The GameDev Business Handbook

by Michael Futter, Mike Bithell (Foreword)

The GameDev Business Handbook is an instructional guide for creating and sustaining your independent video game studio. It features interviews with more than 25 prominent members of the video game industry, including Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail, Capybara Games’ Nathan Vella, Romero Games’ Brenda Romero, video game attorney Ryan Morrison, Klei Entertainment’s Jamie Cheng, Supergiant Games’ Amir Rao, Harebrained Schemes’ Jordan Weisman, Ninja Theory’s Nina Kristensen and many, many more. The Handbook features expert guidance and in-the-trenches anecdotes on budgeting and finance (complete with links to downloadable worksheets), incorporation, contracts and employment, intellectual property, press and public relations. If you’re considering crowdfunding, early access, or pursuing a licensed property, The GameDev Business Handbook can help steer you toward success. The book features triumphant stories and cautionary tales, with advice from those who have been where you want to go. Built with love, The GameDev Business Handbook is crafted with guidance from game industry those who produce games, attend every show, help other developers every day, and aspire to support a better environment for game production. These are the experts who make the games industry a better place for the next generation.

Genres: Game Design, Business, Video Games, Nonfiction, Games

315 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2017

Reviews

[Diego]

Eh, tú, que estás leyendo esta reseña. ¿Quieres hacer videojuegos? ¿Es por eso por lo que estás aquí? ¿Estás chequeando si esto vale la pena? Déjame decirte que sí, vale la pena. Hay ciertas partes que aplica solo a USA o UK, pero es lo bastante listo como para dar consejo generalista incluso ahí. Está más enfocado a cómo y qué necesitas para montar una empresa UNA VEZ ya tienes pensado el proyecto. Otras partes son un poco raras o se me quedan fuera de lugar (como el capítulo sobre IPs externas o Early Access), pero por lo general es bastante bueno para que nos tomemos de una vez en serio que hacer videojuegos es un 20% hacer videojuegos y un 80% hacer movidas alrededor de hacer videojuegos.

Si vas por tu cuenta, claro.

Ahora bien, ¿por qué querría nadie hacer videojuegos? Y, es más, ¿por qué querría nadie hacerlos por su cuenta? Por dios bendito, deja de leer, huye, invierte en Bitcoin, especula con vivienda, búscate la vida en el tráfico de influencias, yo qué sé. Te irá mejor y te será más útil que hacer videojuegos.

Ahora, si quieres hacer videojuegos, este libro se antoja imprescindible.

[Zhiming Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book IS NOT about making better games. In the foreword, Mike Bithell explains that there are plenty of books out there on how to make good games so this is not trying to be that.
This book IS about the many other things around game development that does not involve making the game; which, whether they know it or not, is something that independent developers are notorious for neglecting, myself included.

This book is great introduction to the business of game development. Covering a wide range of topics which are relevant to the game industry today; including modern PR practices, crowdfunding, early access and a more sensible view to crunch. Probably the most valuable part of the book is the first hand insights and experiences from game businesses who have been there and done that. However, it is a lot for a single book to cover and I was left with more questions than answers once I was done reading. Thankfully, it was these questions that spurred me on to try make better business decisions behind my games and learn for myself, using the knowledge laid out by this book, what that means for my business. That is the outcome that Michael has designed for this book.

[Jaysen Huculak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best crash course in running a game studio ever written. It is succinct, efficient and effective.

This book takes you on a journey through all the aspects of running a game company. It highlights all the business work involved. The interviews read like you're getting their insights beamed into your brain. Given the breadth of topics covered don't expect deep technical depth but rather advice on who to lean on. Having been through studio startups the first chapters are very on point and cover my own experience. The later chapters cover a lot of how the business has changed in the last 10-15 years.

Who is this book for?
I thought the audience for this book would be limited. How many people think about starting a studio? After reading this book I changed my opinion. This book is for anyone interested in how the game business works at any level. I would recommend it to anyone considering working in or running a game business.

I haven't even gone through the online portions of the book yet but do plan to.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a lot of good advice regarding accounting, licensing, and the legal process of starting your own business in the context of the game industry.

Definitely a recommendation for those of you who are thinking of entering the game industry.

As someone who has worked in games for a couple years, I personally wanted to hear more about effective marketing methods in this book. There was a chapter about how to deal with the press, and that was fine, but I was looking for something that has data and graphs about best practices for marketing, and that unfortunately was not included here.

Regardless, still a nice book to read to learn more about common business practices in the game industry.

With how fast things have changed since the original publication date of 2017, this book would benefit from getting updated to a 2nd edition.

[Kevin Kohler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty light easy read with a good range of relevant topics. Not all sections will apply to everyone, so reading it cover to cover probably wont make sense for most people. The most interesting content tended to be excerpts from interviews with well known game developers giving advice and stories from the trenches. As someone who has been to several talks on how to start a game dev business, much of the content was more refresher than anything astonishing and new, but it was well laid out and went into better depth in some places.

[Ondrej David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good surface level overview

Goes through the various business whims of being a game developer or running a studio. Good lessons from good people.

It’s dearly missing a deeper insight. With all the quoted names attached I wish there was more stories. Internal odd-case stories that no one might run into, but would illustrate the uniqueness and how the lessons preached helped out. One case where we get this is the GDC copyright infringement youngling being a smartass.

[Naseer Alkhouri]

A bit too US/UK focused, but lots of food for thought. No regrets over reading it.

[Isaac Andres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible in-depth book about game dev and the financial/legal aspect of it. I totally recommend it.

[Dave Applegate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book would be a 4/5 or 5/5 for an individual w/ no business background. The book gives a overview of different business aspects involved in opening a game dev studio. Most of the advice is pretty good, especially the excerpts from industry veterans. I don't agree w/ the author on some points though like negotiation strategy. I feel like somebody told him he needed to write a chapter on it and he found some boilerplate content.