GDC kicked off on Monday at 09.30 with several interesting speakers covering a broad range of categories, including Business and Marketing, Programming, Production, Visual Arts and Game Design. Out of several topics, the ‘ Developer + Publisher = Partnership’ seemed especially appealing; not only because relations between Developers and Publishers are one of the main issues in the business, but also because the extravagant CEO Frederik Wester is a character on his own. Executive Vice-President Susana Meza Graham and Shams Jorjani accompanied him during this seminar, and together they presented their philosophy of doing business as a videogames publisher.
As a Swedish middle-size publisher of niche games, Paradox Interactive does not bend to the dichotomous trend of high-budget triple A games on the one hand, and low investment social and mobile games on the other. Instead, it aims at the niche markets positioned between these two extremes. Magicka is a prime example, and despite some difficulties during the development process and several postponements of the release, more than 800,000 copies have been sold so far. Or as they proclaim themselves: “We make serious games for demanding gamers”. This might sounds like just another marketing pitch, but among all the speeches during GDC stressing monetisation and ‘return on investment ratios’, it gains some significant meaning.
Publisher-developer relationship is often a controversial issue. Although many publishers proclaim to be one big family, many stories can be found about asymmetrical power relationships and developers being vulnerable to pressure from what should be an equal business partner. When I raised this question, producer Shams Jorjani responded swiftly: “When power relations are asymmetrical, either the publisher or the developer can get frustrated by the process of cooperation. Especially developers can be in a difficult position when publishers are too obsessed with the small details of the product. But vice versa, the developer should not intervene or attempt to mangle the marketing / sales of the product. But indeed, if you do not have the cash, you are sacrificing your power-position.” And although Frederik Wester emphasised the value of ideas over money, many cases can be made to contest this statement. Nevertheless, having a philosophy where reciprocity and mutuality are important, Frederik, Susana and Shams do make the impression of being more visionary than the average marketing/management team in the industry.
Frederik Wester
According to Paradox Interactive, the relationship between publishers and developers should contain three key elements. First of all, the time-horizon should be longterm-oriented. This means that publishers should invest in developers aiming on several games, covering a longer period. In order to convince all participants to stick to this philosophy, trust is quintessential to the relationship. Finally, trust can only be achieved through intensive communication and face to face meetings, so you really have to know each other as business partners.
Investing in long-term relationships applies equally to the actual gamers who play, or will play, products from Paradox Interactive. Since games like Europa Universalis are targeted at a specific audience, community management is integrated in the overall marketing strategy. So-called ‘Power Gamers’ are a core targeting-group, they can be early adopters of the games, and are often very vocal in the (online) gaming community. This means that you have to reach them, and have a direct line of communication. This can be forums, social media or other communication media. As Susanna explains:” Even the smallest teams get at least five minutes every day to read feedback from the gaming community.” This sounds quite marginal; but if you consider that the development of videogames takes at least 250 to 500 working days, this means that each team member has at least 20 to 40 hours exposure to feedback directly from gamers themselves.
In some respects the team was very explicit in their marketing philosophy, but they let down a little bit on their marketing strategy. Arguing that money spend is less important than the strategy itself, their response on how they actually integrated marketing strategy into the development process was somewhat vague. Some remarks really nailed the topic down to the essence though. One clear piece of advice to indie developers can be found in the two statements by Frederick and Susanna: “Better to exceed expectations than not deliver on promises. Even the smallest false promises can be fatal, and only
100 % implemented features should be promoted” When pushed for more tangible advice on what moment of phase is critical to the marketing of videogames, Frederick explained: “The actual announcement is the single most important moment, because it can attract directly the attention of the targeting audience.” Moreover, a limited scope and a clear targeting audience should be kept in mind by both developers and publishers at the start of a new project.
Finally some no-nonsense mind mapping by Paradox Interactive concerning exploring the possibility of partnering with a publisher:
When to partner with a publisher:
- When you are broke
- When you need sales/ marketing support
- When you have little or no industry know-how
- When your main focus is development
When not to partner with a publisher:
- When you are only looking for the funding part
- When you want to have full control of everything
- When you think your publisher cannot contribute
Although a development team member got a few moments to elaborate on his experience with Paradox, the perspective is almost solely from the publisher itself. It would have been nice to have a panel discussion with both independent developers, indie teams, Paradox and Big Corporate Representatives to debate this philosophy. For me, it seems at least that Paradox stands outs in its openness, playfulness and distinctive corporate culture as was certainly clear in the presentation itself.
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