http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/182962/what_do_investors_look_for_in_a_.php

I have no idea if this is the "correct" section of the dev corner to post this in since mmorpg.com seems to have done some "redesigning" since I was last in here, but in any case I figure this will be a nice read for you prospective devs out there.

You sneaky bugger you. You could have linked to the post I put in General Gaming.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/371219/What-Do-Venture-Capitalists-Look-For.html

Originally posted by lizardbones

You sneaky bugger you. You could have linked to the post I put in General Gaming.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/371219/What-Do-Venture-Capitalists-Look-For.html

If I were being sneaky, I wouldn't have told you first.

I almost didn't post it when I couldn't even find "Developers Corner" in the forum list anymore. Luckily I saw it in the sidebar.

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Originally posted by OG_Zorvan

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Originally posted by lizardbones You sneaky bugger you. You could have linked to the post I put in General Gaming. http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/371219/What-Do-Venture-Capitalists-Look-For.html

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If I were being sneaky, I wouldn't have told you first.

I almost didn't post it when I couldn't even find "Developers Corner" in the forum list anymore. Luckily I saw it in the sidebar.

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The firm I work for no longer invests in games, it was a sad day when I heard it at a meeting.

We still actively invest in already public gaming companies (else I'd be out of a job as a stock analyst). When we did invest in gam ing start-ups, we actively looked for cash shop mobile games heavily based on social media with an active server framework in order to gauge performance of key business metrics. Bottomline it has to be addictive, hardware agile, social, with an appealing cash shop.

Capitalism ho!

So to summarize:

Look for game companies with multiplatform repeatedly major successes in games, that somehow don't have money.

Ok.

Originally posted by kadepsyson

So to summarize:

Look for game companies with multiplatform repeatedly major successes in games, that somehow don't have money.

Ok.

it is called leveraging, or maximizing your debt to capital ratio. It's called smart business. Did you know Apple has an incredible amount of cash lying around yet they still borrow money.

But I can see how someone simple can interpret it as "HAVE money & success to BORROW money".

Originally posted by denshing

Capitalism ho!

Heh I had tons of fun with this game.

Originally posted by kadepsyson

So to summarize:

Look for game companies with multiplatform repeatedly major successes in games, that somehow don't have money.

Ok.

Not necessarily. I think the model is more important than the experience.

For example, if you have a game that closely follows the model of games a certain investor is known to fund, and that investor can see that even without the experience, you've made a game with mechanics that have sold repeatedly for him/her/them before, you'll have a greater chance of getting funded.

Yoy have to remember, a big part of getting investors is researching the investors themselves. Know what they like and don't like, and match your game with the investor(s) you feel your game would most likely appeal to. Don't try to sell an open-world RPG like Skyrim to a guy who deals mainly with Zynga-type games.

It's really a simple common sense concept, yet many new devs don't see it. I'm willing to bet a great number of indy devs who get frustrated and give up because they have an awesome game that was repeatedly rejected, were peddling it to people that would never identify with that type of game in the first place.