Stade d'intervention: Idea

At the idea stage

Why should you do a competitive analysis for your video game?

A good study of a video game's competition allows us to analyse the features previously offered on the market and the players' reactions to them. Some of these features are appreciated by players and contribute to the success of the game, while others have the opposite effect.

Therefore, it is essential to learn about the features of competing games available on the market. Beyond price and turnover, it is crucial to determine how players feel about the features of your game. Knowing which features to prioritise maximises the game's chances of success. This information also allows you to incorporate an original component, minimising the likelihood of commercial failure.

Video game studios conduct partial competition studies

There are many ways to analyse competing video games. The most common method used by studios is to first identify games with similar themes and genres to their production. In a second step, studios estimate the sales figures of competing games and collect their press ratings on Metacritic.

This analysis allows the studio to draw inspiration from competing games that have both collected the highest rating on Metacritic and possibly sold the most copies. However, at no point is the feedback from the players analysed by the studios. This is tantamount to falsely considering that the opinion of a few journalists sums up the opinion of all the players (Article Uswitch, 2022).

BigWhoop analyses and gives you a summary of the players' comments

The BigWhoop agency offers to help you by analysing a very large number of players' comments about competing games. Our aim is to identify the features of the game that have been most appreciated or criticised. To do this, we analyse the most relevant reviews / comments available on the web such as Metacritic, Steam, Gamespot, etc.

We then aggregate all the comments consulted in a table to understand their nature and determine the aspect of the game concerned. These successive analyses allow us to calculate an appreciation rate for each aspect identified as well as their rate of appearance.

Once the competition study for your video game has been completed, our experts will provide you with the conclusions. These findings are presented in the form of a graphical summary of the characteristics of the competing games with the highest number of positive and negative reviews. These findings give you a real insight into the expectations of the players.

Bonus Stage : The competition study is an essential preliminary work to conduct a realistic market study. Be careful not to confuse a competition study with a market study. The competition study makes it possible to identify the characteristics of competing video games. Market research can determine the number of players willing to pay for your game (more about market research).

At the idea stage

Creating a business plan for your video game

The creation of a business plan is an essential step in estimating the projected costs of a video game. Quantifying these costs allows you to budget for the company's financial needs until the game is released and put on the market.

How to create a business plan for your video game

Many free business plan templates exist on the internet. This document in Excel format contains a large amount of financial information to be filled in. You must first specify, for each development phase, the production costs by category (human resources, copyright, hardware, software, hosting, transport, etc.) as well as the marketing costs (community management, website creation, video editing, advertising costs, etc.).

In a second step, the objective will be to identify funding to cover all your expenses, such as loans, seed capital, fundraising, grants, tax credits, etc.

Finally, the idea is to estimate your projected sales by conducting a plausible competitive analysis. Who are my competitors whose games are similar to my product? How many copies were sold and at what price? With what marketing budget? However, be careful: a competition analysis is not a market study. We strongly recommend that you carry out a market study to help you forecast your financing needs for the production and marketing of your video game beyond the pre-production phase (more about our market analysis method).

BigWhoop helps you draw up a business plan

Our agency offers experienced people in the video game industry to help you draw up a business plan. We have very precise information on the real cost of each expense item. This precision allows you to anticipate unforeseen events and to carry out your project in the best conditions.

In addition, we also have a thorough understanding of the various public schemes and how they work together to build a low-risk financing strategy. For example, many studios include public funding in their financing plans. This public funding is allocated according to the assessment of committees. The criteria on which these committees are based, when they exist, are subjective and depend on many parameters. Making the funding of your video game conditional on obtaining a grant carries a significant risk of the project failing.

Similarly, private funding also involves a degree of uncertainty. However, if a private investor refuses to finance you, you can go and present your project to another potential partner. The number of windows in the framework of public funding is limited.

Bonus Stage : To go further, we advise you to couple the establishment of the business plan with a financing strategy. The creation of the business plan allows you to ask yourself questions about costs and income in a global way. The funding strategy allows you to understand precisely what the rules, issues and duties are for each scheme and to make contingency plans if the initial strategy fails.

At the idea stage

Why is it necessary to adopt a strategy to finance your video game?

Determining the financing strategy for your video game from the idea phase is essential. The articulation of the different financing mechanisms allows you to anticipate the lack of money and to continue the production of the game serenely.

A good strategy also identifies different financing schemes. If the initial plan (plan "A") fails, a second plan can be immediately triggered (plan "B") without the need for an emergency dive into the various sources of funding available.

Video game developers are at a loss when it comes to funding options

Many funding mechanisms exist, both private and public. On the private side: love money, bank loans, crowdfunding, fundraising, loans of honour, business angels, publishers, early access, etc. On the public side: subsidies, loans of honour, tax relief, tax credits, etc.

To play with these funds, you first need to know the rules of the game for each. And the least we can say is that the gamedesign of funding is designed for hardcore gamers. However, knowing them well allows you to determine if they are adapted to your project and when to ask for them.

Understanding the intricacies of these financings requires long hours of research that usually ends with a "it depends". While this can be a frustrating conclusion, a good funding strategy is indeed dependent on the characteristics of your company.

BigWhoop determines the best possible strategy

The BigWhoop agency offers to help you establish a financing strategy for your video game project. Depending on your available resources, the characteristics of the project and the founders of the studio, the funding strategy will be different.

Funding levers will have a variable probability of being granted depending on whether the project is a mobile game or a PC / Console game. Monetisation is also a factor that should not be overlooked. The funding arguments for a GaaS (Game as a Service) or Premium game (purchase of the whole game) are different.

With the help of an experienced advisor (more than 10 years of experience in the video game industry), we help you understand the different financing levers and those adapted to your project. This first approach is completely free of charge and requires between one and two hours of exchange per video.

A summary with a timetable for triggering the different sources of funding can be produced on request (ask for a quote before the meeting). This summary is useful in order to change your strategy according to the events you will encounter. For example, rapid growth or, on the contrary, a longer than expected development.

We also advise you not to stop at establishing a financing strategy. Think about drawing up a business plan in order to evaluate the projected costs of your project (more about the business plan).