Starting to publish
by bob · in General Discussion · 08/02/2001 (9:21 am) · 8 replies
I was talking with a member of my development team and we're considering setting up a small publishing company. Possibly ESD, but definetly burn on demand. (I know myself as a gamer I feel better being able to hold the game in my hands)Anyways, what all is needed to run a simple publishing gig? We have a lot of connections so we feel we can give developers a pretty good deal. We'd give better royalty deals to those who distribute exclusively through us, but we think we can still give a good deal to those who would like to place their game on other sites and stuff. We're hoping to get a few "in-house" developers too. Any comments, suggestions, or questions are welcome. Also anyone interested in working with us or possibly publishing through us feel free to speak up. Of course nothing can get published until we're up and running :)
#2
Thanks,
Bryan
08/02/2001 (8:43 pm)
Yes but if garage games has no competitors than they can basically do whatever they want.....Isn't that correct? Also it would be better for the independant developer to have a choice in the matter.....Or maybe have a smaller publisher a part of gg. I think if other people have a couple independant publishers to choose from then they can get their games out to the public the way they want, not just because they only have one major choice.....Also Jeff if you say it is such a hassel to prepare for than why are you doing it? If its to help independant developers then you know why we also want to do it....Personally I like GG and wish it no harm but I also wish that I had a couple of choices to chose from....Thanks,
Bryan
#3
08/02/2001 (9:22 pm)
Thank you Bryan you made a good point. I love GG and if it wasn't for this place I wouldn't be developing and or considering publishing. In no way do I wish to compete with GG. I think what I want to do and what GG is doing is slightly different though. GG provides resources and actually deals with the development of games, where as my goal is strictly for publishing. I'd like to provide options for developers. I want to focus on publishing, but mainly for indies and I hope with the non-exclusive contract they'll be able to distribute through my company and others. Trust me making the games is still my thing, but I'd like to give publishing a shot. With the little bit of money I hope to make it can go to funding my projects.
#4
We wish you no harm in this but I feel that Nick and I have a good point and have no reason not to follow through with this...If you can give me many reason why another publishing company would be obsured then please let me know and I may reconsider but until I'm fully with Nick. By the way Nick please contact me about helping you start the publishing company. I already emailed you twice so you should have my email address. But if not its in my profile.....
Thanks,
Bryan
08/02/2001 (9:55 pm)
Dear GG, We wish you no harm in this but I feel that Nick and I have a good point and have no reason not to follow through with this...If you can give me many reason why another publishing company would be obsured then please let me know and I may reconsider but until I'm fully with Nick. By the way Nick please contact me about helping you start the publishing company. I already emailed you twice so you should have my email address. But if not its in my profile.....
Thanks,
Bryan
#5
So yeah, the reason I am here is because I think that Garage Games is an awesome deal, and also has a lot of that stuff taken care of. Jeff has started and made successful more things than I have ever been a part of, so I trust his experience, and know that if anything like this is going to succeed, it will be Garage Games. I know this may sound arrogant, but I think it will be very hard for anything to really compete with Garage Games because of the talent and experience surrounding it. But I could very well be wrong, and I will understand if you want to do your own thing. In fact, weather I care or not really doesn't matter does it? Oh well, what do I know, I thought that Joe Dirt was going to out do Episode 1...
08/03/2001 (9:23 am)
I guess that anyone can do what they want, but be warned that it is a huge task. There is no such thing as a "simple" publishing company. For one thing, as a publisher, you need to have pretty steady legal representation, which is spendy. The other matter is costs of labor in putting together the cd's and distributing them. Then setting up the e-commerce in a way that people will feel comfortable giving you money and knowing that within a few weeks they will get their item. As a publisher you will have a lot of battles, and as far as royalties, well, I wouldn't even worry to much about them because they will get swallowed up in production costs. Now this is not said to dissuade you, but more for education. I have self published my own items (comic books) which took way less time and supplies and media than computer games does, and I have also had my own business. The two were very hard, and in the case of my business, left a bad taste in my mouth because of all the things I didn't realize I was going to have to be in charge of. So yeah, the reason I am here is because I think that Garage Games is an awesome deal, and also has a lot of that stuff taken care of. Jeff has started and made successful more things than I have ever been a part of, so I trust his experience, and know that if anything like this is going to succeed, it will be Garage Games. I know this may sound arrogant, but I think it will be very hard for anything to really compete with Garage Games because of the talent and experience surrounding it. But I could very well be wrong, and I will understand if you want to do your own thing. In fact, weather I care or not really doesn't matter does it? Oh well, what do I know, I thought that Joe Dirt was going to out do Episode 1...
#6
"Don't spend your efforts competing against us"
Hmmm...
Just my $0.02
08/03/2001 (10:00 pm)
Jeff's response strikes me as awefuly arrogant. If you're out to help the community, then I don't think that you should be discouraging developers, even if they may prove to be competition for your business."Don't spend your efforts competing against us"
Hmmm...
Just my $0.02
#7
The reason being that GG will most likely be the first that will succeed. Judging from the connection GG offer's, they will most likely be the company that can offer the community/developer deals that is worthwhile. GG can give us a chance into getting our hard work being published by Sierra, whereas your company is just beginning to establish those kind of connection. If your really looking into this for a business, I suggest you put more time examining the market. No offense, just by two penny.
08/05/2001 (2:37 pm)
I personally think that Jeff stated some really good point for this topic. It seems to me that he's not worried about you being as GG competitor. In fact he's pointing you on the right direction, to inform you about how hard its to setup a proper publishing company that doesn't go bankrupt. It takes more then year of experience and marketing expert to really help a game stand out and make money. I believe what Jeff is trying to suggest is that, there is no point for you to start something which may cause some finance issue, and not really helping the community but attempting to do so. I personally think that we developer need a publishing company/network like GG that can offer substantial support and marketing techniques that can bring our game to the top 50. If your targeting this company for publishing Indies game, I don't think it will get anywhere and will in fact go bankrupt. Although Jeff is discouraging you, he has a pretty good reason to do so.The reason being that GG will most likely be the first that will succeed. Judging from the connection GG offer's, they will most likely be the company that can offer the community/developer deals that is worthwhile. GG can give us a chance into getting our hard work being published by Sierra, whereas your company is just beginning to establish those kind of connection. If your really looking into this for a business, I suggest you put more time examining the market. No offense, just by two penny.
#8
To give you an idea on the expenses, it runs around 80K to put out a simple one page color ad in most game magazines for a month. Now multiply that by x number of mags that your target player reads.... :) Yap, its that large.
A recent plan I did for a development house that wanted to self publish a MMORPG was around 1.2 million for 10 months clean up development(pay, offices, equipment) and a huge amount for marketing(breaking into a newer market).
Unless you can come up with that amount its easier to have a good game and let soemone else worry about it for you. :)
Peter
08/15/2001 (6:08 am)
One of the biggest issues for companies that want to self-publish is the marketing budget. It takes some serrious cash to get the consumers attention and (speaking from experience) most retail stores will not touch you unless you have a VERY detailed plan setup (if you are new). To give you an idea on the expenses, it runs around 80K to put out a simple one page color ad in most game magazines for a month. Now multiply that by x number of mags that your target player reads.... :) Yap, its that large.
A recent plan I did for a development house that wanted to self publish a MMORPG was around 1.2 million for 10 months clean up development(pay, offices, equipment) and a huge amount for marketing(breaking into a newer market).
Unless you can come up with that amount its easier to have a good game and let soemone else worry about it for you. :)
Peter
Torque Owner Jeff Tunnell
Don't spend your efforts competing against us. Instead, make good games. This infrastructure stuff is not that fun. Ecommerce is hard. Hosting is boring and hard. Make games, have fun, make money:)
Jeff Tunnell GG