Indie publisher Raw Fury decided to take up educational activities. The company shared a sample of the publishing contract that developers sign when working with it. At the same time, the publisher launched a hub with a set of other useful templates.
The launch of DevResources, a platform with a set of templates for developers, was announced by the head of Raw Fury Johan Toresson. They say he wants to show developers how to avoid fraud on the part of publishers.
Raw Fury put samples of pitch decks, financial forecasts, outsourcing contracts and much more into this hub. One of the main documents was the publishing contract, which is signed by Raw Fury clients. It was to him that Thoresson paid the most attention in his note.
Head of Raw Fury
However, Thoresson immediately made a reservation — Raw Fury published a simplified version of the publishing agreement. The document describes many things, but does not disclose all the details. For example, the file does not stop in detail on marketing, PR, sales, testing, etc.
Thoresson invited other companies to share their contracts too, which “should not be a production secret.” According to the head of Raw Fury, this way the industry can finally become more transparent and understandable.
His call has already gathered the first reactions.
A few hours after the news from Raw Fury, the American indie publisher WhiteThorn Games responded. On Twitter, he posted his own template for the publication contract and promised to answer questions.
But not everyone took the Raw Fury initiative exclusively in a positive way. Game designer Jan Willem Neiman (Jan Willem Nijman) even considered that many points of the company’s publishing contract look “wild” and “unacceptable”.
It turned out, for example, that Raw Fury considers it the norm to take 50% of the game’s revenue. Also, the company does not give developers their share of income until they compensate the publisher’s expenses. At the same time, Raw Fury itself is entitled to a 15% surcharge on top of the principal amount of payments.
You can read this document and the rest of the templates from Raw Fury at the link. Note that the publisher has published the publishing agreement in eight languages, including Russian.