Matthew Doucette
Xona Games

As businesses go, the indie gaming industry is new. It’s big, it’s wide open, and an entrepreneur can invest all they have and either join the small top percentile who make it in the overall indie game development business, or not make it at all. There is no Plan B.

That was the case for Matthew Doucette and Jason Doucette, the Yarmouth, NS team – and twin brothers – behind Xona Games. They’d been making games since they were in grade 2, they loved doing it and they were very very good at it. In 2008 they turned their hobby into a business: they still loved it, they still were very good at it, but they weren’t making a living. With countless awards and accolades and six months of funds left in the operating pot, they went to EF for advice.

Matthew says, “EF gave us some tough advice. Our drive to create ‘the perfect game’ was not profitable. We had a big opportunity six months out, and if we made it we’d be set. If we didn’t Xona Games would be over. Our EF Advisory pulled no punches on the direction we should take: focus on the bottom line. They said to keep working on the perfect game - yes - but get cash flowing. We followed the advice and released Score Rush, Decimation X2, and Decimation X3.”  The game Decimation X had already been released.

That strategy did not hit the Home Run nor did it shoot Xona Games to that small top percentile, but the games did create a sensation in the Japanese market.  Out of about 2000 games, Score Rush, Decimation X, and Decimation X3 are in the top 5 rated games in Japan.
Impressive, fabulous and awesome in every way except financially. It was not where they needed to be. But there is a silver lining.

The games they produced in that last six months got Microsoft, Sony, and Konami to pay attention. And Xona Games is integrating the business model mindset into their operations - and they're thinking bigger. They’re now proposing a three-game package deal that could change the way distributors market games. For Xona Games, this could be it.

Matthew says, “This is business and we don’t know what’s coming next, but EF helped switch our focus, and that’s led to our thinking bigger. I’d recommended EF to anyone, and actually wish we’d had their advice a couple of years ago.”