Late in the afternoon on the 31st of January, publisher Private Division and their games seemingly disappeared from the Xbox Storefront for a few short
always read the contract. No matter what they tell you, what’s written there is what can be enforced
My friend signed with a publisher when he released his game. The reason he did it was because they offered to port his game to consoles as well as localize it to several languages. They said the fees for those services would be taken out of sales. My friend agreed because he though it gave him far more reach than if he just put the game up on Steam himself.
They charged him $50,000 for the porting and localization. The game hasn’t sold anywhere near that amount and he doesn’t expect it ever will. They will continue to take 70% of revenue (after Steam takes their cut!) until he makes up that debt. He’s lucky he asked for a cut because originally the contract read 100% to publisher until he pays off the debt. He wouldn’t have made any money at all!
My friend signed with a publisher when he released his game. The reason he did it was because they offered to port his game to consoles as well as localize it to several languages. They said the fees for those services would be taken out of sales. My friend agreed because he though it gave him far more reach than if he just put the game up on Steam himself.
They charged him $50,000 for the porting and localization. The game hasn’t sold anywhere near that amount and he doesn’t expect it ever will. They will continue to take 70% of revenue (after Steam takes their cut!) until he makes up that debt. He’s lucky he asked for a cut because originally the contract read 100% to publisher until he pays off the debt. He wouldn’t have made any money at all!
Ah. The old record label approach.