Please disregard if you don’t like publishers.
If you could pick any mobile game publisher to market your game, who would you choose?
Who would you stay away from?
Thanks in advance!
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I would stay away from all publishers.
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An important factor to take into account is your game. Many specialise in a genre, while most will stick to either core or casual. Some research in those areas can quickly reduce the numbers worth speaking to massively. It is then easier to do deeper research on the remaining options.
I have offers from a few publishers right now. Trying to decide what to do. Can’t say who or discuss details, so I thought this thread might give me some insight.
I know a lot of people do not like publishers. That is not what this thread is about.
I’ve done a lot of research, but first hand accounts from people who have used certain publishers are hard to come by (lots of NDA’s and such). For those who are able and have insight they can share, I would love to hear 
Either Valve or if that’s not possible for some weird reason, Devolver Digital. But I’d only consider using those routes if my efforts to self-publish fails.
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Sega is a good one.
a version of me that makes lots of money
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Why?
Percentages + Risk of losing ownership of your assets (game)
My opinion (and experience): x% of something is better than 100% of nothing. A publisher will get you sales, and those are pretty important. I would ALWAYS try to release my games via a publisher if it’s possible.
Losing ownership of your game? I don’t see how that’s even possible unless you’re dealing with a really shitty publisher. You’re not bound by anything other than what you agree to. It’s that simple.
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Publishers take on the role of selling a game. Everything from marketing, production, advertising and distribution.
If you like that kind of thing, then by all means, do it yourself. But if you want to just focus on making games, getting a publisher to take care of the selling side is a good idea. The commission will be cheaper then the hours you would have to put in to do it yourself.
Of course, you publisher has to make money too. A good publisher will be pretty selective on which game they choose to take to market. A publisher that accepts a ton of garbage won’t help you any.
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That’s a tough question to answer.
What you should be asking is… WHAT DO YOU WANT from a publisher?
Some publishers are only interested in certain genres, you would do well to research the genres your publishers have previously released and see how well they have done, focusing on games that are similar to yours. If you are building a racing game, but the publisher has only released strategy point and click games previously, you might want to give that some long hard thought.
I would also avoid ‘mass publishers’, i.e ones that publish more than 10 games per year.
When you work with a publisher on your game, you want them 100% focused at least for a couple of months on your game and nobody elses. Avoid publishers who are just looking to get your game ‘out the door’ in a rush and take their revenue cut.
Rovio Stars is an excellent example of a publisher that will give 100% focus on each title, they don’t publish many games, but the ones they do have had a lot of time invested in them.
I’ve spoken to a variety of publishers over the last few months, and I’m not going to share any names either, but they all offer different things and have different expectations. I was also messed around by a publisher for 6 months who promised the world, and over email offered me terms, but when signing time came, they pulled the plug on the deal at the last moment, which essentially caused a 6 month delay in the release of my game.
Moving ahead, these are my conditions for a publisher.
1.) Does not want ownership of the IP, it remains solely in my ownership
2.) Non-exclusive publishing deal. (Leaving you free to explore other options or publishers in different markets). Although depending on the deal, they may want platform exclusivity such as in the web browser if they are a web publisher or run a web portal. But if they want this sort of exclusivity, then they should be prepared to have a major marketing budget for your title in return. But to be honest, if you crack it with someone like Rovio Stars, or a very high quality publisher that releases very few games, you can waive this, and welcome an exclusive deal with open arms.
3.) Efficient communications (i.e they don’t email you back once every 2 weeks because they are too busy with other things to give you the attention you deserve)
4.) You are assigned a dedicated case manager, not passed around from Bob, to John to Sandy.
5.) They are very clear on budgets/marketing spend, giving you actual minimum figures they will commit to. Don’t just accept ‘oh we will run a huge marketing campaign’. This is not good enough, get specific figures outlined in the contract.
6.) Is willing to share server hosting/BaaS costs, if they are not prepared to share these costs, negotiate a better revenue share.
7.) Due diligence - Contact other game developers who have previously released through the publisher, ask them what the experience was like and did they fulfil all their commitments. Also google as much as you can about the publisher, you might run into a juicy forum post with some developer raging about how they were screwed over by a publisher.
8.) Gut feel - Don’t ignore this either. Usually when you are dealing with them, you will have a good feel if the publisher is the right fit for you. If the publisher responds with short, ‘templated’ feel responses and answers to your questions, avoid them.
Good luck
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Adult swim they actually seem to publish good games. Yeah I like delver digital too But I thought we were talking about mobile games
Correct me if I’m wrong - I have never worked with a publisher before, but I am pretty sure there is no such thing as ‘risk’ of losing ownership of your assets. When you go into business with a publisher what you lose and don’t lose in terms of ownership are clearly detailed in your contract (if it isn’t then you’re doing it wrong probably).
You either sell your rights to your IP or you keep it. There’s no ‘oh maybe I’ll lose it but I’m not so sure?’
edit: oh looks like SteveJ beat me to it:
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<— This guy!
I’m not sure about that…
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Great points, Meltdown! You touched on something that definitely helps with my decision.
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Side question: Where does one finds publishers?
I have intense dreams of Devolver Digital pubbing my games… lots of vodka involved.
You contact them yourself unless you have a Kickstart campaign or something (where a bunch of publishers may contact you).
Ask every company you know if they publish, and if they do not, who might be a good publisher for your game. That’s how we found the (so far) good publisher we’re working with now. Not going to give any details away though.