It's been a while since I last posted on BGDF, but it's been an absence that has come into some very exciting possibilities. Therein lies the question, however.
I have managed to connect with an investor and businessman who is interested in working with me to start up a game company. The goal is to construct a full-service shop: design the game and its packaging, market the game, publish it, and distribute it, all using internal resources and connections. It's a huge undertaking, so I'm currently trying to gather as much input as possible about the behemoth we're about to take on.
I'm stoked at the opportunity, but also a bit overwhelmed at the size of the whole venture. I've been tasked with researching the costs and requirements involved in the production of a game once it's graduated from playable prototype to burgeoning retail box. Because game design is not currently my field of employment (much to my dismay), I really am somewhat at a loss as to where to start and what resources are out there for things like market research and determining industry trends. These forums have been amazing at helping with links to printers, packaging companies, and the like, but I'm having a dickens of a time getting solid financial information together to present to my potential investor.
To those of you who are currently in the games industry, be it on the retail or design side, or anyone who happens to know, for that matter: where can a guy go to get some solid data on what games are selling, what genres and/or licenses are carrying the most sales, and what sort of business models are the most successful in this industry?
I'm really very excited about the potential of this venture, so any help you folks can provide would be amazingly helpful. I apologize if I've overlooked an older thread that might've dealt with this; I did a cursory search and didn't find anything that directly answered my questions.
(Mods: if you think this would be better placed in another forum, please feel free to nudge it about as you see fit. I'm not really sure where to place it; publication was my best guess.)
