CreaGames: What does the publisher want to know about the game?

What you should remember when you are going to show the project to the publisher, – Elena Devina, marketing director of CreaGames, tells in her note.

Elena Devina
Sooner or later, a game developer faces the question of whether to release on their own or use the help of a publishing house.

Not everyone has the opportunity or the desire to do all this publishing routine – PR and marketing.

Imagine that the choice is made. It is decided to look for a partner who can sell your project. It would seem that everything should be simple next: sit, send letters to publishers, attend conferences and wait for the one with the contract.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Games are also a business. And when you communicate with a publisher at an exhibition, conference or in his office, it is important to approach the presentation of the project correctly so that the publisher sees the commercial potential in your project.

We speak and show

The most important thing is to have a game. When there is one name and some cloud mechanics in my head, it doesn’t work. At all. Let’s be honest and save each other’s time. At least a working prototype should be on hand. No one is interested in investing in an imaginary or just beginning to acquire the first outlines of a project.

Most often, we are shown too raw versions, where there is no clear script, content, and in general it is not clear what is happening. Realizing at an early stage that this is not a very high-quality game, it is better to do it right and come a little later.

Let’s take a situation when there is already a game on hand and it looks “not bad”.

What is “not bad”:

• all conceived mechanics are implemented and work (for example, for a shooter, this includes: shooting, moving, various interactions with a wide range of objects, and so on);
• the game cycle is clear and functioning (how the game logic and in-game economy are built);
• the game must be designed in a single graphic style.

This is the minimum to estimate how the game will look when released.

If everything is fine with the game (there is a build and you are sure that you can judge the future project by it), it’s time to figure out how to tell the publisher what the project is. To do this, it is necessary to formulate answers to the following questions:

• how is the game better than other representatives of this genre?
• what is the first thing the user will like about it (main selling point)?
• who is the audience of this game?
• how is it similar to successful projects and why won’t it repeat the fate of failed ones?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions yourself, then what do you want from the publisher? As in any business, everyone wants to be confident in the product they are going to work with.

Do you think you’ve told everything you could? And here it is not. The publisher has several more lists of questions in his pocket. They are quite banal, but if you can’t answer them, then there are doubts about your reliability and the project as a whole.

Questions about the development team:

• how many people are in the team?
• who are these people, what experience and competencies do they have?
• Do I need additional investments in the team?

Publishers, as well as investors, it is important to understand the full picture in order to figure out what resources need to be used additionally.

Questions about the status of the game and further support:

• how many levels are ready?
• for how many updates is there content?
• was there a screenwriter in the game, and is there a preview of the storyline?
• is it possible to technically integrate the game on other platforms (social networks, gaming platforms, steam, etc.)?
• Are you ready to make changes to the game on the publisher’s advice?

Already at this moment, we (and, most likely, not only us) are forming an understanding of whether we want to work on the project or not.

Questions about the monetization system:

• what will make the player pay?
• what is the unique paid content in the game?
• are there any starting and additional monetization events?

To put it bluntly, the publisher is not interested in games that earn money by selling only the project itself — the possibility of buying content is interesting. It allows people who like the game to pay more.

Analytics

It is important to see at least some data on analytics, even if it is the results of Friends and Family testing. The guys who conducted the tests and collected information about the first impression are highly respected (they received answers from the players to such questions as “would you go into the game tomorrow?”, “what are the shortcomings in the game?”, “was the tutorial clear?” and so on).

To all this, you can add only one thing — the publisher is not a panacea for the game. He will not pull a patient who is more dead than alive. Adequately assess the situation and your resources. But even if your project does not pass the selection from the publisher, there will be an opportunity to get a useful feedback that will help in the future. Good luck!