We’ve been developing a pretty nice game for the last monthes, and we don’t want to drop it on the app store just to listen a big “bloop” and then watch it sink to the bottom of the app store. Which is why we are looking at the possibility of getting a publisher.
Has anyone here had any experience with publishers? What can we expect in terms of increased exposure?
a tiny video of our game, which uses Unity3D for an engine.
Now that you get a full day of list exposure (for us in australia, there were times when an app might not even show up in the release list at all, or, if it did, it would be for an hour or so before it was bumped a few pages back), it might not be so bad.
However, since we’ve been burned on small and large products alike (before they fixed the release list), we’re playing it safe with our next title (Chillingo are publishing it), the titles after that will depend heavily on the performance of that, dare I say.
Many here have, ask the Graveck guys how well it worked for them! (incredibly well!). It’s a double-edged sword though, they take a cut of your money, after Apple takes their cut first, and that hurts your pocket. But if they can add exposure, marketing or other valuable assets that you cannot provide then it might be worth it in the end. To counter my Graveck example we have Zombieville USA, no publisher, self released, awesome game that made a big splash last year.
Hopefully folks with first hand experience will chime in as this is an important topic for sure!
Hey,
Yeah, their are games that have made a big splash without a pulisher but then again their has been lots of people win the lotery too. 
I am firm believer of 10% of something is way better 100% of nothing.
Taking your game to a publisher isn’t a bad idea but you need to pay attention to what they are going to do to your game. If they are just going to through it out their and let it sink then don’t bother.
Good publishers won’t simply take your game as is though. They are going to come back to you with a list of changes that you may or may not agree with. I have seen some really good questions come that have improved the games a lot.
Its going to be a lot of work either way. If you don’t go with a publisher then find a marketting person especially someone that is new and wants to make a name for himself and give him part or your profit. I would go as far as giving him 50% of my game if he wants to push it.
Ben
ps. My chances of getting hit by lightning are relatively low but I don’t go outside to test my luck.
There’s kind of a weird catch-22 with publishers, if you ask me. The best publishers with the most powerful brands are only interested in publishing the best apps they can find… in other words, apps that are most likely to succeed on their own or be featured by Apple anyway. The types of apps picked up by the likes of Chillingo etc. weren’t going to be flops either way.
A publisher can certainly help tip the odds in your favor though, whether its “worth it” comes down to the revenue share their asking, who’s the publisher, and your own willingness to accept risk.
EDIT: I would also add that any publisher who doesn’t have a strong list of apps in their catalog isn’t worth talking to. A good publisher doesn’t just run an ad campaign - its about brand recognition and cross promotion within their existing userbase.
Agreed.
Having a publisher essentially lowers your risk of just being lost in the flood of other apps. It’ll cost you, of course, but as said above, better 10% of something than 100% of nothing
But how much does Chillingo and other take as a cut?.. Say for a $1.99 app, how much after apple and the publisher have taken their cut’s is left?
I have no idea on the above having never had any dealings with publishers.
Regards,
Matt.
Thanks for all the replies. We’ve had very little luck with the platform so far in term of sales, so I guess we’ll try to take the smoothest possible course 
This might sound like I’m lazy, does anyone know of or compiled a list of iPhone publishers?
I don’t know if anyone is allowed to say, but it is individually negotiated. I’ll simply say that its quite fair
Do you have to turn over the technology, code or any future rights as well?
I do like the fact that a good publisher can help shape the product into something better (sometimes) and I hear good things about Chillingo, but unless they start writing me checks ahead of time, I’m a little hesitant to sign up, especially when Uncle Sam wants his share too.
Hahaha, they’re a publisher. That’s what they do, they publish.
Unless you’re mad, you don’t sign over the rights for sequels or anything like that. It’s your IP, they just slap their name on top of your own.
Any publisher that tries to deprive you of more rights than that, or even tries to tell you how to make a game, should be given the bird.
That’s the beauty of publishers, there’s quite a few of them. There’s no reason to be tied to any particular one.
The video didn’t show much, other than an environment. If you’re looking for a publisher to help you finish, that makes sense, since there was no “game” in the video. If you’re just looking for exposure, there are easier and cheaper ways. iPhone hasn’t become like PSN or XBLA (yet), so there’s no reason to get in bed with someone, just for “a name”.
what are these easier and cheaper ways you speak of?
so, for most of the negotiatons i dont have to actually pay to the publisher?
i mean, the usually negotiation is that the publishers takse some % of your sellings and “thats it”?
if thats so, can someone here recommend a publisher you worked with?
I’m not sure about Iphone publisher, but usually for a portal publisher like Big Fish Games, “from what i heard” they will take 65% - 75% of your profit (left you with only 35% - 25%, yup they took quite a big chunk)
Back to iphone publishing, another thing i don’t quite understand is, some of the games published by Chillingo i never even heard of them.
I thought it’s their job to promote their published games,
but many times it’s the developer themselves who did the promoting stuff,
Isn’t that kind of defeating the purpose of using publisher in the first place ??
This is something I noticed as well. I am also exploring the possibility of working with an iphone publisher but I really haven’t seen any active involvement of the publishers, at least not something that warrants a ~60% cut of the profits. I keep my eye out on all the major video game blogs / video game review sites / video game magazines / etc. and I hardly ever see iphone games promoted… especially not by the “major” iphone publishers.
I would like to reduce the risk of releasing a game by hiring a publisher but it sounds as though a publisher is a risk in itself.
Does anybody else have any advice that they can share from their experience - without violating their NDA?
60% ??
That’s ridiculous. If you’ve covered the entire expense of the production, you shouldn’t even be forking out 50%.
If you are, you’ve been muscled by a publisher
Sorry, I don’t mean to spread any kind of misinformation. I just pulled that number out of thin air really but it is in the ballpark of some figures I’ve ascertained from several different forums (although not in the domain of iphone games but pc games and digital distribution).
What, in your opinion, would be a competitive profit ratio between an iphone developer who has self-funded their development and a publisher?
Keen to learn more about publishers!
(blue sign at 1:27 in that vid, awesome)
Heard several other references to Big Fish, Shockwave and other web portal publishers taking at least 60-70% of the cut (or even more). (No personal experience - just from talking to others at conferences)
So for web portals thats a valid “guess” - but yep. Everything is down to individual negotiations of terms. So there is no true and single answer to that.
In regular business software (shelved products) there is a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule of thumb. 1/3 to the store, 1/3 to the publisher/distributor, 1/3 to the developer.
And that seems to be somewhat true for iPhone app store too. Apple takes roughly 1/3 and leaves 2/3rds to you (if you do both develiopment and publishing) or to be split between a separate publisher and the developer.
/T