The Editor

“Though I doubt anyone feels like a bigger success for it. Success is weird that way, most people only accept it on their own terms.”

TheEditor

Measuring success without status anxiety

Measuring success and failure is a minefield when you start to think about it.

Musing about whether you’re as happy, rich, energetic or sexually-fulfilled as your friends, siblings, that bloke you went to university with ten years ago, is fraught with peril. And if these things do get you down, or simply intrigue you, then I highly recommend Alain de Botton’s book Status Anxiety.

Even if you take something simpler, let’s say MCV/DEVELOP’s ongoing dependency relationship with Call of Duty’s Warzone, it’s still tricky to compare your wins and kill/ death ratio to others. Who’s on your team? What hardware do you have? Plus there’s the constant spectre of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) – by which the game pits you against tougher opponents as you improve (these are my excuses at least...)

SBMM doesn’t only exist in games either. We all subconsciously compare our successes to those currently around us. PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox naturally look to each other to judge their success in terms of market share, rather than looking back at those they vanquished along the way to the top.

However, as we all now know, the world can be turned upside down in a matter of months, the bar for success shifts radically and suddenly most of the industry is doing better than ever – with record financial results being posted all over – though I doubt anyone feels like a bigger success for it. Success is weird that way, most people only accept it on their own terms.

But the reality is that the industry is a huge success and we’re all a part of that, whether you’re at the very core of making games, or in any one of a bazillion roles that help bring them to market and keep the ecosystem thriving in some small way – like me.

All this thought about success and failure comes from a decision we made a couple of months ago to bring back the Develop 100. For those unfamiliar it’s a simple concept, a list of the top one hundred studios in the world, a list of the most successful creators of games, to inform everyone about where success can be found. And, sorry about this, a big dose of status anxiety for some to boot.

Despite that downside, we still believe that it’s worth climbing up high and looking out across the whole industry for these examples of success. We’re hoping that we discover success in many unforeseen places, and that the list acts as a directory for excellence, a broadening of horizons. We hope it lets us see there are opportunities for success that we hadn’t even considered – so we can stop simply coveting our neighbour’s oxen.

If you’re interested in getting involved in The Develop 100, we’re looking for partners who have data and analysis to offer, as well anyone who thinks that it might marry well with their goals for success in 2021. Get in contact with alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk for more details.

Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk