How to work with publishers correctly — tips from ZeptoLab

The article is a transcript of the report that Mikhail read at White Nights Moscow 2018. The video can be found at this link.

Mikhail Sviblov

I have been working in the gaming industry for more than 12 years. He started as a game designer in IT Territory, then produced at Aggro Games, was engaged in project management at PlayFlock. I have been doing publishing activities at ZeptoLab for the last two years. Initially, he headed the publishing direction, now he is a consultant for the company in Russia and CIS countries.

Over these couple of years, I have accumulated an understanding of how people come to the publisher, how they communicate with him and what mistakes they constantly make. This material is just about these mistakes and, of course, tips on how to avoid them.

How to test the potential of a game in the early stages of development?

Very often, people who have already made a game come to ZeptoLab. They could spend two, three, four years on it. They come and say: “Here she is. I did. Take on the publication.”

We look at the project and understand that we will not take it. The problem may not even be in quality or monetization. It’s just that the project doesn’t work at the concept level. For example, the setting and the selected mechanics do not fit each other (out of my head: the target audience of “Smesharikov” will not play MOBA, as well as fans of Warhammer 40,000 will not sit for three-in-a-row, even for the glory of the Emperor).

At such moments it can be very disappointing for the team. She wasted her time due to the fact that previously, at an early stage of development, she did not take a couple of simple steps that would give her a chance, if not to shoot, then at least to find a place in the market.

So, how do you understand how big the game’s potential is long before it went into release?

I’ll tell you how we do it in ZeptoLab.

First. First we do a little marketing research. To do this, we use services such as Sensor Tower and App Annie.

Your task is to use these services (it is not necessary to buy access to them, their free functionality may be enough) to answer a few questions:

• which games within your chosen genre or type are currently earning;
• which games of them, on the contrary, are barely visible in the tops;
• what mechanics, settings, styles, features are used in such games.

This should be done at least for general development. Plus, it will allow you to avoid absolutely elementary conceptual errors.

Second. You need to get feedback as early as possible. Is there a first version, a first build? It’s time to conduct a survey of friends!

ZeptoLab conducts special show cases inside the company when a concept or prototype begins to be seriously discussed. Everyone is playing it, sharing their opinions.

We also have a special section in Jira where all employees (not only game designers and product managers) can pitch their ideas. Then these ideas are evaluated and discussed. And those ideas that gain a lot of votes are sent for prototyping.

It is clear that indie does not have 100-200 people with whom he can not only share the concept, but also from whom he will definitely receive feedback. But he has friends. He has the opportunity to come to some meetups. He has the opportunity to come to conferences.

The third. Testing an idea.

At ZeptoLab, we use the SplitMetrics service. This is a fake store. With its help, the page of the proposed project is being prepared, which looks exactly the same as in the App Store. It is clear that there is no project at the time of page creation. However, there are creatives with screenshots, videos, and descriptions of the future game.

The scenario looks like this: a person sees an advertisement on Facebook. He clicks on the banner, goes to the fake store and clicks on the “Download” button.

With the help of SplitMetrics, it checks how well the potential audience of the project is converted. We don’t have a game yet, but we can already see what percentage of users are interested in downloading it.

We use SplitMetrics primarily to evaluate visual style. We draw 5-10 pictures, conduct testing and understand which setting is best to choose for the project.

Fourth. Conduct development in short iterations.

ZeptoLab is a supporter of getting information about what is happening in the product from real users as quickly as possible.

We don’t write a disdoc for two years in advance, so that we can painstakingly implement it for another four. This applies both to the product that we take to the publishing house and to the product that we make inside. We try to constantly move, constantly develop, but at the same time in very short iterations:

• found a problem;
• we hypothesize how this problem can be solved;
• solving;
• we check whether the problem has gone away after the implementation of the decision;
• let’s move on.

Fifth. Use analytics services.

As a rule, companies and developers who send me games (in two years I have managed to view about 2500 projects) have a very strange attitude to analytics services. At best, they implement them for show. In the worst case, they believe that they do not need analytics at all.

Analytics services are your most important friends at the stage of product creation. Try to implement them as early as possible and log the fundamental points within the user scenario of the game.

Sixth. Softlonch. Now almost everyone uses it to launch. But, in my opinion, many people use it incorrectly. Softlonch is not a beta test, where it is necessary to conduct load testing. Softlonch is a stage in which you bring your product to the indicators that you need, or you understand that it should be closed.

When you don’t need a publisher?

I will talk now exclusively about the situation on the mobile market. The specifics of working on PCs and consoles are completely different.

So, you don’t need and you shouldn’t go to the publisher in three cases:

When you have a paid game. Most mobile publishers do not publish premium games. There are exceptions (for example, Creative Mobile launched Beholder in mobile), but, as a rule, they are not interested in such projects.

The fact is that paid games do not bring money.

There are several reasons for this. The main thing is that the audience is already used to fritupley and takes the free game for granted. Another reason is the high level of piracy. For example, 99.6% of premium games on Android are downloaded illegally.

When you make a game for yourself. Publishers are always primarily about business, not about self—expression. It’s great if you want to pour out your soul as part of a game project. Just be prepared that if you make a game exclusively for yourself, then it may end up being interesting only to your mother. It is not necessary to come to the publisher with such games (but people come!).

When you have the competencies and opportunities to enter the market independently. So, for example, at one time it turned out for ZeptoLab.

When ZeptoLab first started making games, he also worked with a publisher. Then we gained experience, accumulated expertise, assembled a team that can bring the game to the App Store and Google Play by itself and began publishing our games independently.

Roughly speaking, if you are no longer new to the market, you know how to work with mobile markets, you know how to buy traffic, and you have the resources to promote — you definitely do not need a publisher.

In other cases, I would recommend finding a publisher.

At what stage of development should I go to the publisher?

Playable build

To go to the publisher, there must be a version of the game with the main features. Some people also call it a vertical slice. Thanks to him, the publisher should see the gameplay and the capabilities of the team from the point of view of production.

It’s not worth coming to the idea stage. Letters come very often: “I have a brilliant idea. Let’s sign the NDA. You will make a game, and 50% for the idea will go to me.”

Ideas without implementation are worthless. The publisher doesn’t need ideas. He is not interested in working with them, he needs already implemented ideas — games.

Clear monetization

At the stage of going to the publisher, the developer must understand how the project will be monetized. It is not necessary to immediately implement monetization, the main thing is to have at least on paper a clear idea of what the user will pay for in the game. If you come with a game that seems cool to you, but you don’t know how to monetize it, then most likely we don’t know either.

Scalable gameplay

The most frequent question I ask when communicating with developers is: “How will the first game session differ from the 20th? From the 30th? From the 100th”? And if the team does not have an answer to this question, then we (as well as most of the publishers) are not ready to work with tey.

The game has not yet been launched in a global release

If you have already launched the game into the world on your own, no publisher will take it anymore. If you decide that you make the game yourself, launch it on the market yourself, open it in all countries yourself, and even get some kind of feature yourself, then you also do everything yourself. The scenario “The traffic from the feature is over, it’s time to go to the publisher” will not work. The publisher must be approached before the global launch has taken place, because there can be no second chance to make a first impression. This is an important part of working on the game.

How do I find a publisher?

Google

The easiest way to do this is with Google.

There is also, for example, a table with a list of publishers and comments on working with them. Unfortunately, the table is now obsolete. There are many companies in it that are no longer working in the market.

Websites with show cases

I personally look for projects usually through them. And I know I’m not the only one. There are few such services, and it is not a big problem to fill in information about your products there.

— Publisher Wanted (the old version is working now, the new one will restart before the end of March);
— AdoptMyGame;
— IndieDB;
— Yunoia.

Participation in competitions

I will give IndiePrize as an example. There are actually a lot of them. It’s just that for the last three years I’ve been a member of the IndiePrize jury and a few less.

It is very convenient for me, as a publisher, to take part in such activities. This eliminates the need to visit all exhibitions. As a judge, builds are sent to me, I view them remotely and contact the authors of those who are interested.

So, even if you are not going to some conference, but this conference is holding some kind of competition, be sure to participate!

Participation in conferences

Many developers do not understand how to properly participate in b2b conferences.

Most of the developers think like this: “We will put up a stand. Let’s get up there and stand, smile and watch our product being played.”

For b2c events, such a scenario may be working, but not for business events. If you are looking for a publisher and have come to a conference, first of all you need to look through the list of all the people who will come to the conference, make appointments with the most interesting ones for you and be sure to meet in person, personally spend half an hour of time on the presentation.

For the last few years I haven’t had time to attend lectures — everything was packed with meetings. And so it is with almost any publisher. It is much better if you purposefully make an appointment than just stand and wait for the publisher to come to your booth.

How to understand that the publisher is correct?

The publisher profile must match your product. For example, ZeptoLab publishes midcore games with original mechanics (we avoid clones and widespread mechanics like fire). This is our strategy. Other publishers also have their own preferences. Do not be lazy before sending a build to one or another publisher to check whether you are suitable for him or not.

The publisher must have a successful experience in launching projects. How do you know if a publisher will be able to publish your project well? See if the company is able to publish games well in principle. If she has not published a single game normally, she has a number of “rakes” ahead of her, which she has yet to step on. It is better not to get involved with such companies.

It’s good if the publisher has expertise in the field of game development. The publisher should help polish the game. To do this, he needs to have a strong product expertise, experience in working with “rakes”, which he himself has already stepped on and will not let the developer step on. If the publisher is also a developer, and you know that his products are good, this is a big plus.

The publisher must have experience in buying traffic and working with media. An extensive game library and a large user base alone are not enough to promote and support the project. Yes, some publishers proceed from the strategy that they have their own traffic, and are ready to pour only it on third-party projects, but they do not buy users themselves. This is the wrong strategy.

Take ZeptoLab as an example. We have a lot of traffic — our games have been downloaded over a billion times. However, we do not consider these downloads as the main source of traffic. Why? The fact is that it does not scale (the audience of the publisher’s library may not match yours, which will lead to a bad conversion, plus traffic will still be eaten up within a few months). The publisher must have additional traffic sources that will allow your game to live longer.

The publisher’s procedures must be legal. Track how the company interacted with its counterparties, its partners, and how clean its legal reputation is. Often developers do not have their own legal department. And they cannot take into account all the points that a lawyer must take into account on the part of the publisher. It is important here that the publisher is decent.

How can the publisher help?

Expertise

The most important thing that a publisher has, for which it is worth contacting him, is product expertise. The publisher, having watched your game before the launch, can correct a lot of your mistakes and help bring the game to market metrics.

When a third-party game that we like comes to ZeptoLab, we test it, allocate one or more producers, a separate analyst who becomes part of the development team, helps answer questions and solve problems.

Localization and quality control

Most of the developers who are looking for a publisher are small teams. Their budgets are also small. They will not be enough for either high-quality localization or polishing. Therefore, this is usually done by the publisher, who has agreements with translation companies, and his own quality department, ready to test projects for at least a couple of weeks on thousands of devices.

Analytics

As I said, most developers don’t work very well with analytics. Even if they inserted it, they could have inserted it incorrectly and then misinterpreted the data. The publisher’s task is to organize the collection and analysis of analytical data according to internal standards.

Traffic

This is the most important thing that is expected from the publisher today. It is assumed that any publisher today knows how to buy traffic. That is, he must have a marketing budget. He should have people who understand how to buy traffic. He must have a normal relationship with the stores in order to do everything possible to get a feature.

Assistance in surgery

For any modern game service, launching is just the beginning of work. Today, it is assumed that the lifetime of a game project is at least several years, during which it is necessary to regularly release updates to it, communicate with the game community, and constantly refine monetization. This is difficult, and the publisher should help the developer with this.

Training

Another very important aspect of working with a publisher. In the process of working with an experienced publisher’s team, you get more than just promotion of your product. You get all the experience that the publisher’s team puts in. You watch how the publisher works, and in the future, through one or two games, you theoretically get all the competencies that a publisher should have.

Disadvantages of working with a publisher

The publisher always takes part of the profits from the project. This is his business. He makes money from it. The share often depends on the project.

The publisher intervenes in the development. However, this does not always happen. But if he intervenes, it is better to make concessions: he usually has more experience and competence than the developer.

I have faced situations when I was brought a good game that needed to be corrected in several places. I wrote: “Let’s discuss what needs to be fixed in the game.” They sent me back: “No. We will not change anything. I’m a game designer. That’s how I see it.”

Well, that’s how he sees it. He has the right. But we are taking risks in publishing, investing millions of dollars. We don’t want to invest a million dollars in something where we see a mistake.

Glory. When a game is released from the developer’s account, players often assume that it is a publisher’s game. And they may talk less about you, know less if you don’t go out under your own brand.

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If you have any questions about working with publishers, feel free to ask in the comments, I will try to answer.