Switch industry – Games
Switch industry – games
- pro – I know pretty much all aspects of the business already – varied experience might open doors
- pro – love games
- con – love games might get disillusioned
- con – dunno which bit to go into, must ponder this
Up in the Atmosphere 
Do you know Adam Fowler? Lives in Edinburgh works for Rockstar doing GTA games etc. Can put you in touch if you want to pick his brains.
Maybe mix up some of the streams – get into digital advertising in games perhaps – this is new/developing and might work with your visionary skills to carve something new.
Would you like an intro to Simon Oliver — guy behind Rolando (if you don’t already know him)
He’s really pushing the boundaries of cottage-industry game development — and making money. So the iPhone’s one way.
The other is to take a look at things that Zynga is doing.
Don’t think there’s a lot of room for anyone in the console market… could be wrong.
Games are interesting, but can require a large outlay. Possibly the biggest success story is Popcap and their ‘casual games’. They sell a lot more than you’d think and take almost next to nothing to produce, it’s a good ‘in’ on the industry.
Another way ‘in’: You can make a game based on a game (with permission of course) e.g. Web Wars: EVE by John Galt Games.
The guy did spend a couple of years previously making social gaming ‘casual’ games in Korea, and previous to that he ran one of the biggest EVE corps – so he knew his subject matter.
Web MMO’s seem to be a big thing, difficult to really see the monetization – you’ve got the whole micro payment lark and I guess these games can be big in Asia. I did have an idea around this many years ago I’d be happy talking to you about.