance, management or operations. Often people at the top get shoved into roles they don’t want to do, or aren’t suited to do. In startups, the CEO is often the lead “something” at a company – a person with passion for designing, programming or art. This person is the idea or money person, though rarely is it someone who loves business. Business becomes the expedient for the expression of the creative side. While romantic, it’s a disastrous notion and an early death knell for a company. The CEO, corporate board and top executives must have the same passion for business as the devs have for games.” You can now read the complete feature, including more from Merripen on the importance of having executives in roles that suit their talents and passions, noting that while it's certainly possible to survive “well enough” without doing this, it's more difficult to thrive (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).