Gaming Entrepreneurs: Do They Exist?
In a word: Yes.
The industry was created by an entrepreneurial inventor: Ralph Baer, who is regarded as the “Father of the Video Game.” By the industry’s very definition as a highly technical, entertainment driven industry, video games are an entrepreneurial endeavor. Video games may be a $100 Billion industry, but that does not mean that the corporate environment of AAA developers is the beginning and end of the industry ecosystem. In fact, it is just the opposite. One of the fastest growing areas and increasingly popularized parts of the video game industry is “Indie Gaming” — video games made by independent game developers. Independent developers are traditionally individuals or very small (2–4) person teams, depending on the size of the studio, who pursue their own financial investment in the pursuit of making their own video game. These video games can be traditional gaming experiences, or they can be highly experimental in their gameplay mechanics or innovative in terms of the medium that they use (right now that skews towards Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality gaming experiences). Moreover, the independent developers working on these games take on the majority if not the entirety of the financial and development risks associated with making these games. In those ways, much like a traditional entrepreneur creates a start-up around a new product or service, independent game developers are creating their own entrepreneurial venture around the game of their choice.
But does that mean all independent game developers are entrepreneurs?
Yes and no. That comes down to a matter of perspective.
For example, Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft and Founder of Mojang, which Microsoft bought for $2.5 Billion has said,
“I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”
For all intents and purposes, Markus is an entrepreneur even though he might say that his story is that of a programmer. If you reduce Markus’ story down to the plot points, you can say that Markus: 1) Developed an idea, 2) Iterated on the idea and made it a product (a video game), 3) sold the game to people, 4) developed it into a business (further developed the game throughout its life cycle), and 5) Got Bought out by a Larger Firm.
The evolution of Mojang and Minecraft parallel the Five Stages of a Business Life Cycle (Source: Neil Petch, Contributor to Entrepreneur.com — https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271290):
- Seed and Development
- Startup
- Growth and Establishment
- Expansion
- Maturity and Possible Exit.
But Markus would likely respond to this argument by saying that he does not see himself as an entrepreneur or a business-type, so it does not matter. If Markus said this, he would be right.
In all things entrepreneurial, perspective matters.
This is why when I posed the question, “Gaming Entrepreneurs: Do they exist?” my answer was yes.
Gaming entrepreneurs can and do exist, but the real difference between independent developers (who perceive themselves as simply “artists”) and gaming entrepreneurs is their mindset. To quote Blake Edwards (Player Relations Specialist, Riot Games):
“Indie developers are following a passion for a game or a genre and want to work on that game with more freedom then they would be allowed in a larger enterprise. Many of the Indie game studios don’t remain indie forever and they eventually grow into a larger company with all of the benefits. Then the cycle starts again!”
In gaming entrepreneurship, perspective matters. The paradigm shift between seeing oneself as an artist or a programmer and an entrepreneur can make all the difference when it comes to defining success and being successful in the video game industry.
