The Role of Business Model and Its Elements in Computer Game Start-ups

Vanhala, Erno; Kasurinen, Jussi

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-08738-2_6

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This naturally meant that the reviewed papers were highly reliant on case studies (e.g. Amanatiadou and Van De Weerd 2009;Cohendet and Simon 2007;McAllister and White 2015;Myllärniemi et al 2006;O'Hagan and O'Connor 2015;Vanhala and Kasurinen 2014). There were, however, some examples of research conducted on individual developers independently of any ongoing projects or studio work that dealt with experiences and attitudes towards their craft in a more general sense (e.g.…”

Section: Research Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overview of the themes, and the papers from which they emerged 2007), Nandhakumar (2008, 2009), Tschang and Szczypula (2006), Wang and Nordmark (2015) Testing and player experience Cohendet and Simon (2007), Hodgson and Briand (2013), 2006), Wang and Nordmark (2015), Zackariasson et al (2006) Documentation and shared objects for collaboration Alves et al (2007), Cohendet and Simon (2007), , Murphy-Hill et al (2014), Stacey and Nandhakumar (2009), Tran and Biddle (2008), Wang and Nordmark (2015), Wimmer and Sitnikova (2011) The tools used in game development , 2009), Stacey and Nandhakumar ( 2009), Wang and Nordmark (2015), Vanhala and Kasurinen (2014) Requirements, structure and formalization Alves et al (2007), Cohendet and Simon (2007), Hodgson and Briand (2013), McAllister and White (2015),…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dormans 2012;Srisuriyasavad and Prompoon 2013); and project management and planning research are argued to be suitable approaches for solving challenges inherent in game development (e.g. McGregor 2013;Trantow et al 2013;Vallance 2014;Vanhala and Kasurinen 2014). A persistent issue within this research field, however, is that such studies are rarely carried out by, or with input from, practitioners and experts from the games industry, and a large portion of literature on game development thus 1 3…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Empirically Based Research Tells Us About Game Development

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This paper reviews empirically grounded research on practices in game development with the intent to give a comprehensive overview of contemporary development practices used in the video game industry. While there are many intangible elements that inform game development processes, this review specifically covers the more immediate practical challenges. The review covers a total of 48 papers published between 2006 and 2016, which were all subjected to thematic analysis by three reviewers. The results of the review show that an almost universal characteristic of game development is that it is almost impossible to accurately plan a development project in detail, largely due to the soft requirements inherent in game production which emerge mid-process during development projects, during when testing is coupled with continuous ideation and refinement. Practicing game developers have created their own frameworks that accommodate for this lack of planning. They include flat hierarchies, democratic decision-making, creative autonomy, and informal communication, which are designed to create an environment that maintains creativity and openness to product changes long into the production process. These frameworks vary significantly between studios and often between individual projects. This review also shows that the term ‘Agile’, while often used by both researchers and developers to characterize the process of game development, is not an apt descriptor of how game developers actually work. Agile is used as shorthand for unstructured and flexible development, rather than serving as a descriptor of a definable or unified work method. Finally, as companies develop more complicated hierarchies of stakeholders and staff, the desired flexibility and autonomy of game development becomes increasingly complicated to maintain, and often necessitates more formalized management processes and company structures. In these cases, inherent tensions of game development become more pronounced, and continuous creativity is hard to maintain due to a growing need to formalize processes.

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Section: Research Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Empirically Based Research Tells Us About Game Development

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“…Vanhala and Kasurinen (2014) used AHP analysis to rank the key elements of the business model of computer game start-ups. To this end, a survey of nine experts on computer games were interviewed and the key factors were human capital, marketing, and partners [35]. AHP analysis is applied not only to the medical device industry but also to the research for establishing the start-ups business model and is used to derive the relative importance of evaluation items in various fields.…”

Section: Analytic Hierarchy Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Are the Features of Successful Medical Device Start-Ups? Evidence from KOREA

2019

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This study analyzes the factors determining the success of medical device start-ups, focusing on the healthcare sector as the starting point of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The government is also working to establish a business model to revitalize medical device start-ups as a new driving force for the economy. Accordingly, such start-ups based on innovative technologies have been actively developed, but it seems that there is a limit to growth. We employed an analytical hierarchy process to derive an activation strategy for medical device start-ups. A survey was administered to experts in such start-ups, including medical device companies and venture capital firms, prospective start-up entrepreneurs, medical device developers, and professors. A total of 18 responses were obtained for analysis. The results revealed the following priorities for the success of medical device start-ups: technical skills, marketability, entrepreneurial capacity, and funding. In addition, medical device and venture capital firms were divided into separate groups and compared and analyzed. Technical skills are considered a priority for those in the medical industry. However, entrepreneurial skills are a priority for venture capitalists. Based on these results, we suggest measures for the success of medical device start-ups.

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“…Both game development and software development share several features, such as programming work, design and testing practices, but game development includes also a bigger portion of creative work, similar to what can be found in music and movie industry (Blow, 2004). Computer games are also intangible products (Rus and Lindvall, 2002) that means, for example, that companies have no high starting cost but people can start a "hobby project" that can lead to serious business if considered suitable; the most important resource of a computer game organization is the intellectual capital (Vanhala and Kasurinen, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of computer game developer organizations

Vanhala

Kasurinen

Smolander

2015

Journal of Advances in Management Research

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify the peculiarity of computer game organizations and their human resources. It presents a stage model including four phases covering the growth from demo group to full business. This study extends the research on how computer game organizations are formed and what it takes them to grow to financially self-sufficient. The study also broadens the understanding of the beginning phase of an organization. Design/methodology/approach -The paper utilizes the grounded theory research method with 34 interview sessions among 11 computer game organizations. The interviewed persons include chief executive officers, designers and developers. Findings -This paper presents empirical findings on what a computer game organization go through when they evolve from demo group phase, which is not discussed in existing literature, to full business. The authors observed that the core team is formed over a game designer and one or more developers. The team fortifies as the organization moves onwards to next phases. At the same time its reliance on partners and outsourcing changes to need based. Research limitations/implications -As this is a qualitative study the observations are directly applicable only in the context of observed organizations. In the other context they are merely suggestions. Practical implications -The study presents concrete growth model that can be utilized when building a computer game organization. Originality/value -This paper illustrates the specialty of computer game organizations and their growth process. It also presents discussion of the beginning phase of organizations.

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The Role of Business Model and Its Elements in Computer Game Start-ups

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

What Empirically Based Research Tells Us About Game Development

What Empirically Based Research Tells Us About Game Development

What Are the Features of Successful Medical Device Start-Ups? Evidence from KOREA

Evolution of computer game developer organizations

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