
What does a healthy game publisher/developer relationship look like? - danso
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RyanSumo/20191126/354767/What_Does_A_Healthy_PublisherDeveloper_Relationship_Looks_Like_With_Real_Contract_Details.php
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username90
> Assuming review builds are unsatisfactory, Publisher will communicate
> concerns with Developers to ensure any issues are resolved within next
> build. Unsatisfactory is defined as the build having missed the majority
> (majority defined as more than 80%) of promised milestone features.

> If agreement is terminated due to missing milestones or due to a decision by
> Developer to cease development of game indefinitely, Developer must repay
> all amounts paid by the Publisher

Is this normal? I'm not sure if this is a healthy relationship, seems like the
publisher takes no risk at all for the development of the game like this, they
just take the risk of the game not selling when it releases. And they could
affect that as well, by pushing for more aggressive milestones at the end of
development if they think the game wont sell enough until the developer either
fails to deliver or it is good enough. Seems like these type of contracts
would result in a lot of overtime crunching.

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dazzawazza
I've worked in games for over 25 years. This sort of arrangement is very
common. Note there are bad developers and publishers so both get screwed at
times.

Relationship building in games is very hard, there is a lot of distrust.
Milestones can be very hard to pin down as a task being complete is very
subjective (when are player controls done? when implemented or when they feel
good? what does feel good mean?). You can meet every milestone and deliver a
game that isn't fun, you can miss every milestone and deliver a best selling
game.

At it's core the industry is trying to use the Hollywood movie model for
financing, designing and developing games. It's not working, they are far less
linear, far more interactive and significantly less well known as an art form.

There are no (or few) unique problems in videogames but they do tend to be in
the extreme compared to the other arts and engineering problems.

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akhosravian
Most game developers have no revenue stream beyond their publishing contract.
Of course these contracts look exploitive. One side has no leverage, and is
basically an all in one out source shop.

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dgb23
> One side has no leverage

This seems perverse. Game development seems to require a high amount of skill
and creativity in terms of design, art and development. But whenever I read
articles or hear talks about the business of things it seems like there is a
huge disconnect between requirements and the compensation. And not only that
but the economical impact of games is rather large. It seems like big
publishers are doing very well.

Another (very general) field where this is the case is STEM research. Even
though I would guess that you generally earn more and have more financial
security, the discrepancy between skill, impact and compensation is even
larger. I know it is an extreme example but it showcases a complex problem and
other fields can partially relate.

Examples like these at least seem to falsify the notion that the market
rewards skill and impact in general. It specifically rewards market and
business skills. We as craftsmen often laugh at stuff like the Dilbert comics
but there is a truth behind it: The ones that have the most _actual_ leverage,
skilled workers and problem solvers, seem to be controlled by people who focus
on negotiation and even bullying.

Should the lesson here be that everyone needs to be a negotiator? Should we
teach/learn this in school? Are we playing the game of capitalism wrong or is
it actually rigged? I honestly don't know, but I personally feel that it all
looks imbalanced and even phony.

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ThrowawayR2
The lesson is that there's no guaranteed ROI for either games development or
pure STEM research, so people are justifiably stingy with money and play
hardball with contracts.

If you don't believe me, the Kickstarter craze a few years ago exposed all of
this to the consumer. Many games were hyped well and got huge funding but were
released to mediocre-to-bad reviews and much backer regret, to say nothing of
the ones which fell apart completely during development and were never
successfully released.

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fartcannon
If this is healthy, what does an unhealthy contract look like?

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LessDmesg
Like the relationship between Descendent Studios and publisher Little Orbit. A
virtually finished game gets frozen with no end in sight, developers work for
free, and the publishers aren't available for comment...

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acollins1331
Where the publisher and developer are the same company.

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bag531
Unionized, with most bargaining power in the hands of the developer.

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scarface74
So now instead of being able to negotiate my own salary based on my skillset,
I’m beholden to union agreements....

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gamblor956
Talent unions set minimum pay scales, not maximums.

Hollywood actors are part of a union (SAG). Do you think that Tom Cruise got
paid the same as an extra that was also in the SAG for the last Mission
Impossible?

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brianwawok
There is a reason some shows use non-union labor. Even if you had a programmer
union, what’s to stop people hiring non-union programmers?

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gamblor956
I would very much like to know which broadcast or cable shows you think use
non-union labor, because that would be a violation of almost all studios
agreements with the unions.

AFAIK, only Netflix uses non-union labor on shows...and even they have entered
into negotiations with multiple unions.

