Monty's Minute Episode 16: How To Pitch A Game Company

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | January 3, 2013 10:47 am

6 Comments

Monty’s Minute is the video game industry insider show that answers your questions about the gaming industry.

This week:

What will the difference be in the development of graphics between consoles and PCs in the future?
Why are companies not investing in software that can spy on botting software?
Is PvE or PvP content more important for the longevity of an MMO?
What separates a ‘good’ pitch from a ‘great’ pitch?

Got a question you’d like to asky Monty? Send it to monty@gamebreaker.tv

Monty's Minute Episode 16: How To Pitch A Game Company

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=747725054 Carlos Navarretti

So the surest way to get your game idea out to a publisher is to get a job in the industry doing whatever (programmer, artist, etc) and then trying to get a pitch with an exec?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr
  
  Not necessarily. It’s showing you have the ability and know how to get things done in the industry. Every man, woman, and child on the face of the planet has 10 of the “greatest ideas since sliced bread” but those ideas don’t mean squat if you don’t have the ability to flesh them out on your own and actually show why they are the greatest idea since Wonder Bread.
  
  The indie scene has proven that you don’t need to be established within the industry itself in order to succeed, but it does show who has the real talent to make it in the industry and who shouldn’t quit their day job.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr

The question of PvE vs. PvP is an interesting one. I think
it can tie into something Monty mentioned in the hardware question – the differentiator
between your hardcore audience and all the rest. Obviously, in a game like an
MMO that is a “perpetual” game without a finite ending needs more than just the
story/leveling content to keep people engaged, however, I don’t think that
means we will see the rise of the SWG or Eve-like sandbox game. Pure sandbox is
simply a niche that will not appeal to the masses (i.e. “all the rest”) for
obvious reasons, not the least of which Monty mentioned with Eve’s learning
cliff.

Gamers today need to face reality in that the industry has
changed in the last 30 years because society has changed. Games are no longer
just for the uber-geek and hardcore, therefore if a game is going to be
successful, it needs to appeal to the masses (which include the “casual”), just
as WoW has shown. For the most part, that’s being able to jump into a game,
understand what to do, and play and be successful within the first few minutes
(without having to read a college textbook sized manual). I don’t think a
sandbox game, by nature, has the ability to do that.

This is where PvP makes an important difference, and I
consider PvP to be different from sandbox. For me, coming from the
single-player RPG’s that I have been playing since the ‘80’s, it was a long
time before I considered jumping into the MMO scene. When GW1 was released, I
found a game that I was able to enjoy and was easy to jump in, learn, and play –
and it was a pure themepark. The sticky point of the game (before titles/achievements
were released over a year later) was the PvP aspect. GW was the game that
helped me enjoy PvP (even more so after the second campaign in which the PvPvE
arenas were released) and thus have kept me playing for the 7+ years of the
game’s life, and has lead me to enjoy other MMOs as well.
- Jado Cast
  
  I can relate to everything you just said. I think a PvE game like Never Winter coming out has found a way to keep players interested without PvP by having user generated content. I also think you can put sand box elements, (maybe not a hardcore sandbox) and stil be very successful. I love sand box games and anything like customized player housing or user generated content like Rift did recently maybe the way to go. I agree hardcore sandbox will probably never be mainstream.
  
  I have the exact same experience you describe above in GW1. It was the first MMO type game (some would argue it wasn’t really an MMO but the definition has evolved over the last few years) that got me into PvP. I think there are many people that will tell you that GW1 was the first MMO and got them interested in the Genre.
http://twitter.com/Tatlreach Michael Salata

Thanks a lot for the show. This will definitely help with an upcoming pitch I have soon.
Jeremy Keat

Would be nice if consoles had upgradeable parts. People whine because they are too lazy or simple minded, and don’t want to ever touch a RAM stick and put it into their machine, as easy of a task it is or they don’t want to pay attention to upgrades offered. It would make consoles stay relevant on the top end gaming.

I have heard these statements too much so I wish to debunk them and if there is any serious, non-trivial reason to limit ourselves to a single major $500+ console upgrade every couple years please state so. No arguing for the sake if it please, because I see no serious reason this isn’t or hasn’t been done. People may not like buying PCs because of the operating system and tweaks needed, hardware upgrades aren’t what scare most serious people.

————-
“Wont we have to buy new gfx cards every 6 months?”

Well we don’t do that now so why while you need to if the consoles allowed you to upgrade, you don’t have to upgrade. Just because a new card comes out doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Heck console specific cards or maybe interchangeable with PC graphics cards can be once a year to 3 years deal.

————-
“Won’t some games be limited to certain cards?”

That is on the game developers and console makers to adapt and make their games adaptable as they do with PCs where the use dictates graphics settings. If they forced the user to buy cards based on games it would be a bad business model for them. Game developers aren’t stupid, they are good about getting past tech hurdles and have gotten past more serious ones than this.

————-
“How will we know what it takes to run a game?”

Again this is on the developer to make the game be able to run on low end BUT if not, state what is required to run the game. Game developers don’t ignore low-end user bases now why wold they start now? Reading a simple game box for the requirements of 1-3 items shouldn’t be hard for even a 1st grade kid to understand.

————–
“I’d rather spend money and worry about one system every 8 years or have to pay more.”

Well that wouldn’t change if systems could be upgraded, consoles can be mainly for new features and aesthetic design rather than the new system requirement.

Monty's Minute Episode 16: How To Pitch A Game Company

Gannon Plays Ep6:
Total Domination

After Dark Ep33:
“Xbox, Go Home”… You’re Drunk!

Patch 5.3: Blizzard’s First Ever Live Video Interview!

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