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Comment by dabeeeenster | Hacker News Reader

Is it just me or do these companies tend towards having a single massive hit, growing too quickly on the hype and then getting into trouble? Rovio, King, Zynga...

Wasn't Angry Birds Rovio's 54th game or something like that? Suggests that it's almost impossible to predict/curate a huge hit game...

I was really tempted to short KING when they floated.

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I don't know why they all make the same mistake of hiring literally a thousand people after their one big hit. Only Mojang seems to have kept small enough to sustain themselves in the long term.

I guess it's not a mistake if you are a highly paid CEO with shares that grow exponentially in value as your firm does. Exit quick or at least sell off some of those shares before it goes to hell and then move on to your next job having "been at the helm of a company with thousands of employees".

Maybe I'm too cynical.

That's very common in industries dominated by hits, breakthroughs and inventions like entertainment, biotech or pharmaceutical. When you have a hit, you throw a big portion of the money you make from that at attempts to have another hit before the money runs out.

> Suggests that it's almost impossible to predict/curate a huge hit game...

It is. Just like whether a startup succeeds, or whether a stock will rise or fall in price. It's all a matter of flinging stuff at walls and if something sticks you got lucky.

Honestly I think there's a bit more to it than that, but you're right that there's still an element of luck!

Presumably often they are intentionally bloating when they have a hit to attempt to milk it for all its worth while they can, exactly because the big hits are so rare.

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