Ask HN: Has anybody here ever successfully started a videogame company?

Generally:

* Keep things small and focused.

* Make games, not game engines.

* Keep control of your revenue streams early on. Sell the game yourself and consider platforms such as Steam or XBLA bonuses. If you can't sustain yourself without those platforms you probably won't make it. Use that extra revenue for expansion of your studio or your ambition.

* Marketing and PR should be a primary focus, alongside game development.

* Scope scope scope. If you're first product is an MMO you'll fail. If you think your first few products will be able to compete with anything on a store shelf you'll fail. A good game with personality is not dependent on your underlying tech nor does it require novels of content. That's why many of the successful indies start with 2D games drenched with style. A good game is a good game.

The main reason is that it is such a hit driven industry, which means that most companies live from hit to hit, until the moment they have a failure. At that point, most companies close down, as they can't afford a new production and may not be lucky enough to get a publisher deal early on.

The problem is that it is hit driven industry, and this is true no matter if you make AAA games like Gears of War or Halo, or if you make small iphone games or middle-sized games on Steam or XBLA. The sales numbers drop sharply as you move away from the top selling games and it is extremely hard to stay in the top for very long.

Publishers are essentially the VCs of the games industry, and have enough money to spread their risk, as they know 80% of their projects will fail.

Another problem with game production, is that you don't really need that many people early on, when you are still figuring out what game you are making. Then slowly as you enter production, you ramp up the time. This is also the same reason, that so many people are often laid off after a game comes out. There is no longer a need for all those people in the company.

What I think really needs to happen, is for games companies to become more like movie production companies, where a team is assembled as needed and can be dispersed with no hard feelings after the production. The production of a game, also becomes a much more measured risk this way.

Great for two people. Not enough for much more. Let's see what happens after we release additional content, in-app purchases, and another game! We have some tricks up our sleeves and we love making our players happy.

We have an ad in the free Android version that users can remove by completing an in-app purchase for 99 cents. So we make a little bit of money from each Android user.

I hope we keep pleasing our users and making more money so we can build more great games.

You should take another look at Unity when v3.5 launches - they have made some advancements and fixes that are targeted for larger projects[2]. I can't wait for a better gui system and native lod support!

As for the negatives, so far I have only found the documentation to be lacking on some fronts (specifically regarding the terrain engine).

[1] http://trailsgame.com/

[2] http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Unite-11-Unity-35-De...