The $999 Game Company

Is it possible to start a game publishing company for under $1,000? Michael Mindes, our friend and founder of Tasty Minstrel Games, certainly believes so – and he intends to prove it by publicly and transparently starting up a new company, Paradise Game Labs, for $999. He intends to publish games through this label that, for one reason or another, are not a good fit for TMG. Of course, it goes without saying that the actual cost of printing the games will need to be raised on Kickstarter after the company is formed.

This announcement comes after the recent demise of a very popular Kickstarter project, The Doom That Came to Atlantic City, which cost project backers over $122,000. In an update to backers, the project owner describes forming a company and leaving his job to pursue this project, ultimately running out of cash and leaving him unable to fulfill his commitments. Mindes intends to not only prove that the forming of a company is possible on the cheap prior to a Kickstarter campaign, but also demonstrate each step of the process so that others can easily repeat it.

It can certainly be argued that an established company with an existing following has a huge advantage over one starting from scratch. Even so, anyone who is interested in taking the leap into game publishing may find this process interesting and informative. To sign up for future updates on Michael's progress, visit Paradise Game Labs.