So far I’ve talked a little about what I think makes a “good” game idea, how to begin to develop the idea, and what sort of help you may need from a publisher. Even if you go the Introversion way and spend much of your time being mean and spitting at publishers as they go past, you would be a complete idiot if you didn’t spend time talking to them, pitching your idea in an attempt to convert their hard earned cash into your hard and fast Bentley. The only reason that Introversion hammers publishers is because the traditional deal they have offered developers has been so bad as to be insulting. Publishers are about turning ideas into money, and developers are about turning ideas into wonderful games that entertain and engage. Unfortunately this “symbiotic” relationship has often proved to be less symbiotic and more carnivorous, with creativity and independent ideas being slain by a culture of corporate risk management and quarterly profit margins. Despite all that, some publishers are better than others. Some offer services that you may be interested in. Some act in good faith and help you to grow your business. For us, Pinnacle, Ambrosia and Valve have been instrumental in our growth and have always been willing to negotiate contracts that work for both parties. Forging and securing these relationships has not been easy and this month I want to talk a little about how to negotiate good deals.
Now as always, there is a wealth of information available on good negotiation skills and so I am only going to focus on a few concrete techniques. In part I am doing this, because a good friend of mine – Caspar Gray – has already produced an excellent guide on pitching to publishers which he has kindly allowed me to post here. Read, digest and understand what Caspar has to say and you will increase your chances of an offer, but remember that sometimes what is on offer is a poisoned chalice, and you must consider carefully the value of a deal against what it will cost you. In any event, good business is about developing options and when you combine what Caspar has to say with the following top three IV techniques you are guaranteed to come out on top.
1. The Chapman.
Games conferences are sordid drunken affairs and you can be assured that The Mark will be drinking somewhere prior to his meetings the following day. Sadly he is an industry big wig and you are most definitely not on the list. A glimmer of hope emerges as you see a fellow developer striding confidently toward the bouncer. Stop the developer (Chapman) and reveal to him the plan. He goes forward shows his pass to the guard and befriends him with talk of “beer” or “the game” or “being stabbed” or some other topic of interest to your average guard. It is crucial that during this exchange the security guard sees Chapman’s pass. Chapman then returns to you and says loudly, “she’s not coming let’s just go in” whilst surreptitiously passing his pass to you. You then both approach the guard, Chapman is known and therefore admitted and you march in on his pass. Once in, go and befriend The Mark, but DO NOT talk about business – just give him a warm glow when he comes and sees you tomorrow. The Chapman.
2. The Mute
This is derived from an old journalist trick based on the psychological phenomenon that most people (especially when under pressure) hate silence and like to fill it with words. I was especially guilty of this, before I was taught The Mute and I once ended up giving the whole company away together with all our games for the next ten years in order to avoid the uncomfortable silence which my skilled adversary had orchestrated. The Mute is a simple technique; when The Mark makes an offer which is too low, or refuses to concede or asks for that which is too much you look him straight in the eye, and say nothing. After a while you can reach for a glass of water or pretend to make a few notes, but you must remain absolutely silent. After a period of about a minute The Mark will almost always crack and bend to your steely will. Remember that once a tide of offerings or concessions is flowing it must never be dammed – stay silent and reap the rewards. Although this is a powerful technique it must not be overused and you must always be aware of MuteLock. In this situation The Mark is also an accomplished Muter and you can find your self trapped for days in a silent battle of wills waiting for a crack in the armour and the first concessionary word to be spoken. The Mute.
3. The Vocab
Many vocations have a specialist vocabulary that is spoken fluently by the accomplished within it’s ranks. With the military it is acronyms, the legal profession enjoy Latin and the medics like words twice as long as the rest of us. During our short period performing negotiations within the video games industry, we have developed a short vocabulary list that may be of use:
“Why would you want to do that?” Derisive. Used to off balance The Mark when they have just spent ten minutes outlining their business strategy or game idea. Always have an answer to this question.
“Why would we want to do that?” Derisive. Used to off balance The Mark when they have asked you to do something – however reasonable – use immediately after the request has been made.
“That doesn’t really work for us”. Escalatory. Used to extract more money from The Mark.
“Up-side”. Metaphor. Profit.
“Royalty”. Lie. Pretend money downstream.
“Advance on Royalty”. Request. Real money, in my hand, now.
“Deductions”. Counter. Used to reduce “Advance on Royalty” to “Royalty”.
“Cash-flow”. Metaphor. Money that I want now. See “Advance on Royalty”.
“Acceptance and Rectification process”. Metaphor. Surrender creative control.
“Points.” Methapor. Percentage.
“Le Grande Fromage”. Metaphor. Boss.
“Flying Hamster”. Secret IV Code. Introversion HQ.
“SKU”. Bullshit game.
Example Given:
IV: Good morning, can we talk about the publishing contract for Multiwinia?
EA: Hey Introversion, good to see you in the bar last night, I didn’t think you’d be up this early but what a night! Anyway what can I do for you?
IV: We’re a little concerned about your offer for this SKU, from our point of view we’re not seeing a lot of up-side.
EA: Don’t be silly you have a massive royalty – the highest percentage we have ever given an indie developer. Come on IV, you know how hard we had to work for this!
IV. Sure, I thought perhaps we could drop the royalty by a few points and start talking about an advance?
EA. Could do. Could do. That’s not out of the realm of possibilities. We have a standard list of deductions, but there’s nothing serious in it, how much were you thinking of?
IV. Well we’ve taken an extensive look at our cash-flow, and we think 100k should cover everything.
EA: 100k? That doesn’t really work for us.
IV: <Mute>
EA: Well the problem is we just don’t have access to that kind of cash. We have another first person shooter clone in production, and the bosses are using up all the spare cash to finance that.
IV: Why would you want to do that?
EA: That strategy has worked very well for us in the past.
IV: <Mute>
EA: Look fellas the best we could do is 75k tops. How’s that?
IV: That doesn’t really work for us.
EA: Okay, I’ll chat to le grand fromage and see if we can get you 80K. How does that work?
IV: That could work. Let’s have a chat and drop us an e-mail later, I know you’re busy so I’ll let you get on.
EA <In private> They think they have won, but with that acceptance clause the game they end up making will be nothing like the one they pitched. Just got to hope their pesky lawyer doesn’t read the fine print.
==
<Meanwhile back at the Flying Hamster>
Alex: Jesus IV, have you seen this contract from EA? I don’t care about your advance they’ve got you by the short and curlies here. They can reject whatever you do for no reason other than they don’t like it! Next thing you know you’ll be drawing happy smiley faces on the Multiwinians!
IV: God bless you Alex Chapman of Campbell Hooper. Without you as our lawyer we’d be a gonner.
The above account is entirely fictitious and is based in no part on any persons living or dead. Any resemblance to any actual conversation is entirely co-incidental.
I don't want a real job - Part 4.
I don't want a real job - Part 4.
Last edited by Mark on Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
/me falls over laughing at the faked conversation with EA.
Another good entry into the blog, and definately useful for those who seriously persue creating and publishing a game.
Another good entry into the blog, and definately useful for those who seriously persue creating and publishing a game.
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Re: I don't want a real job - Part 4.
Mark wrote:He goes forward shows his pass to the guard and befriends him with talk of “beer” or “the game”...
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