Creating a great game company is easy.

Right.

As you know there are many more failures in business than successes.  But you can stack things in your favor some by following these 3 simple rules:

1.  Don't expect your game will make you successful just 'cause you think its awesome.  Too many developers I speak to tell me their plan is to upload their really cool iOS game in the iStore and because of "unique game feature here", its going to out-sell the competition and they'll be on easy street.  "Oh, but the game doesn't need to make millions," they say,  "it just needs a few thousand downloads a month, and I can live my dream of making more games and then one title after another, I'll be rich."  Nope.  Doesn't happen that way.  Usually after I tell them, the followup comment is:  "Well, if Rovio was successful with Angry Birds as a first title so it could happen to me too."  Little do they know that Rovio made many other games prior to Angry Birds, most of which failed miserably in the market before they hit it big. 

2.  DO make an awesome first title.  That will be the way you can start to get recognition in the game space and noticed by other developers, investors, publishers and most importantly players.  It likely won't make its development costs back but people will see that you can make a good game, and that may draw some new opportunities to you.  Heck, with a title under your belt, you can start selling your services as an outsourcing company and make some nice profits off of that, allowing you the budget to make the next title in-house with some help, better art, etc...  After a few attempts on the market with a few titles, with refined skills and creating better experiences.  You build as a company by creating game collateral that way and not only do you get more eyeballs through experience and number of titles/players exposed to your games, but you will be seen as a veteran firm with capabilities.  Very useful when dealing with publishers or funders that want to bid on you.  A great story is Ottawa's Glitchsoft who recently released a very successful He-Man branded title through Chillingo supported fully by brand owner Mattel.  One could argue that it was their first 4 titles that really helped them land that deal and build that success as Mattel approached them for a proposal after seeing the quality of the previous games (though Glitchsoft did not see any real success with any of the first 4.  It did REALLY well thanks to the experience built around the first 4 quality titles they produced beforehand.  Now with He-Man under the belt and a financial success with great partners, they can get things distributed with Chillingo much more easily on their own IP and get more contracts with bigger projects and firms by reputation alone.  It did take a few years, but look at them go now!

3.  Make sure you have a well rounded team.  Though all three points are important, this is likely what will make or break a company.  You need great developers, great game designers and decent artists to make a product, but to turn a product into a successful business, you need a great business development team.  The business guys are there to create the opportunities that will allow your fledgling business to thrive on the great new IP, generate cashflow when there is none, acquire funds when needed, get outsourcing contracts and promote your business all around.  Most game companies that start off are just game developers and artists, usually young.  If they would match their energy and talent to an experienced gaming industry professional with connections, they can achieve success with way more certainty than without.  A business is not all operations, its also about channeling your super game through publishers that have access to large amounts of players.  Experienced business guys will also make sure you integrate into your game good revenue-generation devices and intelligent cross-promotion mechanisms  at the design stage so your game feels natural, intuitive and uncluttered with elements hashed together after the fact.  Thankfully, there are loads of organisations here in Ottawa that want to match young game-makers with experienced business people just aching to meet the next great team that has a shot at the big time.  Visit Tech Tuesday's organised by Wesley Clover and The Ottawa Network's events, take part of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) meets, take part of the Ottawa International Game Conference (OIGC), check in with The Code Factory, visit various game-centric Meetups and mingle with great minds in the dozen or so game professional LinkedIn groups available to you and look for the great minds you can connect to to round out your team.

With these in mind, some patience, talent and perseverence and you likely can make it and achieve a level of success only limited by your ambition.  Its a great challenge and worth heading into, if you have the courage  to take it.

Peace out!