Starbreeze Studios business analysis on gamedev.net

Today there is an article up on gamedev.net which analyzes the business strategy of Starbreeze Studios, the company which brought you the games “Chronicles of Riddick” and “The Darkness”. While I can’t help escaping the feeling that this piece was written as an exercise for an MBA program (the author’s background is not detailed), it does a very good job of outlining some of the fundamental risks a small game studio faces.
The short article is a very good read for anyone considering starting their own studio. It asks the big question, “how do you minimize your risk if your primary cash flow is from work for hire, the projects take multiple years to develop, and the chance of backend royalties is slight?”, and then discusses some of the possible solutions, including downloadable content and licensing one’s game engine.
Nice piece, gamedev.net!