Interview with Wyse Games: the story of obtaining a license to develop a game based on the Castle series

About his experience working with projects under high-profile licenses App2Top.ru the founder and head of the Wyse Games studio Rodion Yashkov told.

Rodion Yashkov

Hi! You recently released Hidden Crimes on the iOS platform, but I want to talk to you not about it, but about your latest game for social platforms - Hidden Castle: The Deadly Game. Domestic teams rarely have to work with serial and film licenses, especially foreign ones, so, to be honest, I would like to know if you worked purposefully in this direction, were you looking for a big brand? 

Hi! Yes, we have released iOS and Android versions of Hidden Crimes, but the game is still at the soft launch stage (in Russia, Ukraine and Canada). According to the game, we have already received a lot of feedback from the platforms, based on which we are now introducing a number of additional elements. We are planning a worldwide release in September 2014.

As for the second part of the question…

It all started with the fact that we set a course for cooperation with major brands and franchises. We set a goal to achieve a certain level that would allow us to act not as an outsourcing studio, but to be a full-fledged partner (including having a share in income).

The first and, perhaps, the main task in this direction was the need to demonstrate to a foreign partner how smoothly and clearly we can work with documentation, how quickly we respond to requests, as well as what kind of art we have.

Our first "branded" project was the game Plan it Green. We made it together with General Electric and National Geographic. The game was created for educational institutions in the United States and is now actively used in children's programs.

In the future, it became our calling card, an indicator of what we are capable of.

By the way, while working on it, we encountered a lot of restrictions from COPPA, an American structure that ensures that children do not see anything superfluous. We had to redo a lot, but in the end, we were advertised in National Geographic USA, Michelle Obama played a lot in our project, they even say that she liked it and she wanted to pay, but we have an absolutely free project, so it didn't work out.

Please share the story of obtaining a license for the Castle series.

After the successful launch of Planet it Green, other large companies began to contact us. One of them was Disney (the Russian division). They suggested that we port Gnome Town from Facebook to Odnoklassniki. We have completed the task in 4 months. The game worked and held the load better than the original version developed by Playdom. Plus, we then redrawn all the characters for our market. Disney then conducted a marketing study on the CA. According to its results, it turned out that 78% of respondents rated our characters as much more interesting. As a result, Disney offered us to make a big social project for the Castle franchise. We agreed to share the proceeds from the proceeds.

How demanding were the customers to the project already during the execution of the work, did they interfere in the development?

I would not call them customers, we worked as partners. Disney, or rather Playdom Russia, put their own producer, who, in fact, controlled the project, set the vector of its development. However, at some point our opinions diverged. Since we were a full-fledged partner, and not just hired developers, we agreed with the Disney management that the producer would look for a good publisher for the project in the USA, would receive feedback from ABC, which, in fact, he began to do without interfering directly in the development.

By the way, I noticed that there is no branded music in Castle. Why?

Perhaps it will appear in new parts or updates, but at the moment there has been no such offer from ABC and Disney. We probably missed this point while developing.

If it's not a secret, on what terms did you sign the contract? 

As I said, we were partners in this project. Accordingly, our main goal was to earn money from the game together with a partner, and not to do custom work. We have achieved this goal. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the conditions, but they are good, we are satisfied. However, it was difficult.

How long did the approvals take?

Approvals are ongoing. They're coming even now. Everyone loves some kind of coordination and discussion, but for us they are not of a developer, but rather of an administrative nature. I would like to note that, as a rule, we do not wait for an answer, but try to offer several solutions ourselves.

What "pitfalls" would you recommend paying attention to those who are going to sign contracts for the use of well-known IP? 

Read the contract very carefully, value your resources, be confident in yourself, do not bend over for the sake of cooperation, be tolerant, monitor the discipline of the team, immediately respond to feedback, make it clear to the partner that you are really working hard, and not just pretending.

The game has already been released on Facebook and Odnoklassniki, can you assess how strong the push the project has given the brand?

In fact, the game on Odnoklassniki was released more than six months ago, however, in a completely raw form. Then we counted only on the franchise, but, as experience has shown, if the game is not finished, nothing will help it. The current Castle is a completely different project. Therefore, in pursuit of the previous question, do not rush. On Facebook, the game is also still at the stage of a "soft launch". We are planning a full-fledged release on both platforms in September.

I hope that the franchise will do its part and give a certain groundwork for the promo, because the indicators of this series are very positive, its audience is huge. Now we are negotiating with the actors of the series themselves for various promos.

Are you planning to work with large IP addresses in the future?

Yes, of course, we are already conducting a number of negotiations with major brands. There are proposals from the same Disney. In general, now we are looking for the most favorable conditions for ourselves. Access to this kind of content is always great, but here, most importantly, without fanaticism!

Thanks for the interview!