UK independent calls for change in developer-publisher relationships
Speaking to develop, Monumental CEO Paul Mayze has warned that current developer models are threatening the very existence of some studios.
“People from outside of the games industry are more than prepared to say the way this industry works is insanity, and it needs to get better,” said Mayze.
“If we don’t change these development models then there aren’t going to be any developers left. You know, you read a lot about developers in trouble, and I think a lot of the time it’s because there’s better deals to be had that mean more stability.”
In the full feature, Mayze reveals that UK independent Monumental, which started as a middleware company before moving into game development, is pushing new business models in the online space.
“We didn’t want to do just a normal publisher-developer model,” added Rik Alexander, CEO of the studio. “It didn’t make any sense to me. 18 to 24 month cycles and then spending your profit in those between times before you get more work – that doesn’t strike me as a very stable business.”
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Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Seriously though, there's been so much talk in the past decade about the utter stupidity of how the game biz works that it's about bloody time people start doing something about it instead of just whining.
Our business is a hit business. You get money from a publisher, you spend it, the game is released and then, if it sells, you make huge sums of money...and get acquired.
Only 4% of games that are eventually pre-produced make money. For those happy few, there is lots of money and that is why, if you only look at the business side of things, people rush to it.
We know the numbers in our industry, I bet those are equivalent in others. That is just the way it is. You have to leave with it!
