Why don't you try to get your game onto the digital distribution systems, like steam, etc... It's a more realistic option for someone in your place, as it's very unlikely you are going to get shelf space. In theory this lets you maintain control and probably make more money than you would if u were to get a publisher.

Quote:

Original post by Eisenbart Quote: Original post by tsloper This increases your chances of getting it published, but you will still need to take it to a lot of publishers before one of them will pick it up. Read those articles and go through the submission process, and good luck. Thanks. Thanks for the links also. How many publishers is "a lot"? 10, 50 or 100? Are there that many publishers at all? I found some on the internet, but I have now other means of searching for international publishers from Germany. I guess that "small" publishers will more readily be interested in our game, but how do I find them?

It really only takes one. [grin]

("IT DEPENDS.") You will probably end up working with under 10 (maybe under 5, perhaps even just one) local companies, and have more than one discussion about what they liked and what they didn't, making friends with the individuals involved, and eventually getting a deal. People work with their friends. Friends will help you publish games even if they are awful (=Big Rigs). People, including those who work in game publishing, will take risks for friends that they would never take for complete strangers.

You will never get a publishing deal if you just send the right forms along with a disc to all the publishing companies and assume that your contracts will be sent to you the next day.

You may eventually get a publishing deal if you keep an open line of communication, get feedback frequently, and build friendships with those same people.

Eisenbart wrote:

>How many publishers is "a lot"? 10, 50 or 100?

Did you read those articles yet???

>Are there that many publishers at all?

Yes.

Most of the (excellent) feedback you've received here deals with the typical position; trying to sell a 'AAA' title to EA, Activision or THQ. Without knowing your team or product, it's hard to say what class you fall into, but here's an alternative take on it.

The German (and European) market's very different from the US one; you've got lots of smaller boutique publishers like 10Tacle, etc, and a nicely/painfully fragmented retail channel.

In the US, the vast bulk of retail goes through a few shops (walmart, EB, GS, etc), which gives them a stranglehold on distribution. As a result, Publishers in the US pay a significant amount up-front (for shelf-space, in-store advertising, cap-space, etc before they even BEGIN to sell their product). It increases risk, and reduces the chance that you'll be able to sell a niche title that would sell quite OK in Europe. The barrier to entry is significant, and has hit excellent titles like Longest Journey, Space Rangers and Patrician (either delaying or nixing their US debut).

On the assumption that your title is one of the small titles that flurish in Europe:
- none of the 'big' publishers will take a PC title that's not set up to be a massive hit. That puts EA, Activision, THQ, etc out of your league.
- You're probably correct in assuming that flying around pitching the product in the US is likely to exceed any funds generated by sales of licensing rights for the US (usually somewhere around 5-40K USD + royalty backend).
- You might want to look at a smaller partner (or a pure distributor), someone like Excalibur or Strategy First.
- If your title is smallish (<200-400 MB for a hardcore audience), you might want to look online distribution.

Of course, if you're really sitting on the next mass-market, AAA tomb raider or Crytek franchise, you should just ignore me, and start phoning EA and Activision.


Good luck,
Allan

Quote:

Original post by tsloper >Are there that many publishers at all? Yes.

You do not happen to have a list of them, do you? ;-)

Our titel is not an AAA smash hit, its a budget game. Its an economic simulation aimed mainly at casual gamers, though some power gamers may like it, too.

By the way, I do appreciate the feedback I am getting here, it has been very informative so far! :-)

Eisenbart wrote:
>You do not happen to have a list of [all the publishers], do you? ;-)

No, but I have a list of links to sites where you can find lists of publishers. Go on my website and click GAME BIZ LINKS.

Thanks, I will check them out! ;-)

Quote:

And how much do we "need" for a project that is already done? Should I confront them with our development costs and expect them to pay accordingly?

No offense, but if you do not already know up front what costs you will be asking a publisher to defray then you seriously need to consider getting someone more experienced to assist you.

If you are referring to marketing and distribution costs, then the Publisher worries about those, you simply work with them to get them the information they need (data on the game, screens, interviews, demos, gold master disc, etc).

It is always fascinating to me what the various perceptions out there are.

Amazing how Frob can write such a lengthy reply and fill it with such generalizations stated as fact. Tom's good articles are always a nice place to start, and he liberally tells the gamedev world about them (But I do the same with my book, so I can't complain).

You asked a simple question it takes a simple answer. You make a good game.

Ok? Now you ask "Who the hell are you?" Well, I am the guy who makes the decisions for a US publishing company on what we use and what we don't use. It isn't unilateral, but if it doesn't get past me it likely doesn't get anywhere. I also run a marketing company, but that isn't the point.

The problem with some of the posts in this thread is they make the assumption that every player in the world uses the same business strategy, while, in the same breath telling you that every situation is different.

Every business is run differently. The only factor that is absolute between EA, Tri Synergy (my client), and whoever you are publishing with in Germany is the question of "Is it any good?"

Anyway, don't believe what random people tell you. You'll really need to figure out who's opinion to trust and who really knows what is going on... Tom is not wrong, Frob isn't wrong, I am not wrong. We merely have three different perceptions of truth. A post on a forum is a horrific way to ask this question. You need to find people you trust, both on a personal and professional level, and get their opinions.

Best of luck, feel free to contact me via my website if you want a private discussion.

Sincerely,
Joe Lieberman
VGSmart Marketing
Author, Indie Developer's Guide to Selling Games

[Edited by - vgsmart on August 7, 2006 7:23:53 PM]

offtopic - vgsmart - the link in your sig points to http://www.indiegameguide.com.com instead of http://www.indiegameguide.com/

you might want to fix that coz its a completley different site which actually still links to the book!!!