"We are looking for unique projects with a clear audience," said Kupikod about their publishing initiative

In September last year, the Kupikod platform announced plans to invest in development and publishing. Six months later, App2Top's editorial team spoke with Nikolay Borovikov, who is responsible for this initiative within the company, about its progress.

Alexander Semenov, App2Top: Nikolay, hi! About half a year ago, you announced the launch of Kupikod publishing. How is it going?

Nikolay Borovikov

Nikolay Borovikov, Kupikod: Hi! Yes, indeed, during a stream with iXBT.games, we announced the launch of Kupikod publishing with a plan to hold a competition for developers. Unfortunately, the guys at iXBT.games stopped responding, so we decided to proceed on our own.

We are currently at the stage of testing models and strategies: we have selected several interesting projects and started working on their promotion. We are still in the active phase and are closely monitoring the results.

In the process of preparing the publishing initiative, what challenges and issues have you encountered, ones that you perhaps didn't anticipate?

Nikolay: The first and main problem, of course, is the financial model. To be honest, without having deep experience specifically in publishing, I initially created a very detailed model with forecasts for the next 10 years. After thorough examination, we realized it was too ambitious for a start. We had to cut and optimize the budget, reducing some expenses that were initially planned for full game support: porting, extensive advertising, localization into multiple languages. Ultimately, we decided to focus on the first step: advertising and smart promotion to test the model in real-world conditions.

What are your thoughts on the competition in the publishing field today? Is there any, when we talk about the rivalry among publishers for worthwhile projects?

Nikolay: In Russia, as of now, there isn't a clear-cut competition. Our gaming industry market is just starting to pick up, especially from the perspective of systematic funding. There are a few major publishers who are quite selective with projects. But overall, there are currently more projects than publishers, so you can find a real gem in almost every niche.

Publishing is not just a "division of the company"; it's a large standalone direction. This is exactly how we envision our future at Kupikod, creating a separate ecosystem capable of competing on an international level.

You had a plan to grant one million rubles. Has it been granted? If so, to whom?

Nikolay: No, it has not been granted yet. This grant was supposed to be in collaboration with iXBT.games, but since they have disappeared (hopefully, they are doing well), we are now independently considering how and to whom to best award this grant. We will most likely decide this soon and announce it additionally.

Recently, we had a big discussion in our comments about whether $250,000 for a game is too little, and here we are talking about just one million rubles. What are your thoughts on this? Can a million really significantly help someone?

Nikolay: It depends on the scale of the project. There are indie projects, AA, AAA, and now, thanks to the folks at Ubisoft, even AAAA. If we're talking about AAA and AAAA, then $250,000 is certainly peanuts, considering the level of expenses on development and marketing. But if we're talking about indie games, then $250,000 is roughly 20 million rubles, and with that amount, you can produce a good, finished small project. I've personally seen many promising games with an overall budget of around 5 million rubles. It's all individual: for some, a million rubles can help finalize a demo and attract an investor or publisher, while for others, it won't be enough even for half of the development. It all depends on the specific project.

How extensive has your experience been interacting with developers?

Nikolay: Extremely extensive. I personally handpicked the first pilot projects and communicate with all the developers personally. I've been working in game development, specifically in PR and marketing, for more than nine years, I've been involved in business development (BDO) for over five years, and I also own my own studio, DMK. So, I speak the developers' language and easily find common ground on practically all issues. For example, I have a large project myself—a game called Padrino, which I currently cannot publish independently due to my engagement with Kupikod's publishing. That means I thoroughly understand both the developers' challenges and the specifics of publishing from the inside.

What do they usually request?

Nikolay: The usual request is for everything at once. The most obvious—money. The problem is that many teams come with just a cool idea, having no understanding of the financial model and the market. The second most common request is traffic and advertising. The third is assistance with finding specialists: game designers, marketers, PR managers, and programmers.

What are their usual financial expectations?

Nikolay: If we're talking about an indie team, the average request is for 2-5 million rubles for a year of development. More serious and ambitious projects may request 50-60 million rubles, and that's just for the demo.

What are the communication or expectation issues with modern gaming teams?

Nikolay: Most developers do not understand that a publisher is not a venture fund that invests in a promising idea.

Of course, I first look at the idea and the team, but then I evaluate the financial aspect. This is business, which means it's essential for me to understand whether you have identified your target audience and which projects you analyzed to forecast sales. If you immediately place yourself on the same level as top-tier projects without having comparable budgets, I will decline because that's unrealistic. I look at the financial forecasts: at what price you plan to sell, whether you've accounted for the Steam commission, and how much we can realistically earn from it. Then, I consult with game designers and programmers to check timelines, mechanics, and implementation possibilities. The main issue—projects either come with just an idea, which is immediately a dead-end, or with a demo without a clear financial model, with which at least you can start working.

What types of projects are most frequently submitted for publication?

Nikolay: There's no open call for projects right now; we select them ourselves to test various genres and niches. Based on what we see at conferences and exhibitions, horror games, strategies, and small narrative games are most often submitted, essentially what can be relatively easily and inexpensively developed by a small team.

What are you, as a publisher, looking for yourselves? What projects are you ready to consider?

Nikolay: We are looking for unique projects with a clear audience, reasonable expectations, and a well-designed financial model. We are ready to share not only money but also advertising, traffic, experts in marketing, PR, and business development, and eventually help with porting to consoles.

Do you already have an understanding of how effectively you will be able to promote the game you take on for publishing?

Nikolay: We are currently in the phase of actively testing our approaches and strategies. After receiving the first results, we will be able to make conclusions and accurate forecasts.

What are the plans, what should we expect from publishing in the near future?

Nikolay: If the tests are successful, we will launch a full-fledged direction with funding, advertising, and porting, and we will be ready to talk about it widely.

Great. Good luck with that. And by the way, how can someone contact you?

Nikolay: We are not providing publishing contacts just yet; we are seeking projects ourselves. So just make sure to stand out at exhibitions and conferences. Our scouts are looking there.