Get a publisher or nah?

I started this journey a little over 2 years ago as a part-time hobby for the simple purpose of becoming a better programmer. I scrapped the whole project 4 or 5 times and started over, recycling code and refining my vision, while always simplifying both the game and the underlying code. Now, the unthinkable is happening: I am approaching completion of the game. All of the sudden, everything is coming together.

What the heck do I do? Do I even need a publisher? I have no idea. I have read a few articles, and from what it sounds like, I would only benefit from the marketing and playtesting services of a publisher. I don't care too much about all the other stuff. I have no idea how to market besides starting a youtube channel and having a good Steam store page, but I believe extra marketing will help sell bad games, while good games will sell no matter what. I think my game is good, but I've kept it pretty close to my chest the whole development cycle, so I don't have much feedback. Certainly, I could benefit from playtesting and marketing, right? But, is that really worth what you give up? I'd hate to get into a bad deal I couldn't get out of.

What are some of your experiences with publishers? Is it worth it? At the stage I am in now, should I bother with a publisher? Or, should I self-publish? How should I screen potential publishers? What should I look out for?

 

Without fan base, or solid marketing, or other exposure, it may be difficult to penetrate and reach customers / players, without a publisher.

 

At the same time, as a first title, it would have to be exceptional for a publisher to pick up.

 

You need to build a community, and you should have done so during these two years. A devlog etc. Start a devlog asap and post at reddit etc

 

Really, I never expected to finish. Still, it may be quite some time before it's finished.

I never thought of a devlog, but that sounds like solid advice. I'll look into it.

 

Do it, i uploaded a devlog to Reddit today 2.8k views in 4 hours

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comme...r_and_knuckles_ev3/?utm_source=reddit-android

 

There is no one right answer, it will depend on game quality and what publisher offers you and what you offer publisher.

 

And one should be very very cautious about publishers that actively solicit first titles. There are many companies out there that are barely above scams.

The publishing world varies dramatically. At one end a publisher will fund your development, negotiate IP deals, take your game to various conferences and spend millions of dollars on marketing. At the other end are companies that will ask for 50% of the revenue of every game you and your heirs make through perpetuity, and will provide a single twitter mention in return.

 

Honestly, until you're making enough money that you can consider the idea of doing this full time, I don't feel that talking to publishers aside from figuring out if you can trust them is a good idea. A publishing deal doesn't necessarily mean you'll be doing less work, as you'll quickly find yourself putting the work you would have done in promotional stuff into the game itself.

Also if you screw up a publishing deal that can be a pretty black mark on your record as a developer that publishers will talk to.

 

I don't see that as a downside. If I were to pursue a publishing deal this would be the entire point. I'd rather free up time from things I'm not good or experienced at (ie: low value effort) so I can spend it on things I am experienced and good at (ie: high value effort).

Specifically, if someone who is good at it could take marketing and promotion off my hands then that'd be a fantastic value add. They'll do a better job at it than I will, and while they're doing that I can spend more time on my game which makes that better.

Not in response to the above, anecdotally it seems to me like people equate "publisher" with "marketing". That's just one thing they can do. If you go digital then the actual "publishing" part is far easier for people to do themselves than it used to be, and if your product is good then most (all?) of the big platforms are reasonably accessible. So I'd be thinking about the value-add things a publisher can do, and seeing what problems they can solve for me there.

 

That's unfortunate, but it's better that I know that now.

I thought I could benefit from some playtesting and marketing. I'd rather do the rest on my own. But, it seems like a moot point, since I have no game development history.

Thanks for the responses folks. I'll make do on my own and find my own playtesters. I doubt I'll do a devlog, but I'll make a trailer soon for sure and post on reddit and other sites.

 

That's the point.

For most humans, most of the time, specialization is the way to happiness. If someone else is taking care of promotion for you, you can focus on making the game.

 

If what you want is marketing and testing that might not matter.

Having a history yourself is important when you don't have a product to show. In that case anyone helping you out is taking a huge risk by depending on your unproven ability to actually complete a game. On the other hand, if you have a nearly complete product with specific areas you'd like assistance then I'd start pitching to people and letting the product speak for itself. The risk if you being able to finish the game is much lower, it's now a question of whether they think it has commercial value and whether it's aligned with what they want to do.

(Edit: Changed "happen" to "matter", because that's what I meant?)