[casual_games] RE: Casual_Games Digest, Vol 14, Issue 16

[Saurin Shah]

This phenomenon is evident in almost every business.  There are pioneers
and then there are followers. The key is not to focus on whether
pioneers should be a protected class or followers a penalized one, but
rather to recognize which one you are, what are your competitive
strengths, and execute well on those strengths.  The marketplace and
consumers will sort out who they want and don't want.  Is Google just
another search engine? Where is Lycos today? Or Toyota just another car
company? Where is GM? Focus on what makes a company successful, what
makes a product successful, manage  your channel relationships well and
the rest will sort itself out.

--Saurin Shah
saurin at playfirst.com
PlayFirst, Inc. (www.playfirst.com)


Replying to:

Making money doesn't imply only chasing the lowest-risk buck - it's 
about balancing many things, and not being too precious about any of
them.

Separately, I don't think it's fair to characterise this as a debate 
between anti-artistic, selfish taking (making clones for money) and 
long-termist creatives (never cloning). If a clone is not creatively 
done, it's generally going to do poorly - it's not easy fighting an 
incumbent successful product with one that lacks USPs.

Unless, of course, the incumbent is not handling their business side 
particularly well - in which case, more power to the newcomers, if they 
do things better. That's how our society works at the moment, the 
stronger (albeit smaller, and building on what their predecessors 
already invented) businesses regularly supplanting the weaker (albeit 
dominant / original) ones.

-- 
Adam Martin
CTO, Mind Candy Ltd

tel: 0207 501 1904 - fax: 0207 501 1919
www.perplexcity.com - www.mindcandydesign.com