Best Game Productions

Best Game Productions is one of the largest video game company’s in the United States specializing in servicing their customers in the latest video gaming technology. As of late, they have come face to face with a dilemma that will alter the video gaming landscape for quite some time. This dilemma is something I will touch on throughout the course of this paper along with explaining what potential problems are facing Best Game Productions, identify the organizations internal and external stakeholders, explain how the these problems affect the stakeholders, and also identify the needs, motivations, and perceptions of each stakeholder.

Best Game Productions Business Scenario

Best Game Productions is currently gearing up for the new release of a specific video game that they feel will not only keep them on top among their competitors in the video gaming industry, but also generate massive revenue due to the video games appeal. They have been advertising and building up this video games release for the past two years as the customer’s interests and intrigue has increased with each passing day. Due to be released just in time for the holiday shopping season, Best Game Productions even went as far as to have their customers play the game as a “trial play” for them to get a feel for the what the game is going to be like before they buy it. As everything seemed to be going great from an advertising perspective with anticipation building, it has come to the attention of Best Game Productions that there is a bug in the game that will delay the video games release. They are faced with some tough decisions that will not only affect their customers but also affect the future of Best Game Productions. Do they go and release the video game anyway knowing of this bug and how this bug will affect the video game or do they wait and delay the release of this video game and have the video game company work on fixing the problem before they release the game to the public. Also, Best Game Productions must keep in mind the amount of money they will lose with each question raised. If they sell the effected games to the public knowing that these games have the bug, then they will not only lose their customers, but they will also lose future business due to them selling a product they knew had problems. Another concern would be if they were to wait, they would miss out on selling this game during the holiday season, which would mean missing out on a ton of money.

Internal/External Stakeholders

There are large amounts of people who are going to be affected by this dilemma ranging from the employees of Best Game Productions to the most important people of all, which are the customers. A better definition of these certain groups would be classified as the internal and external stakeholders. For us to understand the difference between the two, we must first define who they are. The authors at HealthKnowledge.com said it best in that “the impact stakeholders can have on organizational policy, strategy, and project is dependent on their relationship to either the organization itself or the issues of concern, or both (HealthKnowledge.com, 2011.”) Lets start with the internal stakeholders as according to the authors at TheDenverFoundation.com, internal stakeholders are defined as “people who are already committed to serving your organization as board members, staff, volunteers, and/or donors (TheDenverFoundation.com, 2012.”) Relating this definition to Best Game Productions, these people would consist of the games developers, quality control, marketing, public relations, and finance departments. As for the external stakeholder, TheDenverFoundation.com defines them as “people who are impacted by your work as clients/constituents, community partners, and others (TheDenverFoundation.com, 2012.”) Relating this definition to Best Game Productions, these people would be the customers as they are surely to be affected by the moves Best Game Productions choose to make in the present and into the future.

Business Scenario Affecting the Internal/External Stakeholders

This dilemma affects both the internal and external stakeholder as they are hinging on the release of this video game. On one side, you have the internal stakeholders, which would include the people within the company such as the game developers who are driven by the deadline for completing the video game and also making sure that video game play is up to par for this edition as well as future sequels moving forward. Then you have the quality control department who has to oversee that the game is sold with no mishaps. In this case, the mishap would just happen to be that the game has a bug which would halt the release of the game to the public. The marketing department, because of this bug, must change their strategy on how to promote the video game to the public seeing that this new information of the bug has surfaced. The public relations department has a dilemma on their hands as they try to calm down the customers who have looking forward to the games release for the past two years. They must try and assure the customers that they are fixing the problem or if they decide to release the product anyways, deal with the backlash coming from the customers. Finally, the finance department, who oversees the budgeting and overall costs, must keep the shareholders happy bottom line. Not only them but also make sure the company is making a profit from sales of the game. With a delay of the product, they risk the opportunity to make money and also if the customer decides to take their business elsewhere or even purchase other games; they run the risk of not making as much money as they would with the release of this new video game. On the flipside of things, you have the external stakeholders, which would be the customers. Some would say that the company is going to take a hit but at the end of the day, the customer is going to suffer the most due in either scenario. If Best Game Productions decides to sell the game knowing that there are problems, they are risking losing the customers and not only just losing them but the loyalty they showed to the company as well. They are going to view these actions as untrustworthy and lying and could very well take their money elsewhere leaving Best Game Productions searching for answers and new customers. If they delay the game, then the customers will be disappointed that they will not be able to purchase the game in time for the holiday season especially with the build up of the release for the past two years.

Needs/Motivation/Perceptions of each Stakeholder

For Best Game Productions, it is simple; they must satisfy the customers and the shareholders. The need to make sure the game is sold with no mishaps is something that must be high priority. If the game is sold with bug dead and gone, then the company stands to make a profit on the games sales. Also, they make their customers happy by selling products without any deficiencies. The motivation is that Best Game Productions must come to an agreement that they have to get the best quality product out there without running the risk of losing their customers and money to the company. If they sell an efficient product, then the money will come through regardless of the delay. You do not invest that much money in marketing and then ponder whether or not the game is going to sell after the holiday season. The perception of Best Game Productions is at stake for the internal stakeholders due to them comptiplating selling a defective game. If they were to sell this game with them knowing that there are problems, they not only lose the loyalty of their fan base, but they also lose out on future revenue. For the external stakeholders, who would be the customers, their needs are for the game to be released. They have been waiting for the last years for this release date to come and with the build up and anticipation, they are eager to purchase the game. They will be disappointed if the game is not released on the date is it suppose to but if they are understanding, then they will not have a problem with waiting. The motivations for customers to purchase this game is knowing that their getting a premium video game after waiting so long for the sequel for the past two years. They are motivated by enthusiasm and anticipation thinking this game will be the best release heading into the new year and their perception of the entire company can change with what Best Game Productions decides to do with the release of this exclusive video game.