
‘Angry Birds’ Developer: “We Will Not Use Chillingo Again” - gcheong
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/20/angry-birds-chillingo/
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maximilianburke
What he says about not needing publishers when developing video games isn't
entirely correct. Except for the Xbox Live indie games marketplace you cannot
hope to ship a game for a console unless you are backed by a publisher.

Publishers provide capital when getting started, especially on larger titles,
plus resources that small developers may not always have access to like
localization teams and QA testers.

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ojbyrne
He is speaking from their perspective, where the important market is the
iphone App Store. Essentially Apple is the publisher.

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maximilianburke
That's true but Apple's not going to front you any money to develop your app.

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WozRocks
Neither is chillingo or the other iPhone publishers. Or at least, in most
cases they don't. If you've had a hit with them, then maybe they will front
cash.

But the old model where the publisher pays for development is no longer
present. The publishers are looking for teams that can develop the title
themselves.

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credo
>> _Vesterbacka also added that the role of the publisher has diminished in
modern game development; "You don’t need publishers."_

Angry Birds is a great brand now and so Rovio doesn't need publishers anymore.
It is possible that Angry Birds could have become a great brand without
Chillingo's help, but it is hard to know that for sure.

Rovio's statement would have been a lot more credible if they hadn't used
Chillingo to make their first mark in the app store

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ashbrahma
It's easy to say this after the game has taken off. There is a lot of work
that needs to be done to make your game successful after the coding is
complete. Ex:Marketing/Distribution strategy. Also, publishers have access to
a large base of audience that they can quickly reach out to when a new game
launches.

I would compare it to record labels in the music industry. They see a lot of
artists and pick a few and hope one is a winner...

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kloncks
It has always baffled me why people needed Publishers on the App Store.

With console games, I get it. But it seems like the App Store's different.

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gamble
I'm not sure why a mobile games studio would need a publisher these days. In
the bricks-and-mortar games business you go with them for distribution and
marketing. (Or an advance, but mobile games are still relatively cheap to
develop) I don't see traditional publishers providing much value in those
areas for today's smartphone, app store centered marketplace.

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benologist
Marketing is still going to help a lot of guys.... that stuff takes experience
and money that an indie guy or small company might not have yet.

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WozRocks
This is a common perspective, but it is worth noting that it is not a foregone
conclusion that the publisher will actually do any marketing.

I've been a developer on several games that were published by a major
publisher, in the majority of cases, the games did not get the marketing
promised and in most of those cases, got essentially no marketing. We ended up
doing the marketing ourselves. We may not have been as good as the publisher
could have been, but we had far more effect.

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stjarnljuset
I don't follow iOS news that much, but does anyone know how Apple picks the
demo games that are installed on the iPads at the Apple store?

My significant other bought Angry Birds after trying it out at the Apple
store. I'm wondering if being added to the display iPads are a cause or an
effect of the game's popularity.

