Selling the Video Game Pitch

Picture the video game pitch: You sit down in front of a group software publisher execs with nothing more than a Powerpoint presentation and somehow try to communicate what your hypothetical digital world will be like and why it will be successful. Gamespot explores the evolution of pitching, from its unassuming beginnings to today’s pressure cookers.

Twisted Metal, its creator remembers, was approved off one sentence: “It's this game with cars and they have guns on them.” Today, developers face pigeonholing based on past successes, and they need demos or pre-arranged marketing tie-ins to make their pitch a slam dunk. (More video game console stories.)