Game Development Ecosystem
Author of this post: Beth A. Dillon | About Blog Authors »
For all of you independent game developers out there, it ain’t always easy finding funding, especially for avant garde or experimental games. That’s where GCube Ventures, an investment firm for interactive entertainment, steps in. Managing Director Shiraz Akmal, formerly from THQ, filled us in on the details of this unique form of financial support for a “gaming ecosystem” from content development to publishing to distribution.
Where did the name GCube Ventures come from?
We were looking for a name that represented our global investment strategy targeting the interactive entertainment and gaming ecosystem. Initially, our working title was the Global Game Group, which eventually transformed into GCube Ventures.
What motivated you to move into financially supporting game development?
It was a matter of listening to the needs of game and game-related companies around the world. They felt that the investment community generally had a tough time understanding their business and deemed them too risky to invest in. Founding GCube was an opportunity to fill this need, and at the same time, evolve my career by continuing to focus on the game industry. By teaming up with my partner, who has incredible venture and investment experience, we have been able to build an investment firm that has a 360 degree understanding of the aspects required to build a successful business in the game ecosystem.
I came from within the industry, having shipped games, built studios, and expanded publishing and production operations around the world. I am also an entrepreneur myself. I gained the experiences and relationships needed to understand and appreciate the challenges that many types of businesses are faced with in order to survive in this industry.
My past experiences at THQ and prior companies gave me a broad understanding and perspective which ultimately led to our investment strategy – focusing on the global game community.
In my new position as Managing Director of GCube Ventures, I have the ability to support multiple companies. I help address their local and global challenges and find ways for them to survive and prosper the interactive entertainment. Today, GCube has a strong deal flow that represents all facets of the interactive entertainment industry, including gaming.
What kinds of games are you most interested in helping?
The great thing about GCube is that we focus on companies from all sectors of the interactive entertainment space, not just games and content. In fact, we are interested in a range of companies and products in and outside of the traditional game development sector. What we are really looking for are companies that have the potential to grow into the great global businesses of tomorrow. This includes often overlooked middleware and outsourcing companies, digital distribution companies, and companies that run online games. Even companies that offer billing systems that go into online games pose interesting investment opportunities. Game developers and content creators are just two of the thirteen sectors that make up the game ecosystem that we target.
How do you feel about independent game developers?
I think independent game developers are a great asset. Today, most major publishers and media companies are transforming into merger and acquisition machines. They are buying up smaller proven companies and using their branding and distribution to capitalize on them. This poses the greatest opportunity for independent developers, and becomes the backbone for developing the innovative products required to fuel the growth of the interactive entertainment industry and satisfy the appetites of the larger companies. We want to encourage the growth of more innovation which includes investing in indie developers who are coming out with exciting and fresh ideas. GCube can provide independent developers with investment and strategic support in order to grow their business models to a global scale. That expansion is very interesting to me, especially as a member of the IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association) for several years now.
What recommendations do you have for people interested in developing with the help of GCube Ventures?
Connect with a firm like GCube earlier rather than later so you can get help putting a strategy in place that maximizes the investment dollars that are needed for building a successful product and company. It’s also important to remember that GCube invests in the people that are behind the companies, not just the ideas.
What I recommend for anyone in the interactive entertainment space that is interested in working with us is to take the time to develop a business plan. A large percentage of the companies that come to us looking for support in growing their business do not consider how they are going to distribute and monetize the product. They have general ideas, such as putting a product online or trying to find a publisher, but that’s where it ends. In order to give your company the best chance for success, you need to think about building your business not just a great product. Without a revenue and distribution plan it is difficult and risky for a company to make its money back on all of the time and effort that was put into it in the first place. The best business plans are well thought out and communicate what the company wants to builds. They should describe the core team’s assets, what capital the company needs, what the distribution strategy is, who the competitors are, and what key milestones need to be met. Plans that include that allow us to quickly assess whether this is an investment that we’d be interested in.
What are your hopes for the future of game industry?
Clearly the future is bright. Right now, the interactive entertainment industry is one of the fastest industries in the world. It’s expanding into other sectors and new regions of the world where people are getting exposed to it for the first time. Mass globalization, broad-band penetration and mobile adoption are allowing players from around the world to connect and interact in new ways. I think that is a really positive trend for people in our business and I don’t see it slowing down.
I also think that it is becoming easier for people to get involved in the interactive entertainment industry around the world because the massive growth is creating more opportunities to create and expand businesses globally. For example, the video games business is shifting from retail to online. Markets including the U.S. and Europe are rapidly adopting online models popular in Asia. Today, games are becoming a social platform so there are going to be much more interesting innovations and possibilities to expand the definition of interactive entertainment.
I would love to see these trends continue to grow and expand around the world. The interactive entertainment market is posed for great expansion. I hope that ultimately a game related company becomes the next media giant of tomorrow. My guess is that time is right around the corner.
