Supercell believes that the mobile market does not need publishers yet

At the GamesBeat 2013 conference currently taking place in California, Kristian Segarstrale, a member of the board of Supercell and one of the founders of Playfish, said that at the moment there is no need for publishers in the mobile market.

Christian SegarstrailIn his opinion, it is much easier for small teams to bring projects to the market on their own now.

Previously, according to him, publishers were needed because games were sold in wholesale networks, with which publishers just dealt. But it’s one thing to make good games, it’s another to deliver them to the shelves, explains Segarstrail.

Which, by the way, demonstrates his poor awareness of exactly how retail worked and works. Distributors have always been engaged in the distribution of goods. Another thing is that in some regions (for example, in Russia) it was common practice when they were engaged in publishing.

“Despite the fact that there are many companies that claim that they have publishing capabilities, that they can help with marketing or monetization, it seems to me that their time has not yet come,” Christian continues.

“What used to fall on the shoulders of a large publisher, two people can do in the modern world,” Maria Alegre, executive director of Chartboost, agrees with Segarstrail. “You just need to have a person in your team who knows how to properly monetize the game, and a person who understands where users come from (that is, understands user acquisition).” 

In her opinion, if there are such people, you can forget about the publisher. And the only thing that the young team will really need later is third-party investment (that’s all!).

What do you think?

A source: gamesindustry.biz