A look at how publishers select, review, and sign indie games
Alessandro Cossidente
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
With rising production costs and bigger expectations to meet, it's not unusual for a development studio to look outwards for support. The practice became so widespread as of late, that even smaller publishers can receive dozens of requests every month.
And yet, only a tiny portion of these end up getting an offer. Such stiff competition and low success rate among developers beg the questions: what, exactly, will a game go through to get from pitching to publishing? And can you fine-tune your approach to increase your chances?
Before we delve further into how a publisher might evaluate the game you sent them, I want to take a moment and talk about discovery. At the risk of sounding obvious, the first impression your game leaves on potential investors will influence their decision. Many developers decide to break the ice with a pitch, although that is not the only way to get a publisher's attention.
The fact that a lot of people focus on pitching, however, is not entirely without a reason. In a highly-competitive environment, a well-crafted email and a thorough presentation is often all we have to understand whether we're interested in the game at all. If you're about to pitch your game to a publisher, here are some pointers to get the most out of it:
In addition to pitches, most publishers will also look for interesting projects at events as well as on the internet. If you're attending the former, try your best and be both professional and prepared. You'll only get a handful of minutes to convince whoever you're talking to that your game's worth it.
As for the latter, there's a lot that affects your discoverability online. Depending on their scouting habits, publishers might
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