Members were particularly interested in seeing specific case studies for "freemium", free-to-play, and pay-to-play business models. Additional proposals included a one day business start-up summit and an entrepreneur track for future IGDA events to address the business and legal issues developers face when starting new projects and new studios. The Business and Legal SIG hopes to provide a wide variety of resources for industry professionals, including member-managed information compilation for regional and country tax credit incentives for studios and publishers.
Specifically, the new SIG discussed the possibility of creating a Business and Legal Wiki or other resource management tool that will tie into IGDA's Educational SIG. SIG members also proposed educational outreach in addition to resource compilation. Many members expressed the concern that valuable information doesn't reach academic programs related to game development.
Approximately six IGDA members volunteered to head the SIG's steering committee. If you would like to learn more about the new SIG, visit http://www.igda.org and sign up to join the mailing list.