Gamesmith Studios, founded in 2008 by several veterans of the #1 mobile game developer, Gameloft, is getting ready to release 7 titles over the coming months. We're currently accepting project submissions to be associated with our brand. Not only do we return 100% of the profits directly to you - we are also in a position to offer you the very best advertising tool for your App - a solution no other publisher currently offers. Contact hello [at] gamesmithstudios [dot] com for more information. Only serious enquiries please. All conversations are under NDA.
Gamesmith Studios, the company behind Indigo Ocho, Joyland Bounce, CubeLex, XO: Tic Tac Toe 3D and others, is seeking independent developers who would be interested to be published under the Gamesmith banner to benefit of the advertising possibilities inside our other Apps and team's expertise. Gamesmith also funds and contributes to unique, outstanding projects. Contact hello [at] gamesmithstudios [dot] com for more information. Only serious enquiries please. All conversations are under NDA.
Interesting. But it seems rather sketchy that the developer would retain 100% of the profits, since there is then absolutely no benefit to the publisher. It also takes financing for advertising, which is a net loss on the part of the publisher. Can you help us understand how this is a mutually beneficial relationship?
I'd tend to agree. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Maybe they insert advertising into your apps? Maybe this is just a limited time offer and once they build a brand name they'll start skimming off the top of all their published apps?
Indeed - there's always a catch. So we do leave you with 100% of your profits at first because you're the ones who put in the hours and your project is your baby and we get that. We then have a profit sharing scheme based on a set sales "brackets", for example: Sales 0 to X: you keep 100% of the profits X to Y: You keep 95% of the profits Y to Z: You keep 90% of the profits etc... This is mutually interesting because it encourages us to work hard to make you the most sales possible At the same time, being a developer as well, any visibility that Apps under the Gamesmith banner get is good for us because it promotes our own Apps as well, so we're ok with working hard to promote your App, because it'll be good for us in the long run. Another catch is that we don't publish just anything. We only associate with independent developers, and we handpick only Apps we like & believe have potential. We want to establish a brand based on quality, of both visuals and gameplay. Our objective is to establish more of a "collective" of independent developers, helping each other out, with for instance, marketing tools. But I've said too much - contact us privately if you want to know more.
Actually no, we remain much cheaper than any other publisher out there. Most publishers take 20% right off the bat, we don't even get there Thanks for the sarcastic comment though! Simon
Simon, I am not in the glamorous iPhone game development biz, but it sounds to me as though your financing structure is completely off the wall as far as industry standards are concerned. That is going to freak people out. Accounting is not a venue to express your creativity. You are sending a message you don't know what you are doing. Best, Jim
True, but those are "current" industry standards. The iPhone is a new and mobile market that is highly adaptive to change. It may give the appearance of an "off the wall" publishing technique, but some may find it beneficial financially. Because right now, what does a publisher truly do? It doesn't seem like a iPhone game has much of a chance without Apple supporting the product in their featured spots. This is a way for a publisher to become known and recognized by Apple and then in turn help both the publisher and developer. Then again, it may completely back fire since a publishing house cannot sustain business (employees, etc.) without cash flow, which is nonexistent at 0% of the earnings. Meaning the publisher is only successful if the developer is successful.
Good question. I assumed they fronted the money for development and advertising or, in other words, contracted out the work. I must admit I was a bit surprised to see here that the money all comes from sales. Why does anyone need a publisher at that point? The App Store handles the distribution, and anyone can purchase ad space here on TA. The only benefit to having a publisher's name tagged on then would be the cachet, though a no-name-newby publisher doesn't have that. Why not just go it alone and take 100% (minus Apple's 30%, of course?)
These are valid points. If a publisher is not taking any risk with the development, then they are essentially an outsourced marketing partner. Except if you choose to go with one, the marketer in the App Store is actually controlling your revenue stream because they will be receiving the payments from Apple. Even if the publisher passes 100% of your earnings to you, there will be a contract clause that mentions how soon they will report and pay your share. A careless developer can sign their game away to a partner who accomplishes very little with their marketing, but sits on the entire revenue payments for ~60 days before the developer gets anything. For a small developer, cash flow is critical, and the waiting period itself may be more hazardous than just losing a share of the money. Also, if you choose to sign your game to a publisher, make sure the contract includes commitment on their end. If the publisher really believes in your product, let them show that in the contract by writing down a marketing budget that will be spent on the promotion of your game, plus clear and verifiable targets that you as a developer can check to see that they are holding their end of the agreement.
Jim - You're basing this on the premise that we're financing all the games we're publishing. This isn't the case. And of course, if we're going to put the money up-front for a development, then the profit-sharing structure will differ. I understand why you'd think it's all wrong if we were.
Let me be perfectly blunt - in the case of a developer working with a publisher who doesn't finance development of the game, then indeed the sole advantages of working with a publisher are the name, the publisher's marketing team and the network of games promoting yours. This may sound like it isn't worth it and you might want to do it all yourself, in which case, yes, by all means to publish your own games, having started just two guys bootstrapin' ourselves, we tremendously respect that - but one can certainely see the value of a collaboration between small independent developers helping each other out a number of ways, given that it ain't as easy as "build it and they will come anymore" - and this is what we're trying to accomplish. Promote our games, promote our friends' games, make money together, there's plenty to go around, and it's tough out there if you're a small developer with just one App and no marketing ressources.
