Business Plan - Video Game Venture Capitalists: LightSpeed Venture Partners & Joystick Labs

         What is venture capital, you might ask? Why could it be important to video game companies? Neither needs a detailed answer. It's all rather straightforward – games cost money, lots of it. Video game venture capitalists have the ability to get a developer out the door, and with every higher layoffs and closing studios within the last year, an investor has the potential to be the solution.

This money ain't free - but it sure beats loans

         With companies like Lightspeed Venture Partners, or Joystick Labs developers have legitimate opportunities beyond selling the dream on places like Kickstarter – though that has indeed, become a powerful launching platform. In the case of Lightspeed, whom, over the past 20 years has backed a couple hundred start-ups, has managed to secure themselves an impressive foothold in the realm of technology industries – not just games.

         An article on Gamasutra, goes over the key elements that these venture capitalists are looking for, and it makes for rather pertinent reading material. Things like the quality of an assembled team, and the ability to leverage elements of a good game, into creating new games via 'unfair advantage' – a common term for using what it is that people like about your product/service into future products to give you, for all intents and purposes, a direct advantage over your competition. If you play a lot of MMO's of the Korean or Chinese flavor, you'll note this is a very direct and common strategy. Additionally, they expect to see companies use co-opting and cross-promotion techniques in order to promote products and increase monetization.

Friends to gaming companies and other shady business, everywhere

         Honestly, I can understand the reason behind Lightspeed Venture Partners' belief in these Key strategies. They let you know a company has more than their game itself, on the brain – that they're thinking of how to monetize their product not just at the shipping point, but for improved longevity beyond. As they're an investment company that prefers mobile/social space with respect to games investment, it's any wonder knowing how to leverage your market, and improve product longevity in the form of 'services' is of paramount importance.

         Joystick Labs, however, is a bit different. What started as a promising accelerator program for getting digitally distributed gaming companies off the ground, has already begun to close up shop. In a way, they remind me of people who like the “idea” of something, rather than the actual execution of it. Built to help the seed-stage of companies, and beyond, the Joystick labs aspired to use the Triangle – an area which has as many as 50 gaming companies as a community, across the Carolina's, in which their belief in quality teams (similar to Lightspeed) is of paramount importance. Rather than a focus of during-development, they work toward getting developers a chance to come together and get up-and-running. Their belief-spectrum in turn revolves around elements such as workforce supply – such as from universities and collegiate areas that are local. With the belief in mentorship, and a heavy presence in educating and networking those start-ups, they did something a little different that tried to give hope to would-be gaming companies – certainly, something we could see more of.

They came, they saw...they shut down?

         For whatever reason, however, they closed down in 2012, noting that they stopped applications but were still helping the few companies they invested in during 2010/2011. While I can certainly get behind what it is they were trying to do, it begs the question, was it the right method? What actually is necessary regarding mentorship, education, and network in the context of monetization, and after-release shelf-life of a product? What separates these two companies – one might suggest a more competent level of forethought. After all, Lightspeed is still here to stay, and thanks to them, I'm able to keep blowing hours on just about everything companies like Kongregate put out, so it's not all bad.

Virtual Reality worlds and their resurgence via The Oculus Rift.

        The Oculus Rift A technological marvel. Virtual reality, now at its finest apparently. Virtual reality glasses are certainly becoming popular, and with trending topics relating to 3D for the modern era (3D vision for your desktop, and the idea of Google Glass virtual HUD on the go) has created a notable resurgence. With the amazing things they can achieve, it's more of a wonder they aren't used for more pragmatic solutions. Which brings me to why a seemingly niche technology (for entertainment) which utterly failed in the 90's is somewhat current and relevant in today's world.

Lawnmower man - apparent pinnacle of VR awesomeness...Not.

         Throughout the 90's there was a mass surge in virtual reality, and virtual reality glasses. You practically couldn't get through a movie without running into someone regarding the technology. It would appear, I'm not the only one with that sentiment. The over-aching problems, I firmly believe, are rooted in a lack of a standardized platform, no professional applications or or actual OS support/Interface design – and certainly from an economic standpoint – lack of a major backer. None of the big players really took it on, the wide variance of platforms, no applications that were designed to interface with virtual reality – cert iWear VR920 can go for under $500.

ainly no legitimate interface to speak of – all of this combined to make a very hard sell. Of course, with the price points (Which I remember sets going for 5 to 10 thousand when i was a kid in the 90's), it just wasn't meant to be. However, the sad part is the average display today, which only shows 800x600 is around $1000-$1,500 USD, though cheaper end models, such as the

Back...to the Future..wait, what?

         Of course, with all those negatives, in a manner of speaking, its any wonder it's something that still excites people, particularly in this day and age. Amazing technology, thanks to Moore's Law, has grown the technology necessary for virtual reality worlds, to a level commensurate with a consumer-end product. With extraordinary platforms allowing us relatively, unfettered access to a wide range of applications, big players to take on various projects (Just look at Sony's VR sets, like the new Prototype-SR), and a developed open market for people to put in their own design aesthetic (and the hardware to back it up), easily paves the way. If anything, the Wii, for instance, has shown a clear desire for more interactivity in people's gaming, as it won this generations console wars, selling almost 100million units. It led Sony to develop the MOVE for Playstation, and Microsoft to develop the Kinect for the Xbox 360. Rather than Niche, people are more and more, wanting these interactive technologies to play with. All that really stands in their way is price-point. Depending on your budget, grabbing a Kinect could have been a bit more expensive than you'd like. Certainly if you're into 3D, the 3D vision could be a tough sell unless you've got some extra cash on the side – after all getting the kid isn't the beginning, as to efficiently use them, you need a monitor with some capability (and for best results something 3D ready and/or 120Hz capable at least, which combined can easily land you around $500 or so).

How immersive can a brick on your face, be? We'll see..see, get it?

         Certainly a bit of wonder, but if anything, it's certain the with over 10,000 units pre-ordered already, the Oculus Rift is making waves. In a world that now has access to the technological hardware to make VR something of a pragmatic gaming solution, it's evident, regardless of whether it's niche or not – there's a market for it, people are craving it – the Oculus Rift may be the technology that brings virtual reality worlds – virtual reality in general – to the masses.