notes from igda webinar about digital distribution
talk about being independent developer
- different platforms - steam, d2d (direct to drive part of ign gamespy - so you get some coverage on their videogame channels too, might get editorial content), psn, xbla, wiiware, dsiware
- what are their oversight requiremetns - do they give you a prodcuer to oversee your work, do they check for technical specs, is there a size limit
number of games they actually release each week/month (very small actually) xbla only releases 9 original IPs a year
- costs to develop - how much to license (time adn $), gotta be licensed developer, gotta pay for dev kit
- revenues - different pay backschedules, some after the fact funding
- esrb requiremetns - cost?
gotta talk competition for game developers - indy and studio - most games fail
can write an article about your game’s development
gotta pimp the game months before it’s released - industry is hit driven
price points brand studio and hard to change fromlow priced game image to higher priced game image
iphone market totally full and cluttered - can’t hardly break thru -probably only top 10 making anymoney - may not be worth the effort even with the short development times - gotta market like crazy - peopel going to the iphone store to buy apps and probably only to the itunes store so hard to market there
does digital distribution do away withthe need for the publisher (they give funding but they’re gonna take 35-50% of the revenue), studios focused on retail distribution and se digital distributon as a far second channel
iphone might be interesting for student development - pc development makes sense
casual game portals take a big big chunk of the money , developer might end up with 40 cents per sale
for students doesn’t really mater what platform - just show you can finish a game and get it out there on any platform
episodic content releases - bootstrap development, involve the community in the development process, controls your risk as dveloper, exploit the succes of the steps of the project - see if the idea has legs and then develop more content or adjust based on customer feedback or junk it and go on to next project
legal representation is important for developers - only a couple of lawyers specialize in videogame contract law, probably need a local lawyer to handle state law stuff (employment, incorporating, leases) and then a specialist for the big negotiations - doesn’t matter where they are - can handle online, articles on his website about legal issues, igda site has resources
game development is a business, and ya have to run it like a business, take legal steps to protect yourself and your IP - do’nt get swept away because publisher says they love it and you sign a contract without thinking about the deal details - you have to loveyour game enough to focus on the deal details - put as much care into the deal as the game development - many people get screwed on tehir first deal
not gonna get first game released by big studios, gonna have to go to less reputable, smaller studios - and sometimes they don’t pay, they’re more likely to try to screw ya on the contract
facebook as a platform - gotta figure out the buisnes model, probably not good for small developers because of the busines model
everything in a contract is negotiable in a contract - even with the big distirbution platforms - nothing final till it’s signed - they’ll offer the deal they want, you change to be the deal you want and then negotiations begin, that’s why ya need a good lawyer who understands the industry
maybe the class needs to be starting a stuido focus as well as being a producer focused
webinar by thom buscaglia - thb@gameattorney.com
contacts
steam - jason Holtman jasonh@valvesoftware.com, anna sweet anna@valvesoftware.com
d2d - damon marshall - dmarshall@igngamespy.com
xbla - arcade@microsoft.com
creators club - creators.nxna.com
wiiware - dan adelman - danade01@noa.nintendo.com
sony 3rd party - vivian lam - vivian_lam@playstation.sony.com
sony firstparty - ted regulski Ted_regulski@playstation.sony.com, Rusty Buchert Rusty_buchert@playstation.sony.com
other ideas for the class
copyright and legal stuff
video of a talk by larry lessig on copyright - http://blip.tv/file/2827842
No Comments on "ideas for business of game class"