In our video series Conversations, we ask developers and industry experts for their insights into the world of gaming. At this year’s Gamescom, games guru Christopher Bergstresser was very generous in giving up his time to speak with Audiencly’s Angelo Simon about a whole range of subjects.
In this part, Chris talks about the focus you need on your primary product and the groundwork you need to put in place before diversifying into new game IP.
Investing in new IP depends entirely on where you are in your growth curve, Chris says, but he worries that some move on too quickly.
“You don’t want to just go and diversify immediately,” he explains. “You need to focus on creating a really fun game and succeed at it. Once you’re able to manage that and grow it, then you should start looking at what your next IP is and or how you might diversify that [first] game.”
It’s all too easy to get excited about new possibilities and take your eye off the main prize. Chris gives the example of e-sports which are a tremendous draw for developers but don’t work with every game.
“When I was at MTG a few years back, we got a lot of companies saying ‘we have the perfect game for e-sports’. And our response was: that’s great, but make a great game first, build that community. Once you’re over that hurdle, come back to us and we can see if there is the possibility.”
It’s not just the mechanics and artwork of a game that matter, it’s how people relate to it and the community a developer can build around it. Those things can take time and investment.
“I still meet games companies that say ‘we’re almost done with game A; we’re already prototyping game B’,” Chris says. “And you scratch your head and go ‘but you have a burn rate of X’ (and I sound like a banker). I don’t think it’s a bad idea to start looking towards the future, but I would do it in a way where you could work with Audiencly, for example, and talk to influencers and start feeding them interesting content and new design ideas, and sort of start that feedback loop early.”
That sort of advanced groundwork on a new IP prepares you better but doesn’t commit you to building the game immediately.
“You’re sort of seeding the ground for [a new game] while you’re still 90 or 95% focused on the core game you’re building.”
Check out the interview below.