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David Wesley's Blog
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David Wesley is manager of Northeastern University's case research program. His award-winning cases are among the best selling titles at Harvard Business School Publishing and Ivey Publishing.
Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry: Avoiding the Performance Trap is a new book by David Wesley and Gloria Barczak that considers why companies with the most advanced products are not always the most successful.
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Expert Blogs
How Not to Build a Franchise: The Duke Nukem Experience  |
| Posted by David Wesley on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:59:00 EST in
Game Design,
Production
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| Designers should have concrete plans of action before any serious work begins on their games. It is simply impossible to create any quality media product based on vague references to other products. |
| Read More... | 6 Comments |
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An Indie Developer’s “Biggest Mistake” |
| Posted by David Wesley on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:55:00 EST in
Game Design,
Production
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| Red Orchestra developer John Gibson points out that the path to indie success is long and hard. However, certain pitfalls can be avoided. |
| Read More... | 12 Comments |
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The Nintendo Wii is Back on Top, But for How Long? |
| Posted by David Wesley on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:57:00 EST in
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| The Wii is back on top in October Monthly sales, according to NPD. But for how long? |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
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A Tribute to Alexey Pajitnov, On The 20th Anniversary Of The Berlin Wall's Fall |
| Posted by David Wesley on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:52:00 EST in
Game Design
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| On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, let's not forget the important contribution of Soviet era game developer Alexey Pajitnov |
| Read More... | 3 Comments |
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"Enough Already!" - The Paradox of Choice |
| Posted by David Wesley on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:58:00 EST in
Game Design
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| A paradox of choice happens when customers become overwhelmed by options and then decide to avoid the entire product category. |
| Read More... | 4 Comments |
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EA: Too Big to Succeed |
| Posted by David Wesley on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:33:00 EDT in
Game Design
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| The video game industry's high variable cost makes economies of scale difficult to realize. |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
[More David Wesley Blogs]
David Wesley's Comments
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Comment In: How Not to Build a Franchise: The Duke Nukem Experience [Blog - 12/29/2009 - 11:59]
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Robert Allen: Gosh this sounds ... Robert Allen: Gosh this sounds just like a longer version of what Romero did with Ion Storm over Dai Katana. Almost word for word, as presented in the book Masters of Doom. Most mistakes have precedents. One of our objectives in the book was to identify patterns and discuss how ... |
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Comment In: Are Video Games Violent? [Blog - 12/29/2009 - 09:48]
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Good points. Another stereotype is ... Good points. Another stereotype is that violent games are for men, while games like Flower and Little Big Planet are for girls and women. Even worse, girls are often given shallow games like Barbie or Cake Mania by well meaning, but clueless relatives. |
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Comment In: PlayStation Home Reaches 10 Million Users [News - 12/18/2009 - 01:58]
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Home failed to live up ... Home failed to live up to its potential. Sony used it primarily as an advertising and promotion platform rather than focusing on social networking. As a result, it never really felt like it had much to offer users. To be successful, products need to be designed around the needs of ... |
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Comment In: Analyst: Take-Two Not A 'One-Hit Wonder,' But 'Overly Ambitious' [News - 12/04/2009 - 06:06]
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The above points are far ... The above points are far more valid than analyst critiques. In my forthcoming book, I have held up Take-Two as a prime example of successful strategy execution for the very reasons analysts have criticized them. Faced with rising development costs, development studios need to focus resources better, and companies like ... |
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Comment In: Pachter: 'Annus Horribilis' For Publishers, As U.S. PC Game Retail Plummets [News - 12/01/2009 - 07:00]
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Wanda makes a very good ... Wanda makes a very good point, namely that there will always be opportunities for truly new and interesting software, even in a down market. Steve is right, but that has always been a problem mid-cycle, meaning that it can happen even when the economy is strong. That doesn't mean that ... |
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Comment In: An Indie Developer’s “Biggest Mistake” [Blog - 11/18/2009 - 10:55]
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Gersh is absolutely right. You ... Gersh is absolutely right. You need some high quality samples of previous work to prove to your potential partners that you are worth betting on. Cloud was a university project that the founders of Thatgamecompany developed while at USC. The games they have done since then are completely different concepts ... |
[More David Wesley Comments]
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