Modes of Game Development

There are many ways you can make video games, rather than the ways Rockstar make their games...

The 'Tent Pole' business model - This way of making games is similar to the business model of a lot of Hollywood studios; the idea is that the publisher release one 'blockbuster' game with heavy marketing and investment. Then the money made from this supports the development of other 'riskier' and potentially more creative games. E.g. GTA brings in a lot of income for Rockstar, which allows them to invest in smaller games such as 'Bully' and 'L.A. Noire'. However problems can occur with this: the company gamble with the game being aq hit, and sometimes this doesn't happen.

The Hollywood model - This idea is to contract out parts of the games design (art, car physics, assurance etc.) to other companies in order to lower development costs. So, instead of having a permanent 'in-house' team of 50+ people, the developer can have a team of just 10-20 piecing the work together undertaken by specialist external teams.

Independant Game Development - Until recently, creating games was a very expensive business, usually requiring a publishing contract in order to pay for development and a license fee required to develop the game for a particular console. However, more recently, the 'Indie Game' market had grown. Open source softwares such as Apple's App store and Xbox Live Marketplace have allowed small teams and even individuals to create games and get them distributed to make money. New technology, convergence and new ways of distribution means that more abstract games are now being developed.