

IndieGameBusiness®
Jay Powell
Candid conversations with veterans of all aspects of the business side of games. We firmly believe that great games from all developers need the support they deserve to succeed. This podcast exists to provide that support.
IndieGameBusiness® is produced by The Powell Group, a video game consulting firm specializing in business development, marketing, and licensing. Our CEO has been in the industry for 20 years and closed countless publishing and licensing deals. The Powell Group monitors over 3,500 game developers and 750+ publishers.
IndieGameBusiness® is produced by The Powell Group, a video game consulting firm specializing in business development, marketing, and licensing. Our CEO has been in the industry for 20 years and closed countless publishing and licensing deals. The Powell Group monitors over 3,500 game developers and 750+ publishers.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 17, 2020 • 1h 4min
What Video Game Publishers Want To See with Christopher Kassulke
We'll sit down with Christopher and discuss what publishers like HandyGames and THQ Nordic are looking for in today's ecosystem. With so many options out there from PC to PS4/PS%, Xbox Series X to Stadia, then through a bit of mobile in there. It's a confusing and busy world. You need to know what to present for your game.
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Sep 15, 2020 • 53min
Building Game Studios that Last with Ed Dille
Listen to the hard-won lessons and insight of game industry pioneers whose game studios have weathered the test of time.
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Sep 8, 2020 • 1h 30min
The Art of the Pitch Deck with Christopher Wulf
You’ve spent months grinding on the prototype of your game, you’ve spoken to some publishers who are interested in funding further development and partnering with you to get this game out. All they need now is your pitch deck to share with their executives to get the final sign off.
Up until this point you’ve used a combination of presentation skills and screenshots/videos of your prototype to show your game off. But what happens when you take away the “you”, and leave nothing but a series of slides? How do you successfully communicate everything you need to without using your voice? How do you generate interest, confidence in your game without your voice? What are the best practices that can increase your chances of success?
While there have been some great talks over the years about how to refine the “elevator pitch”, “how to talk to publishers”, etc., there has not been one that focuses strictly on the process of creating a great pitch deck.
With the pitch deck being such a key component of the pitch and oftentimes being crucial in grabbing the attention of investors and publishers, many developers underestimate the importance of a clean, clear, and concise delivery.
After putting together dozens of different pitch decks over the course of our careers that span from management consulting to startups and now games, Alan Dang and I have begun to find patterns of what makes a good game pitch deck truly stand out. To ensure that we have additional data points outside of our own experience, we have sat down with befriended industry veterans across the board (publishing, investing, platforms - both PC and Console & more) to learn about their approaches. Through analyzing all of these successful decks, we want to show developers the common aspects of successful pitch decks that can stand alone and be able to communicate everything someone needs to know about your game.
Audience Takeaway: Attendees will learn about the process that goes towards creating the 4 C’s for a successful game pitch deck; Concise, Clear, Confident, and Content.
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch Indie's live stream: twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Sep 4, 2020 • 58min
Your Digital Resume and Game Industry Job Hunt with Marc Mencher
The Rules of The Job Hunt Have Changed!
Did you know the average person now has 17 jobs during the life of their career? Obviously, Job Hunting is an essential skill that you MUST learn to hone like a fine blade! Unfortunately finding a course or school that teaches these skills is likely to be a hunt in itself. In today's job market the folks who get hired are not necessarily the ones who can do the job the best; they are the ones who have perfected their job-hunting technique.
During this presentation, I will teach you how to construct a Digital Resume / Fix Your LinkedIn Profile for maximum results/setup a job-hunting process for success.
Download Marc's presentation right here! https://www.dropbox.com/s/j6ol0tz78ketzqr/Digital%20Resume%20and%20Job%20Hunt.pptx?dl=0
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Sep 2, 2020 • 52min
A Deep Dive into a Publisher Assessment of a New Deal: What Happens After Your Elevator Pitch with Juney Dijkstra
You've pitched successfully, your potential publisher is interested, and both sides feel they may have found a match. It's time to have an in-depth conversation about your team, project, and their future potential, in the attempt to achieve mutual understanding and alignment. What could a publisher ask, and care to know?
In this talk, I'll focus on a series of topics I investigate when signing new potential development partners for SOEDESCO. In the past five years, I've learned a thing or two about positive signs, as well as signs of risk, to be on the lookout for during our pre-sign deep dive phase, and hope you'll take away some insights into the inner workings of one publisher's approach to pitch assessments.
To get some visuals on what Juney is talking about, please check out her presentation at https://www.juneydijkstra.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Dijkstra-J.F.I.-DeepDivePublisherAssessmentGameProject-2020-08-05.pdf
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Aug 27, 2020 • 50min
Africa - The Last Digital Frontier with Sean Gotkin
Welcome to a fireside chat with Jo Eyre (Epic Games), Sean Gotkin (Carry1st), and Glenn Kisela (NiBBLE Esports & Critical Hit) who will share their perspectives on the gaming scene in Africa. From working remotely for one of the largest games companies in the world to hearing insight from the startup which has become the largest mobile game publisher in Africa, as well as the growing Esports scene & the journalism scene.
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Aug 25, 2020 • 1h 14min
The Game Writing AUA (As Us Anything!) with Toiya Kristen Finley
Are you interested in writing for games but don’t know where to start?
Are you already in the industry, but you’d like to pursue game writing? We all got into game writing in different ways, and we’re happy to share our knowledge with you!
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Aug 24, 2020 • 58min
Hiring and Retaining Diverse Leaders: The Next Generation of Games with Renee Gittins
The efforts to recruit people from diverse backgrounds are in vain if they are made to feel unwelcome within our industry and its events. The recent events must be used as a turning point so that we can ensure that game development and game developers are able to thrive. This does not mean simply writing policies, but truly implementing, upholding, and living them. Change is needed from the top to be truly effective. Join us for a discussion on how to enable this change by hiring and retaining diverse leaders so that our industry can succeed.
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Aug 21, 2020 • 1h 5min
Improve Your Public Speaking with Brenden Kumarasamy from MasterTalk
On today's Indie Game Business, we are talking with Brenden Kumarasamy from MasterTalk https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBYFP4mZLQovr7W6Si6sueA.
We'll be discussing things like your biggest challenge with public speaking and how we can present better online! Want to learn why you struggle with public speaking? Now's your chance to get some amazing insight!
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie
Donate to Extra Life with our link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/IndieGameBusiness
Join the Indie Game Business Extra Life Team: https://www.extra-life.org/team/indiegamebusiness

Aug 20, 2020 • 55min
The Business of Games - a Philosophical Approach with Larry Kuperman
Thinking about game development as a business will not only help you be more successful, it will also provide a framework for solving everyday problems. By way of example, our speaker will show you how business skills such as networking and quantitative analysis can help developers solve problems such as how long can a game be in development and still be expected to generate a profit. The focus will be on providing easy-to-implement pragmatic solutions that anyone can use and benefit from.
You can have a look at the presentation Larry used for this podcast at https://www.dropbox.com/s/7pgjdfy3bf2rjnv/Business%20of%20Games_%20A%20Philosophy.pdf?dl=0
To learn more about the show or our online business matchmaking events for indie developers visit: http://indiegame.business
Indie Game Business is produced by The Powell Group: http://powellgroupconsulting.com
Watch the official live stream: www.twitch.tv/indiegamebusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://discord.gg/indiegamebusiness
The Twitters to follow -
Indie Game Business: https://twitter.com/BusinessIndie
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie