This think-tank piece from the world of digital gaming is more than worth reading for a perspective on the tabletop-gaming industry. It is no surprise to me that I am hearing about "cowboy culture" - the tendency of game producers to be driven by that ever-lovin' focus group of one, namely themselves - as a problem, and my noticing that shouldn't surprise anyone else either. But also of keen interest is the analysis of the game development process as being closer to that of new consumer products than to that of (most) forms of consumable media... yet the product selection process draws on none of the time-tested methods for choosing which consumer products to develop. The outline of the "stage gate" process at article's end is an eye-opener.