1. FACING THE ONE-GAME
STUDIO CHALLENGE

2. COMPANIES WITH
ONE SUCCESSFUL HIT
You’ve probably seen…

3. WHO STRUGGLE TO
SUCCEED ANOTHER
GAME
But…

4. WE’RE ONE OF THESE
COMPANIES 
If you don’t know one, well…

5. You probably know our first game

6. We had our set of failures or semi-successes

7. Let’s share some thoughts on failures 

8. WHY IS IT AN ISSUE ?

9. FOCUSING ON ONE
GAME IS OK
In some ways

10. COMMUNITY-BASED
GAMES CAN THRIVE
FOR LONG TIME

11. 1/ GOOD PRODUCT
AND COMMUNITY
MANAGEMENT
As long as :

12. 2/ FOLLOW TECH
AND PLATFORMS
SHIFTS
And…

13. That’s how we’ve been in business for 8 years
Fine, but…

14. VIDEO GAME IS
A HIT DRIVEN
BUSINESS
Like it or not
Technology business yes, but still hit driven

15. CHANGE OF
TECHNOLOGY
(ONLINE/WEB)
Think of it…

16. CHANGE OF
BUSINESS MODEL
(FREE-2-PLAY)
Think of it…

17. CREATIVE RISK
REMAINS!
But still…
It’s not only originality,
but team/project alchimy too

18. F2P JUST GIVES
MORE TIME TO FACE
THIS CHALLENGE
We can’t fool ourself

19. MUST MASTER THE
CREATIVE RISK OF
THIS BUSINESS
To survive in the long term

20. WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT ?

21. FOCUSED ON THE
SUCCESSFUL GAME
1) Main reason is we are
It’s where money is…

22. SUCCEEDING
A 2ND GAME IS
A NICE TO HAVE
When you have a successful game
Not as critical to survive as succeeding the 1st

23. 100% ENERGY &
ATTENTION
As long as you don’t devote
You’re less likely to succeed

24. HOW RESSOURCES
ARE SHARED ?
2) Even with best intentions to succeed

25. BEST TALENTS ON
FIRST SUCCESFUL
GAME
Again, it’s tempting to have

26. ENOUGH TALENTS
FOR 2 PROJECTS
It takes time & scale to have
And the right management for this

27. IT TAKES 10 YEARS
TO BUILD A STUDIO
As the saying goes
A studio with constant quality

28. DO YOU REALLY
LEARN FROM
FAILURES?
3) Let’s be honest

29. MOVE ON THE NEXT
NEW COOL IDEA
Easier to
And forget about project mgt & HR issues

30. REAL LEARNING
PROCESSES
Need a
I.E exhaustive post-mortems

31. WHAT IS THE RISK ?

32. FLAT GROWTH OR
REVENUE FALL
Obvious main risks are
Risk of bankrupt at some point!

33. TWO SOLUTIONS
In this context (or rather before)

34. A NEW GAME TO
RENEW ACTIVITY
Manage to create

35. SELL BEFORE
IT’S LATE
Or…
Go to a bigger house for long term visibility

36. WE DID BOTH 
At Owlient

37. TRIED 9 PRODUCTS
AFTER HOWRSE
None of them brought significant revenues
Since 2005 we

38. SOLD TO UBISOFT
For a long term visibility to raise studio
competency without risking a bankrupt
In 2011

39. WE KEEP TRYING!
We have two new projects currently
By the way

41. Beta is coming up next week 

42. WE ARE CREATIVE
PEOPLE 
Can’t stop trying new ideas
Why do you keep trying ???

43. CONCLUSION

44. STARTUP
INVESTMENTS
Another similar hit driven business is
Must read: paulgraham.com/swan.html

45. 1000X VARIATION
FOR BIG WINNERS
Learning from Y Combinator
Such as Dropbox & AirBnB (B$ valuation)

46. « COST OF DOING
BUSINESS »
As Graham says, other startups are just
In a purely financial view 

47. FAILURES ARE JUST
COST OF FINDING A
BIG HIT, SOMETIMES
Back to our video game issues, it means
Just business, don’t take it personnaly 

48. ENJOY YOUR FAILURES,
IT’S PART OF THE GAME
Thanks 
Olivier Issaly
@oissaly / kiad.org
So keep faith and