Decline of games

[SymbolicFrank]

Well, three things:


1. After the initial, highly successful game, a successor has to be made. And the first question is going to be: how much money will it make? Accountants decide.

So, with the first, highly successful game, the driving force was the developers who wanted to make their Vision. But after that, management takes over. And their goal is making money. To do that, the accountants come in, and make Excel sheets that show the potential amount of money made, according to the management decisions made. Return On Investment. Share holders want that highest.


2. If you set things up like that, you have a Human Resource Manager. Who thinks he is God, because he decides who works there.

Unfortunately, a HR manager has no grasp about anything technical, like all the things needed to make a successful game. He decides who is fit to make that game based on education, age, and years of experience with the keywords specified.

And the candidates who make it through that first screening are invited for a talk. And, again, that HR manager is not going to be able to decide if you have what it takes to do the job. Instead, he is going to see first-hand if you are a nice person to talk with. Cozy. Tells him all the nice things he wants to hear. "Wow! Yes! Exactly! How did you know? You are great!"


3. The new game has to be exactly like all the other, profitable games. Because, the accountants think they can measure that.

The thing nobody cares about, simply because they cannot understand, is if it will be a great game.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Amazing insights.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Really makes you think.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

I'm taking notes now, this sounds important.

 

[Mustawd]

After the initial, highly successful game, a successor has to be made. And the first question is going to be: how much money will it make? Accountants decide.

Can we please stop this meme? Accountants do NOT decide anything. What you probably mean is that the FP&A team (corporate finance) creates financial forecasts based on input from the sales teams. They then run these forecasts through a model to get a best estimate of the Net Present Value (or IRR) of a project.

Then FP&A gives the results to the decision makers who will use the results to make a decision.

This is an example.

Accountants aren't even involved in this process unless there is some way to structure a deal that might need their input (say the specific structure of a funding partnership or something similar).

You know what accountants are usually doing 90% of the time in this scenario? Posting on rpgcodex.net.

 

[Marquis de Lirium]

.

 

[Destroid]

After the initial, highly successful game, a successor has to be made. And the first question is going to be: how much money will it make? Accountants decide.

Can we please stop this meme? Accountants do NOT decide anything. What you probably mean is that the FP&A team (corporate finance) creates financial forecasts based on input from the sales teams. They then run these forecasts through a model to get a best estimate of the Net Present Value (or IRR) of a project.

Then FP&A gives the results to the decision makers who will use the results to make a decision.

This is an example.

Accountants aren't even involved in this process unless there is some way to structure a deal that might need their input (say the specific structure of a funding partnership or something similar).

You know what accountants are usually doing 90% of the time in this scenario? Posting on rpgcodex.net.

Accountants are a metaphor for all those money people that ruin the things we like.

 

[Mustawd]

After the initial, highly successful game, a successor has to be made. And the first question is going to be: how much money will it make? Accountants decide.

Can we please stop this meme? Accountants do NOT decide anything. What you probably mean is that the FP&A team (corporate finance) creates financial forecasts based on input from the sales teams. They then run these forecasts through a model to get a best estimate of the Net Present Value (or IRR) of a project.

Then FP&A gives the results to the decision makers who will use the results to make a decision.

This is an example.

Accountants aren't even involved in this process unless there is some way to structure a deal that might need their input (say the specific structure of a funding partnership or something similar).

You know what accountants are usually doing 90% of the time in this scenario? Posting on rpgcodex.net.

Accountants are a metaphor for all those money people that ruin the things we like.

Rude.

Look. You really wanna know what accountants are? Imagine you have a friend who is bragging about his dick. And you ask him, "hey, how big is your dick, really?"

And he spreads his arms. And you go "yah I dunno how to measure that". So you call an accountant friend. And he takes a tape measure and measures it. "Umm...it says 4 ft 7 inches?"

And then you gt mad at the accountant for making up a bullshit number. Negro, that aint the accountant's fault. He's just measuring your friend's bullshit claim. Blame your friend. Don't blame us.

 

[Deathsquid]

After the initial, highly successful game, a successor has to be made. And the first question is going to be: how much money will it make? Accountants decide.

Can we please stop this meme? Accountants do NOT decide anything. What you probably mean is that the FP&A team (corporate finance) creates financial forecasts based on input from the sales teams. They then run these forecasts through a model to get a best estimate of the Net Present Value (or IRR) of a project.

Then FP&A gives the results to the decision makers who will use the results to make a decision.

This is an example.

Accountants aren't even involved in this process unless there is some way to structure a deal that might need their input (say the specific structure of a funding partnership or something similar).

You know what accountants are usually doing 90% of the time in this scenario? Posting on rpgcodex.net.

Accountants are a metaphor for all those money people that ruin the things we like.

Rude.

Look. You really wanna know what accountants are? Imagine you have a friend who is bragging about his dick. And you ask him, "hey, how big is your dick, really?"

And he spreads his arms. And you go "yah I dunno how to measure that". So you call an accountant friend. And he takes a tape measure and measures it. "Umm...it says 4 ft 7 inches?"

And then you gt mad at the accountant for making up a bullshit number. Negro, that aint the accountant's fault. He's just measuring your friend's bullshit claim. Blame your friend. Don't blame us.

Just have the accountant perform an audit. Sheeeeeeesh.

 

[Mustawd]

As a former auditor, I'm not sure how that helps. In that scenario the auditor would just remeasure the bullshit dick claim.

 

[Deathsquid]

Yeah but wouldn't you have to trace back all the bullshit dick claims and then be like A-HA! I see discrepancies in these here reports?

You know, like they do in the exciting HBO accountant drama series.

 

[Mustawd]

Yeah but wouldn't you have to trace back all the bullshit dick claims and then be like A-HA! I see discrepancies in these here reports?

I mean realistically if you were doing an audit you'd measure his dick yourself. But in this scenario the dick is not physically formed. It's mor elike a theoretical dick. So there's no way to REALLY know how to measure it. Or rather there ARE ways to measure the theoretical dick, but it's outside the scope of this thread. Also, it'd prolly involve using valuation experts.

It's a moot point. Game studios like Obsidian are not gonna get audited really.

And big companies like EA do get audited, but that's a whole other can of worms I don't feel like getting into. Let's just say that audit firms have to underbid to get these large company's business. So the budget for audit is prolly shit. If it comes down to going over budget and doing a good quality GAAS audit...well I'll let you decide which one wins.

EDIT: I'm talking from experience. When shit gets dicey partners love to say "oh well I'll just take that risk". Yah dumbass. That doesn't make it a GAAS audit.

 

[gaussgunner]

You know what accountants are usually doing 90% of the time in this scenario? Posting on rpgcodex.net.

Fucking slackers. Still, it's better than embezzling.