GameProducer about Open Development

The pros:
1. Public development means publicity: If nobody doesn’t know about your game, then you can rest assured it doesn’t get the publicity it could have before the release. Different people will talk about it… tell their friends… news etc.

The cons:
1. Financial risk: somebody might steal your idea, patent it… or run to market before you. I think this is the case with “smaller” indie games (development cycle less than 3 months) where time-to-market has a bigger meaning. In larger (indie!) games I don’t this is the issue… I just don’t believe people could steal your idea and do it. It would take huge time. Besides - aren’t there games like World of Warcraft, Battlefield, Sims or Half-life to be cloned?

Pros and Cons of Opening Development to the Public