
IndieGameBusiness®
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.
Latest episodes

Jan 14, 2020 • 1h 3min
Chris Zukowski - Finding you game's "hook" and more marketing tips
We welcome Chris back to the show to discuss how to find your game's hook, what felt he did right and wrong in marketing his latest game, and more!
Links from the show:
http://returntoadventuremountain.com/how-to-design-mario-levels-that-dont-suck/
http://howtomarketagame.com/free
http://howtomarketagame.com/2019/12/11/how-i-do-competitive-analysis-for-my-game/
http://howtomarketagame.com/2019/12/23/know-your-games-anchor/
_____
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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
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

Dec 23, 2019 • 1h 14min
Victoria Tran - The Kitfox Games "$0 Marketing Plan" For Indie Game Devs
If you haven't read Victoria's articles on indie game marketing you should do that first. We cover a lot in this episode, but here are a few points.
Victoria explains the modern buyer's journey.
She outlines some of the most common mistakes teams make in marketing
We cover how you approach marketing with a title like Dwarf Fortress
What tools she uses to manage all this
and more....
_____
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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
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

Dec 23, 2019 • 1h 12min
Elena Lobova - Networking, Pitching, and Business Development For Indie Game Devs
Elena grew developer iLogos from just a handful of people to over 300 in a matter of years. Her advice and experience when it comes to business development is certainly to be listened to. Especially if you are trying to find new contract work for your studio. In this episode we cover:
Common mistakes developers make
How to make your game more attractive to publishers
Tips for networking to grow your company
and of course there is more!
*Bear with us on the audio for this episode. Elena was in a coffee shop at the time.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olenalobova/
https://www.facebook.com/olena.lobova
https://www.facebook.com/gameachievershub
_____
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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
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

Dec 13, 2019 • 1h 2min
Elliot Callighan - Everything you need to know about indie game audio
Having a great audio solution for your indie game can get expensive. Unlock Audio has created a system that helps. We're talking with Elliot Gallighan today to answer all your questions on how to give your indie game a AAA audio solution.
Unlock Audio - https://www.unlockaudio.com/
Unlock's awesome pricing tool - https://tool.unlockaudio.com/
_____
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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
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

Dec 5, 2019 • 1h 12min
Renee Gittins - Tips for a successful Kickstarter campaign and how the IGDA can help
Renee Gittins is both an indie developer and the Executive Director of the IGDA. She stopped by the show today to give postmortem on her successful Kickstarter and talk about the new happenings at the IGDA. The links mentioned on the show are listed below.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/378690/Potions_A_Curious_Tale/
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JustinFrench/20180129/313801/The_Importance_PreRelease_Community_Building_And_Early_Organic_Marketing8203_For_Indies.php
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1268017280/potions-a-curious-tale
https://igda.org/
https://discord.gg/igda
_____
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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
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

Nov 28, 2019 • 1h 9min
Sebastien Pacetti - How to Run a Competitive Analysis For Your Indie Game
Sebastien knows a bit about positioning products. He's been in the industry for 15 years and has worked on everything from indie games to digital distribution at Amazon. Most recently, in addition to his indie game, he's built the Yunoia platform that pairs developers with publishers. As part of that platform, he and his team created the PPG tool (https://game-statistics-staging.herokuapp.com/) that lets indie devs do some great research before launching their 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: https://mixer.com/IndieGameBusiness
Watch INDIE's stream: www.twitch.tv/INDIE
Join the Indie Game Business Discord: http://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
The Twitters to follow -
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Nov 7, 2019 • 59min
Dan Rogers - Copyrights, Trademarks, and Indie Developers
You know copyrights and trademarks are important, but how much do you know about the difference between them, how to get one, and what to do when you have one? That's why we brought industry veteran attorney Dan Rogers to the show. We go through these questions and more (while trying to raise money for Indie's charity drive on Twitch).
_____
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://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
The Twitters to follow -
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Oct 28, 2019 • 1h 11min
Juney Dijkstra - The Untold Value of a Good Publisher
We typically only look at publishers as a source of funding and marketing. Juney explains all the additional value a good publisher can add from SKU strategy to securing age ratings to finding development support. There's a lot of untold support that comes from a good partner and Juney lefts the veil on all of it.
_____
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://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
The Twitters to follow -
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Oct 27, 2019 • 1h 3min
Red Vonix - The Indie Guide to the Tokyo Game Show
Red Vonix returns to the show to talk about his experience as an indie dev at the Tokyo Game Show. We talk preparation, knowing some Japanese, customs, and how to best approach the show.
_____
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://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
The Twitters to follow -
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie

Oct 10, 2019 • 1h 9min
Glenn Banton - How working with non-profits benefits developers as well
Operation Supply Drop provides thousands of digital codes, physical games, board games and more to active duty military and veterans. Executive Director Glenn Banton stops by to talk about working with non-profits in general, walk us through some of the tax implications, and answered our questions on how donating to non-profits in general helps developers as well.
_____
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://bit.ly/IGBDiscord
The Twitters to follow -
Powell Group Consulting: https://twitter.com/PowellGrp
Jay: https://twitter.com/Powell_Jay
INDIE: https://twitter.com/TheRealIndie