> There's none of that nice, slow maturation of product and increased customer base you may get if you make, eg, bug tracking or database software, operating systems etc. Each release is potentially a very big, maybe-the-company-won't-survive flop.
What you're saying is that "VCs shouldn't invest in studio based game companies" and I think you're right. There are other development models that do not have the same schedule/single-release problems. Free to play is the first that comes to mind, just looking around at the facebook scene (where games are launched and often fall flat until someone iterates and finds the right spark, only to then watch their game blow up). Another example would be WoW. They did a lot of things right at launch but if you look at the product today it really shines from the years of public iteration it's been able to go through.
Unfortunately those development models really don't work for boxed retail console games today, so there are lots of valid reasons to work in a studio model.
What you're saying is that "VCs shouldn't invest in studio based game companies" and I think you're right. There are other development models that do not have the same schedule/single-release problems. Free to play is the first that comes to mind, just looking around at the facebook scene (where games are launched and often fall flat until someone iterates and finds the right spark, only to then watch their game blow up). Another example would be WoW. They did a lot of things right at launch but if you look at the product today it really shines from the years of public iteration it's been able to go through.
Unfortunately those development models really don't work for boxed retail console games today, so there are lots of valid reasons to work in a studio model.