Don't Nod aims to address developer-publisher power balance with new label

pcgamesinsider.biz:

French company Don't Nod has said it wants to address the publisher-developer power balance with its new publishing label.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the company's CEO and founder Oskar Guilbert (pictured) said that he wanted to have a fairer relationship with its development partners than the studio has perhaps had in the past.

Don't Nod opened its third-party publishing division in April 2021. The first project to emerge from this venture is Gerda: A Flame in Winter from Danish developer PortaPlay who previously won the PC Indie Pitch at G-Star 2019.

"We [have been] a developer for a very long time and we know that relationships between developers and publishers are not always balanced," Guilbert said.

"Sometimes the balance is more in the favour of the publisher because they have the power, they have the money. So we don't want to reproduce this pattern, we really want to have a balanced relationship with reciprocity.

"We give them things, they give us things and we also benefit from the success of the game and they have, of course, strong creative control of what they do and that's something which was very, very important for us, and I think that's why many developers come to us. Because they see us as a meaningful and fair partner."

Don't Nod rebranded from Dontnod in June of this year.