10 Biggest Misconceptions You Have About Video Game Developers
7. Taking A Deal Is Selling Out
Imagine, for a second, you’ve been developing a game prototype for a year. In that time, you’ve scrimped and saved, trying to fund your project (all the licenses, equipment, rent, staff) - because publishers haven’t been interested until you’ve got more of a game to show.
Your money has run dry and you’re doing contract work to pay the bills, which should earn you one more month on the game. In that time, you polish your prototype enough to get a publisher just interested enough to pay the bare minimum for its production. After this, you live on the breadline for an additional year and a half, finishing the game.
You calculate that you’d need to sell around five thousand copies for the past three years of working hard and scraping by to break even, but you’re starting to worry how fast the game’ll manage that - a month? A year? Ten years?
Out of nowhere, a platform emails you, telling you they’ll pay you the equivalent of fifteen thousand copies, up-front, for a year of exclusivity. You’ll have no worries about having to do contract work for a while, you’ll have money to spare, and you can get started on your next game immediately.
Now imagine turning that security, that enormous boon of money and freedom, down because you don’t want to hurt the feelings of fanboys who arbitrarily refuse to own a particular brand of console/launcher.
And to those individuals, I’d say try living on salted, boiled rice for a year, and then subsequently try to turn down the offer of a three-course Sunday roast (because some guy said he disapproves of Yorkshire puddings).