Get to know the difference between Game Studio and Game Publisher and choose wisely for your upcoming projects.
The Game Development Industry has been evolved into a huge sector of immense innovations. From the first game ever made by William Higginbotham to the games that we are playing today has been changed tremendously. Today this sector has become a potential business field having a great impact on the world economy. With new players joining every day it’s a hectic part for the developers to keep all the players engaged. Again in this competitive world, developers need to get the correct platform to showcase their talent. With such a huge industry filled with extraordinary talent, it’s quite common for the developers to go unnoticed even if they have a lot of potentials. Now here come the role of Game Studios and Game Publishers who can become a Savior in this treacherous path. However, there is always confusion while choosing between these two entities. Let’s first analyse the difference and later we can conclude what we should go for.
Game Studio vs. Game Publisher: The Difference
A Game Developer Studio generally consists of Game Developers which further includes Programmers, Game Designers, Artists, Music Producer and so on. They are solely responsible for the development process of the game. While building the game from Scratch, the Game Developer Studio make sure to complete the game and make it production-ready after testing it from the beta testers. However, a Game Developer Studio is well known for its hard-earned Game and the amount of love it receives from the user. It depends on the size of the team who ends up giving a unique product. Nowadays, Indie Game Development is overtaking the market with its innovative idea and the level of dedication from the developers all around.
Now at this point of time, a Game Developer Studio achieves only 50% of the process. The rest and most crucial half of the Development process is to make the product reach to the Right Audience. Again there is a difference between “reaching the audience normally” and “reaching the right audience”. It is more efficient to reach gamers who actually spend a good amount of time playing games than the older people who usually don’t spend much time on it. Product success can only be termed by its sales rate which is possible if the product is more appealing. With the help of proper marketing, it finally completes the Process of Game Development. But the overall scenario of marketing is the main game! The major problem what a Game Developer Studio face is lack of finance, which results in poor marketing. Maximum Game Developer Studios either lacks finance for their game or lacks proper marketing technique, which leads to bad results and demotivates them.
Here comes the role of a Game Publisher! Game Publisher’s primary job is to provide games with a platform where it can get the direct audience. They potentially take all the headache of marketing, sales, Press releases and at the end of the day, they make sure to get your game sold well. Starting from the development to the completion of the project, Game Publisher tends to promote your game so that it can gather instant audience at the right time. As they dominate the rest of the production process, developers now can purely focus on their development. Dominantly, it plays a crucial role in funding the project at the initial level if the idea pitched by Developers seems to be quite good.
Now we got a clear definition, difference and the working principle of Game Studios and Game Publishers. It definitely seems like going with the publisher is a good option but there are several setbacks while working with Game Publishers. Further, let’s see which entity we should choose for our product.
Game Studio vs. Game Publisher: Final Choice?
Game Publisher definitely has a great side of selling your game quite well, but it's not that simple as it seems. Getting a good publisher who has an actual interest in your game is quite hard to find. With several Publishers out there in the market, it becomes difficult to rely on them. It becomes more hectic when you have to compromise your game earning with a huge percentage. And Yes ! the share percentage of the Game Publishers are pretty huge. This could be as high as 70% to the Publisher's pocket and could be as minimum as 40 %. This is the major problem what all the indie developers face. The work procedure and the mechanics of the game eventually change according to the Game Publishers. This is done by the technical and marketing team of the company to make sure the particular game has the ability to sell out well in the market. The company forces the developers to make every particular change which may benefit the company to sell it well, this might not suit your idea but you are limited with your actions. These are few problems which are not limited to but are major concerns for an Indie Game Developer to go on with a Game Publisher.
On the other side, Working with a Game Studio not only boosts up your development skills but also enrich your potential of being a productive developer. You get to know the industry standards and you shape yourself into an Industry Production Workflow. It gives you the ability to become more efficient and further, it helps you to be recognizable. As a whole, experience gained with Game Studios is definitely going to help you out in your future. But it completely depends on your choice of Game Developer Studio to work with. However, they will pay you as a team member in terms of collaboration. With mutual work from both the side, the game will be released by the Game Studio as produced by two entities. The reach to the audience purely depends on the credibility of Game Studio and this leads to the way you earn. You might get lesser earning initially but later with time progression you will definitely form yourself into something big. This also develops a stronger relationship with the Studios and hence gives you the opportunity to excel.
It is a matter of choice to decide depending upon the product type and your needs. Going with the Game Studio or Game Publisher has its own journey to experience. We would rather suggest you work with both to gain experience and later choose a perfect leading partner.
With Love From VOiD1 Gaming
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