Dragonback Media Interactive

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Dragonback Media Interactive

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Title: Dragonback Media Interactive

1
Dragonback Media Interactive

Approaching Game Publishers
Josh Galloway

2
The publishing and development process

Start up funding is needed to staff and train a
proper core development team, unless you can find
5-10 experienced developers that are willing to
work for the first year for free
Publishers and Investors should be approached
with professionalism, too many new developers and
entrepreneurs present themselves as if its a
hobby industry with little or no qualified
knowledge and research of the industry
A playable prototype or proof of concept is
usually required to secure a publishing contract
, especially for new development teams/studios
New development teams without one or more
collective releases behind their belt will find
it difficult to get a publishing deal. New
development teams comprised of experienced
developers with releases behind their belts often
still need funding to get them to the point where
they can get a publishing contract.
Veteran developers with a hit title behind
their belt may be able to ride on their success
and pitch a game with their previous work in lieu
of a playable prototype.

3
The publishing and development process

Funding is required to fund the prototype phase
of the first product, as it requires 5-10
developers 6-9 months after the pre-production
and technical feasibility is finished to complete
a prototype, depending on the scope of the
project
A full mainstream AAA PC/Console product requires
a team of 15-35 developers on a 18-36 month
development cycle
The prototype or proof of concept is pitched to
major publishers along with a design treatment,
schedules, technical design and feasibility,
financial budgeting, competitive analysis, and
risk analysis to secure a global publishing,
marketing, and distribution contract

4
The publishing and development process

A major global publishing contract for a AAA
PC/Console project can generate advance royalties
in excess of 1 million USD, budget titles can
generate as much as 500k USD in advance
royalties. These of course will be scaled based
on many factors such as the location of both the
developer and the funding company, and the amount
of risk taken.
First time or new development teams rarely will
see more than 25 what a seasoned veteran
development studio can secure in advance
royalties, as these companies are seen as a much
higher risk. Be prepared to secure alternative
funding long before you ever reach the stage of
talking to a publisher if you are just starting
out.
Advance royalties are used to fund completion of
the prototype or proof of concept, they rarely
cover expenses incurred in getting the pitch into
the publishers hands.
Additional royalties/revenue is earned through
actual sales of the product at a rate of 20-35

5
Publisher needs

Know the company you are pitching to, many
publishers have different groups or business
units that focus on different areas or segments
of the industry.
Every publisher is different, learn as much as
you can about the publishers practices, their
content in the pipeline, and tailor your pitch as
much as possible to the company you are pitching
to
As the development cycle is more often than not
2-3 or more years cradle to grave, publishers
often know and have already signed most of what
they will release over the next 2-3 years.
Publishers already know the budget they will
spend on development of all titles across all
business units for the next 2-3 years.

6
Publisher needs

Evolutionary or Revolutionary?
Most games that get signed are an evolution of
previously successful concepts
Some familiarity to both the publisher and
consumer
Avoid clones and copy-cat games and concepts,
they may seem a for sure thing, but if they
dont improve upon the original they are nothing
we havent seen before
Revolutionary games
These concepts are a hard sell as they carry
more risk
Some would say there are no new ideas, and that
its impossible to create a new genre
Rewards are enormous if executed properly, fail
enormously if executed poorly
The harder it is to explain the idea, the longer
it takes to pitch, and the more likely you are to
lose attention and interest
The first 3-5 minutes of your pitch are the most
important, choose carefully the focus and
direction you wish to take

7
Publisher needs

Games that are fun to play but more importantly
are marketable to a specific target audience.
Products with a consistent level of production
quality
Products that come out on time and under budget
Developers that can consistently provide all of
the above

8
The Pitch

How to contact the publisher
Every publisher has one or more people
responsible for developer submissions
Eqv to AR for the music industry
Production department
Sr or Exec Producer, Maybe a Director or Biz Dev
officer
Contact the publisher (by phone) and enquire as
to who handles content submissions
Call and ask for this person by name the
following day
Brief introduction
Ask about their content submission policies
Answer any questions they may ask about your
company and product
If they are taking submissions this person will
let you know how to submit your proposal

9
The Pitch

General email contacts often found off a
companies website may not get answered, use the
phone to get in touch with the proper person
bluebirds or unsolicited content submissions
mailed to a publisher are rarely taken seriously,
and for legal reasons are often ignored
The initial pitch must get into the hands of
someone with some level of decision making power

10
The Pitch

Making your presentation
Your first point of contact with a publisher will
be the development or product acquisition group.
Unless you already have an existing relationship
with the publisher your chances of getting a face
to face meeting to make your initial presentation
are almost low.

11
The Pitch

Making your presentation
Most publishers receive a dozen presentations per
day and 90 of these do not meet the publisher's
needs (or their required level of quality).
To meet with each developer would mean that
someone would spend the majority of every day in
meetings discussing products that they will not
be publishing. This simply isn't an acceptable
use of their time.
Because of this most publishers will insist that
a product is submitted in the first instance by
post. The submission will receive a "first pass"
review to decide if it is worth considering.
(Anything produced in crayon will be rejected at
this stage with a standard reject letter.) If it
survives this first pass then the proposal will
have taken its first step into the acquisitions
process.

12
The Pitch

Contacting a publisher at GDC or E3 without an
appointment is like standing outside the
Whitehouse hoping to meet the President
If you are planning to pitch at GDC or E3 get in
contact with the proper person and get a meeting
scheduled several weeks or even months in advance
Dropping a submission at a publishers booth at
GDC or E3 is still considered a bluebird
GDC and E3 are great opportunities to network,
meet your peers, and build relationships with
others within the industry

13
The Pitch

Contacts and relationships can make a difference
Pitching your game to a QA intern will get you
nowhere, get it into the hands of a Producer
level or above
Get to know established game developers and game
companies that already have contact and
relationships
A good referral or recommendation from an already
trusted source goes a long way
Other places to build contacts and relationships
Local and regional IGDA
Business social networks, Orkut.com,
Linkedin.com, as referrals and introductions are
made via a trusted network

14
The Pitch

Youve got the contact and they have agreed to
look at your submission, now what?
Concept treatment (high level product overview)
Never less than 5, rarely more than 15-20 pages
Product description, Concept, Exec summary
Key features and design elements
Genre, audience (demographics)
Key drivers, differentiators
Competitive analysis
Conceptual artwork, screenshots
Schedule and budget
Company background
Key man bio(s)
Previous work and accomplishments

15
The Pitch

Follow up with your contact within a reasonable
amount of time after they have received the
Concept doc
Answer any questions they may have
Judge their interest
Arrange to meet face to face for a full product
pitch

16
The Real Pitch

If there is further interest the Publisher will
want a full pitching session with the developer.
This usually means the developer visiting the
publisher.
Developers will usually go on a road show meeting
several publishers individually over several
days.
They may give you an hour they may give you the
entire afternoon, be prepared to give the same
pitch to more than one group within the company.

17
The Real Pitch

Objectives
1. Present the product clearly to the target
audience
2. Emphasize and Illustrate the key points
(business and creative) of the product
3. Demonstrate the development teams
professional and creative talent

18
The Real Pitch

Target audience The Publisher
Production department (producers, etc)
Evaluate the products potential as a game
Suitable on a commercial basis
Production values, and quality of gameplay
Non-production (sales, marketing, PR, Sr
Management)
Sales potential
Marketing hooks
Likely ROI
Possibility of sequels, franchise

19
The Real Pitch

Pitch document (along with relevant powerpoint
presentation)
Treatment and/or Sales sheet, maybe different
from previously submitted document
This gives a brief outline of the game concept
(one or two paragraphs)
key business information
Cost
Completion date or schedule
Team
Target market
Formats, platforms
contact details
This document is the vanguard of your attack on
the publishers wallet and it targets the
non-development segment of your audience.

20
The Real Pitch

Design document
This provides complete game play/design
information for those who want it. The audience
for this document will be the publisher's
production staff. They will be expected to render
an opinion as to the quality of your game design
for the non-development members of the audience.
Game design is never complete, do not be too
rigid, the Publisher will always have feedback,
comments, and potential changes they will wish to
make to the product, especially with new teams

21
The Real Pitch

Demo - The key here is "less but better".
The reality is that documentation alone will no
longer get you a deal. Where previously a
publisher might sign a project based on a video
presentation they now expect to see working code.
The demo should show key features and visuals
from the game and should be well polished and as
bug free as possible.
It is far better to spend time ensuring the demo
works smoothly than it is to try and add extra
features that may make it unstable.
The demo will be viewed by non-development staff
who may not see past the rough edges so keep it
tidy

22
The Real Pitch

Demo
Should be hands-on for the publisher rather than
a guided tour if possible.
An IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association)
publisher survey conducted in February 2003
revealed that the majority of publishers consider
the demo to be the most important element of a
product pitch by far and that most will not sign
a game with a poor quality/nonexistent demo.

23
The Real Pitch

Schedule and Budget
Pert and/or Gant charts, Microsoft Project files
Detailed breakdown of the schedule, production
pipeline, financial operational budget, and
financial sales and projections for the project.
Not necessary if presenting a completed product
but as most games are publisher funded you will
need to show how you intend to spend their money.

24
The Real Pitch

Competitive Analysis
This is a review of the existing titles that your
game will be competing with.
This document helps to show that you understand
the genre you are targeting and that you have
examined the competition thoroughly.
The document should give a brief overview of each
competing title, review scores, sales figures and
key features of each title.

25
The Real Pitch

First five minutes
Many publishers now like to see a description of
the first five minutes of play.
It helps them visualize what the game will be
like and also helps to convince them that you can
visualize your own game.

26
The Real Pitch

Development Team
A brief document describing your company/team,
yours plans for the company and the teams
previous experience.
This is important as publishers want your concept
to be backed up by a development team with
knowledge and understanding of the industry and
development cycle, and/or a proven track record.

27
The publishing and development process

The further into the development cycle a game is
when presented the more interested that publisher
may be in the title, there is value in showing
commitment and financial investment into a
project
Once a publisher has given the verbal green
light they may assign a producer to the
title/developer to finalize the pre-production
phase. The producer will work with the developer
to finalize a game design, technical design, and
other pre-production work to ensure that the end
result will be something that is both fun to
play, and more importantly marketable by the
publisher.
For a project being developed with a third party
developer, the publisher may provide a small
amount of funding (if needed) for the completion
of the design doc, additional concept artwork,
and in some cases additional work on the
prototype or proof of concept. In most cases
this is considered the first milestone, and first
step towards a publishing contract.
The Publisher will arrange to have one or more
staff such as a producer visit your company to do
full due dilligence and will want to discuss the
project in depth and talk with most of the key
developers on the team.

28
The publishing and development process

Publishers will perform multiple levels of due
diligence and evaluate any and all risks
associated with a particular concept, technology,
or company. They will send representatives to
your company during the due diligence process.
Technology risks
Production Pipeline deficiencies
Creative risks
Production risks
Publishers will do their homework. They will
know to some degree what to offer in advance
royalties.
Do your homework and get feedback from
experienced developers before pitching your
product
10 people is too few, and 40 people is to many to
do what a publisher knows a reasonable developer
can do with 20, this is determined by the type
and scope of your project
12 months is too much time for a casual game to
be downloaded off Real arcade, but not enough for
some quality budget games
Publishers will have a general idea of local
operational and labor costs within your
country/region before entering into a contact

29
Negotiating a Deal

Scott Miller, 3D Realms
10 Developer Commandments
Basis of the GodGames publishing model
Can be found on the IGDA site
Powerpoint version can be loaded from the AGDS
website along with this presentation

30
Designing and Making games

Alan Emrich
www.alanemrich.com
Game project management course (Game Producer
101)
11 weeks
Entire course subject online
Taught internally at Warner Bros Interactivce

31
Signing Games real experience

The exception to all rules
Not know, no previous experience
Croatia?
Bluebird
No design doc
Alpha build
Advances
Currently releases
Serious Sam 2nd Enc
Serious Sam 2
X-box title
Engine licensing

32
Signing Games real experience

Known franchise License acquired by Take 2 when
Bungie sold to Microsoft
New development team w/ developers from previous
project
Start-up funding provided by a well-known game
industry Angel investor
Take2 invested property and funding to cover
development only
12 month dev cycle
50 of typical AAA budget

33
Signing Games real experience

Unknown new developer
Ex-Microsoft employees
Great gameplay
Alpha build
Passed up by Godgames
Currently working on
Pirates of the Burning Sea (MMORPG)

34
TOP 10 INDUSTRY FACTS

1. U.S. computer and video game software sales
grew four percent in 2004 to 7.3 billion -- a
more than doubling of industry software sales
since 1996.
2. Seventy-five percent of American heads of
households play computer and video games.
3. In 2004, more than 248 million computer and
video games were sold, almost two games for every
household in America.
4. The average game player is 30 years old and
has been playing games for 9.5 years.
5. The average game buyer is 37 years old. In
2005, 95 percent of computer game buyers and 84
percent of console game buyers were over the age
of 18.
6. Eighty-three percent of all games sold in
2004 were rated "E" for Everyone or "T" for
Teen. For more information on ratings, please
see www.esrb.org.

35
TOP 10 INDUSTRY FACTS

7. Eighty-seven percent of game players under
the age of 18 report that they get their parents
permission when renting or buying games, and 92
percent say their parents are present when they
buy games.
8. Forty-three percent of all game players are
women. In fact, women over the age of 18
represent a greater portion of the game-playing
population (28 percent) than boys from ages 6 to
17 (21 percent).
9. In 2004, 19 percent of Americans over the age
of 50 played video games, an increase from nine
percent in 1999.
10. Forty-two percent of game players say they
play games online one or more hours per week. In
addition, 34 percent of heads of households play
games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone
or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.

36
Know your industry

Avoiding mistakes early will save you a lot of
frustration later on.
The best source of qualified information on the
industry comes from working in the industry
The next best source of qualified information on
the industry is industry insiders
The SE Asia game industry is still in its
infancy, yet exists in almost every market
There are at least a handful of industry veterans
(if not more) with at least 2-3 years of
experience in almost every country within SE
Asia, branch out to reach these people
The local IGDA Chapter is a good place to meet
industry insiders and like minded people, both of
which are essential to success
If you ask questions, listen to the answers.
Take their experiences and advice seriously.

37
Know your industry

Realities of the industry
Despite what you may have heard, it is not easy
to break into this industry
Given recent growth and success of the global
game industry, every major VC, hedge fund, angel
investor, wants to be involved
Publishers should be considered an investor
Investors will always want to minimize risk, and
increase their chance of an early ROI
Investors will probably not invest in a company,
individual, or group of individuals that needs
1-2 years or more to learn how to make a
successful title, and another 2-3 years to
provide them with a return on that investment (a
hit title)
They will invest in groups or individuals that
can make them feel secure in the return on their
investment, this level of confidence only comes
with experience

38
Know your industry

Realities of the industry
Best jobs to the top dogs
There will always be someone better, more
talented, with more experience, and better
contacts than you
Best contracts go to the best developers
There will always be a group with more collective
relevant experience, more talented individuals,
with better contacts than your group
A group with collective relevant experience and a
good idea will always beat out a group with NO
experience and a great idea
The old boy network is not a myth
Contacts and relationships DO matter

39
Know your industry

A good business plan, design document, financial
projection, technology demo will not guarantee
you investment
Being able to write a good business plan,
conceptualize a good idea, write a solid
financial operation plan and projection, or
program current technology can almost guarantee
you a job
Its estimated that only 1 of pitched game ideas
and designs ever see full production and the
chance of success

40
Know your industry

Realities of the industry
Everybody must start somewhere, its never at the
top
At least 2-3 years working in the industry to
gain real relevant work experience should not be
seen as a sacrifice in furthering your career
Do not waste time by venturing out on your own
too early, this always spells disaster, your time
is better spent learning and absorbing as much
information about the industry as you can while
working with experienced individuals
ANY experience within the industry is better than
no experience at all
Do not pass up any opportunities to gain relevant
industry work experience

41
Know your industry

Realities of the industry
Ideas are a dime a dozen
Good ideas exist
Great ideas are rare
Developers are a dime a dozen
Good developers exist
Great developers are rare
Great development teams comprised of experienced
developers that can also cultivate great ideas in
a hit driven industry are the needle in a
haystack

42
Know your industry

Realities of the industry
Modern feats of engineering such as the KLCC Twin
Towers were designed by a team of qualified and
experienced engineers long before they were built
Modern game companies, and modern game
development, complex as they have become, also
require a sound foundation on which to build
success

43
Sharpen your edge

Do you understand the global game industry and
business models associated with specific segments
of this industry?
Do you understand or have worked with major
global game industry development and/or
publishing companies?
Keys to success
Understand the publishing and development
process!
Understand the needs of global publishers!
Understand the production values needed for
success!

44
Sharpen your edge

Know what is needed to attract major publishers
and secure publishing agreements, including
project funding in the form of advance royalties!
Understand the local game development environment
in terms of business (startup, operations) and
skilled resources available!
Be committed to developing and transferring
games, concepts, art, 3D modeling, animation, and
other related technology skill sets to your
market.
With this knowledge you will have a better chance
to succeed.

45
Know your weakness

Local companies are often not aware of the needs
of global leaders in the industry.
They are often inexperienced
Lack of experienced local resources
Less of a critical mass, self-sustaining industry
Often do not understand the publishing process
Often do not know on what terms to negotiate and
secure a publishing contract
Often do not have the contacts necessary to have
their content properly reviewed, acquired, and
properly funded
There is a tendency in Asia to copy success
rather than improve upon or evolve

46
Know your strengths

Local companies have strengths that often
compliment proper awareness and understanding of
the needs of global leaders in the industry.
New blood, new ideas
Removed from the center
Removed from some of the issues facing the
industry in other parts of the world
Less expensive local resources, labor, overhead,
etc
Less financial risk for the publisher, greater
return for both parties, only if proper
production values exist to make a success
Window to a new world
Western companies looking to increase market
share cannot afford to ignore Asia, being able to
provide feedback on your own region will make you
a more valuable partner