About 3/4 of my companies go bankrupt between the years 10 and 12. I don’t understand hat I’m doing differently to the early years or when I’ve sucessfully got past these years and when I’ve completed the game (once grrr). It’s very annoying. Does anyone else have any patterns when their companies go bankrupt. Also, i haven’t bought the pirated version of the game, so it’s not because of the anti-piracy method.
Are you hiring employees before you’re ready? I wait as long as possible before hiring anyone. You need a solid fanbase and stable income before you try to start doing medium games.
I only usually have two people (including my CEO), when I go bankrupt. I’ll wait to have more employees next time though.
I hire two people as soon as I’m in the second office. Once I’ve released a hit or two and have a stable cash buffer, I hire two more to fill out the office.
A bigger issue is probably the constant rise in difficulty for the games you produce. After year 10, you have to increase quality by 20% with each release. Prior to that, you only have to increase it by 10%.
I always hire 4 staff at the same time when i get the second office.
Keep in mind not to hire the highest level candidates.
aim for level 2 or 1
Actually, when I reach 2nd office, I hire one design staff and one technology staff and then when I feel I have enough money, I hire another one.
The 10% increase in game quality explains why I went bankrupt most recently. I was having difficulties for a while, an never had enough money to use higher quality graphics and sound. I only hire one person when enter the first office, and turn them into a tech specialist, and make my CEO a design specialist.
I “finished” game with $1B but still only one specialist atm. I focused on research and game engines, replaced staff time to time.
And I almost did no publisher deal, made medium games relying on my tiny fanbase. (20-30K)
I highly suggest using publisher contracts, only way to pass level two.
Ok. I never really use publishing contracts that often, so I’ll make sure I do next time.
Alrighty, you should, thats what makes you pass level 2 basically.
Even though it is possible to get to 100K fans without publishers, i do recommend using them, since going Indie takes a lot longer and has a lot more risk going bankrupt.
1 Like
Hmm. I have managed to make it to 100k fans with self published games before (once, and that was when I finished the game). Ill make sure to use publishers more often now
I basically tried to do level 2 without publishing contracts, didn’t work.
I’ve pulled through level 2 with no publishers before. It’s not that much harder than playing normally, but it’s definitely slower.
1 Like
Thanks for giving all the helpful advice guys! 
It’s entirely possible to play through the entire game without a single publishing contract, but it’s incredibly slow. Levels 2 and 3 rely pretty heavily on fans, and publishing contracts are by far the fastest way to gain fans. You’ll get them doing indie games, but taking a few contracts speeds up your progress considerably. Just watch what you agree to. Sometimes publishers request a terrible topic/genre combination on a system no one cares about with the expectation of an 8 rating. Anything requesting any topic/any genre/any console though is pretty much free fans.
I tried, always lost money making medium games, I started with small games and I barely passed it.
It’s possible to self-publish medium games, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have at least 30k fans. The in-game text doesn’t recommend self-publishing medium games until 100k fans.
Yes I know its possible as I have done it plenty of times but its just its hard on level 2.