Downloaded 32 times
Why Pitching to Games Publishers Sucks
- 1. A reflection by CallumUnderwood (a publisher lol) Why pitching to publishers sucks
- 2. Who am I?What is my purpose? Europe @ Caffeine Special Projects @ SUPERHOT Scout @ Raw Fury Speaker notes for online: These are my jobs!
- 4. What am Italking about? Pitching your game to a publisher is a deeply personal event This doesn’t match up with people’s experience How can you make it easier? Speaker notes for online: I’m going to talk about why the process is weird and broken
- 5. The Meeting Are youpitching to the right person? Can they say yes or no? Speaker notes for online: Pitching to someone who has no decision making power is a huge waste of time
- 6. The Cycle “Not rightnow but show us the next build!” == infinite cycle of improvements and delays Speaker notes for online: I can give you feedback and ask for a build, and we could do this 100 times
- 7. Time Publishers can takea LONG time to come to a decision Speaker notes for online: Sometimes we don’t know, sometimes more people need to play, sometimes we miss it, or sometimes we are just so busy
- 8. Ghosting “They haven’t repliedin weeks” Speaker notes for online: I’m sometimes guilty of this, but I try my best not to because it’s so so frustrating
- 9. What does thepublisher want? You: “Publishers don’t know what they are looking for” Me, A Publisher: “that’s nice but not what we are looking for” Speaker notes for online: What do I mean when I say not what we are looking for? Sometimes it means the game is F2p, sometimes it just…doesn’t feel right
- 10. What materials doesthe publisher want? A build? Market forecast? Previous games? Team? Etc.. Speaker notes for online: Every publisher wants you to have different things. You should have these ready either way
- 11. Genre fit Do publishershave a “style”?
- 12. Style Speaker notesfor online: No, Devolver publish amazing games that aren’t pixel!
- 13. Style Speaker notes foronline: Same with Paradox
- 14. Is everything inyour pitch fixed? Publishers hate: “We can scale the budget to your needs!” (sorry) Speaker notes for online: We like to think every dev is an artist with unshakeable vision, and they are letting us join them. Not that we are giving someone a job.
- 15. First Contact Signed! Speaker notesfor online: Be succinct, and there are no rules
- 16. The Prototype Shipped gamesgenerally don’t look like their prototypes…
- 17.
- 18. Everybody goes tothe Rapture
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22. The Prototype The buildmight have taken you months. It can take publishers less than 1 minute to say no (Sometimes we don’t even play it) Speaker notes for online: I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- 23. Chicken and Egg Noart pass All the art pass Speaker notes for online: You need money for artists, but we want to see what your art looks like – it’s a paradox
- 24. What does apublisher look for in a build Magic Atomicrops looked terrible (sorry Danny). But it had something special.
- 25. Gif Time -Then Old Gameplay Gifs Farm Marry Defend Recruit
- 26. Gif Time -Now Speaker notes for online: This is what it looked like AFTER we signed it
- 27. Your Budget Numbers? Budget?What? Speaker notes for online: do you start with a budget, or end? For us it’s everything minus porting, QA, loc etc, everything including that, a simple round number, your burn rate
- 28. Your Budget Look atthis beautiful man Speaker notes for online: Shams said that if he doesn’t see a budget on the last page of a pitch deck, he sends it back. This is smart.
- 29. Your Budget Do youstart with budget? End with budget?
- 30. How we viewthe budget Burn Rate Launch Q1 2019 Art (PCM) $5250 Programming (PCM) $2210 Music (PCM - 6) $3000 Platforms Xbox, PS4, PC, Switch Months 18 Total Development Budget $170,000k Fake numbers lol Speaker notes for online: This is specific to Raw Fury.
- 31. The scale problem Publisherslook at MANY games
- 32. The scale problem RawFury signed less than 1% of the games reviewed in 2017 My inbox Wednesday this week Speaker notes for online: The signed line barely changes, but the review line changes MASSIVELY
- 33. Why? PAX booth only has roomfor 3 games Xbox offers an E3 announcement CERT takes a lot of time and effort Speaker notes for online: If you sign everything, you can’t give your devs love
- 34. Why do wenot sign a game? Genre We already have a similar game Doesn’t “feel” right Doesn’t immediately cause a reaction I’m just not in the mood for that type of game I didn’t eat breakfast yet
- 35. QUICK VR SEGUE Publisherswon’t sign your VR game because: • Fans aren’t asking for it • QA is different • PR is different • Marketing is different • Porting is different • Barriers to entry @ office • Platforms are different • Storefronts are different • Demoing is a pain in the ass • (Notice I didn’t mention money?) sorry… Speaker notes for online: VR can make money, of course, but it’s painful to pivot away From “normal” games for a publisher
- 36. Build & Budget Wider Play Sessions Team,Scope, Finances, Pitch Whole Team Plays Due Diligence & Face to Face Contract & Cuddles How We Choose – The Process
- 37. Don’t Go withThis Person
- 38. We Want ThisPerson!
- 39. Who to contact? contact@chucklefish.org publishing@nomorerobots.io info@11bitstudios.com callum@rawfury.com developers@surpriseattackgames.com contact@serenityforge.com indies@doublefine.com bandac@goodshepherd.games publishing@coffeestain.se contact@annapurnainteractive.com fork@devolverdigital.com hello@finji.co hello@curve-digital.com publishing@nkidu.com pitches@tinybuild.com collective@eu.square-enix.com gameslabel@team17.com publishing@humblebundle.com Speakernotes for online: don’t do what this guy did, although it did make me laugh. It was an honest mistake
- 40. Reboot is thebest conference <3 @DevRelCallum on twitter callum@rawfury.com (Publishing!) Or callum@caffeine.tv (Streaming!) Please ask any questions you like Thanks to these folks for providing anecdotes or fixing my shit slides @FelipeBudinich @bobbylox @simianlogic @wombatstuff @stuckbug @steishere @KristoferRose
Editor's Notes
- #2 Thank you for allowing me to talk at reboot
- #5 You are presenting something that is personal to you, I hope. It’s something you care about, and it’s something that you want other people to care about. I’m going to talk about why this process is weird and broken.
- #6 This can be the worst. Many horror stories of people having excellent meetings then finding out it was with someone who has no part of the signing process. Make sure you have the right person!!
- #7 The issue here is that I can give you feedback and say show us another build, and I could do this 100 times
- #8 Sometimes this is because we just don’t know More people need to play Haven’t figured out finances
- #9 I am sometimes guilty of this, but sometimes we just have nothing to say. I try and let people know if there are delays, but this is very frustrating
- #10 What do I mean when I say not what we are looking for? Sometimes it means the game is F2p, sometimes it just…doesn’t feel right
- #11 Game design doc Build Prototype Market projections Family photos Previous games Team setup Salary breakdown
- #12 Is there such thing as a Raw Fury game?
- #13 Is there such thing as a Devolver game? Everyone knows devolver ship pixel games right? WRONGGGG VR and multiplayer whattttttttt
- #14 “Teleglitch: Die More Edition is a roguelike top-down shooter with retro pixel graphics. ”
- #15 We like to think every dev is an artist with unshakeable vision and they are letting us join them. Not that we are giving someone a job. We don’t like it when you suggest design changes for us
- #17 That’s the catch 22 of the games industry
- #18 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #19 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #20 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #21 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #22 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #23 I play pretty much everything. Rarely do I not play something. It can take me 5, 10 seconds to play something
- #24 You need money for artists, but we want to see what your art looks like
- #28 everything minus porting, QA, loc etc, everything including that, a simple round number, your burn rate Do you start with the budget, or end with it?
- #29 This is Shams from Paradox. He once said that if he doesn’t see a budget on the last page of a pitch deck, he sends it back
- #30 I don’t care, but it needs to be there
- #31 This is super rough. That’s OK, it’s how we work.
- #33 That’s hundreds of games reviewed, and less than 6 signed.