GDevelop Publishing Services

[MagicBiscuit]

So like the title says… Why not start a publishing service?

As is, we could submit our games to a GDevelop Publishing Team and if the game checked all the requirements, then you could pay a one time publishing fee and all profit made would be split between you and GDevelop.

The service would offer the ability for your game to be published for you on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and Steam, eliminating all the hassle that comes with it at the cost of paying for said service.

The cost would depend on which stores youd want to be published to, this considering Play Store is pretty much free, but Apple and Steam do cost quite a bit, the store charges would fall on the bill as added cost.

This is just an example, of course theres plenty of room to improve on the idea, but it would be a pretty nice way of making extra money to support GDevelop.

Why do i request this? Well, personally, due to lack of eye sight, i find dealing with certain websites tedious beyond belief and even impossible at times due to lack of accessibility.

Not to mention that some of the newer requirements on the Play Store for example, are kinda nutts… having to get a bunch of testers all logging in for two weeks and things like that… they have been kinda making indie apps harder to get on there.

Id much rather be able to pay a trust worthy company to do it for me and even split the profit.

Its also a really nice commodity, being able to easely hire someone to publish stuff for you would be a god sent, im not a greedy person at all, but i do enjoy anything that makes my life easier, lord knows its “hard mode” enough as it is

So what do you guys think?

[Kruger]

It would be interesting to see the GDevelop team become publishers, but any game closely tied to them becomes both good and bad advertising for their Engine, so from a certain point of view, it might not be worthwhile. Alternatively, if only a handful of games were to be released under their name, it could be beneficial. Although they developed the engine, they still need strong games that do not tarnish their name in any way. Therefore, the game, developer, and so on must be impeccable to safeguard their reputation before considering money. The former is difficult to recover, especially when they are relatively unknown at the moment, while money can come in any case. Moreover, it would honestly be a very good thing not only for the bureaucratic aspect of it (currently, the tax to pay is not the main problem of the various stores), but if they were to collaborate, for example, with developers and accordingly model their engine to benefit the developer, which in turn would benefit and provide good publicity for GDevelop. For example, the lighting system is currently poor, but if a team were to come and propose a collaboration as you suggested to the GDevelop team, it would be ideal if the team needed a better lighting system to improve it for the team and thus directly assist in development. I can imagine such a thing being well-executed and effective. In the end, it would be better for them to have flagship games for their engine. For example, Game X is the game with the best physics on GDevelop, Game Y has the best lighting, and so on, to proudly showcase the power of their engine game by game.

[MagicBiscuit]

The games wouldnt impact their image, even when a game is flop or just all around hated by critics, everyone piles on the development team not the publisher.

Also, thats why i mentioned “requirements”. What im suggesting isnt a guaranteed service, you have to apply, send your game in, and if its an actual finished and polished game that isnt inappropriate, then you get acess to being published.

[Kruger]

yes, but in their case it is different because they are also the owners of the engine, for example we have the case of Hunt Showdown where the creators of the game are also the creators of the Crytek engine and any criticism of the game perhaps for some bugs, graphic glitches and so on, it is also reflected directly on the engine and that is the Cryengine, one of the engines that made history thanks to Crisis and still boasts hyper-realistic graphic power, Gdevelop on its part can only boast the practicality of its use and little else, but it’s a discussion that’s fine for us developers, the player may not care much. I understand good faith, but you have to understand the users you are approaching and many users are kind and understanding, but those few bad apples are enough to ruin the harvest. I don’t reject the idea because I like it too, I would be the first to propose my game to them, but you have to be careful

[Ambytar]

@MagicBiscuit

Why not start a publishing service?

As is, we could submit our games to a GDevelop Publishing Team and if the game checked all the requirements, then you could pay a one time publishing fee and all profit made would be split between you and GDevelop.

A while ago I had this idea too.

I could imagine that it would be very hard to realise the idea?

A lot of bureaucratic steps to set up that publishing service alone and then for each published title and so on…

In addition all of the marketing, and not to forget: maybe hiring more expert people who are capable to work for the publishing service in the end.

[MagicBiscuit]

I really dont think its that hard guys…

For example, if you publish an app to the Play Store… You just became your own publisher.

A Publisher does exactly what you do to get a game out there, except, they take on the responsibility to get your game on the stores and then market it.

So then instead of saying “Retro Game Logic” on the store, in my case, it would say “Published by GDevelop”, and instead of me making 100% profit, ill split it with GDevelop.

GDevelop already does the marketing part for a fee, putting your game out there would just bit an extra feature of that service.

You guys overthink this stuff way too hard, not everything is so complex.

[EyadMahm0ud]

TL;DR (sorry )
This may be possible for mobile app stores (Play Store) but difficult for other platforms (App Store/Steam) due to the publishing fees per app.
It is worth noting that GDevelop has examples on the Play Store and published a game on the App Store.

The closest possibility in my opinion is that GDevelop will reach out and contract with developers to create promotional games.

[MagicBiscuit]

@EyadMahm0ud

This may be possible for mobile app stores (Play Store) but difficult for other platforms (App Store/Steam) due to the publishing fees per app.

Thats why i mentioned in the OP that those fees would be extras on the bill.

So for example, lets say id like my game advertised and published on Google Play.
(This is all random numbers for example sake)

Id pay:

• For marketing 40$
• For publishing if accepted 40$
• Profits from Ad/sales split 40/60 in favor of the developer.
• Final bill 80$

If i wanted it to be published on Google Play and Steam.

• For marketing 40$
• For publishing if accepted 40$
• Steam listing fee 100$
• Profits from sales split 40/60 in favor of the developer.
• Final bill 180$

…and so on

Heck, id pay way more than that just so i dont have to deal with listing headaches…

[Points]

I think you are mixing the concepts. A publisher, as it is known in the world of video games, is not only responsible for publishing a game on some platform (many times they do not do this either), but is also responsible for presenting the game to the world, with contacts, with advertising programs, with influences, etc. The publisher does not work in charge, as if a conceptual artist, a 3D modeler, a programmer, etc. would, but rather keeps a percentage of the sales. This contract is based on the publisher seeing enough potential in the game to anticipate that the advertising efforts will capture many sales and make profits from it. The publisher selects games (most of the time related to its portfolio) and a contract is established based on that. A person who takes a game and uploads it to the Play Store or Steam is just that, someone who facilitates bureaucracy. The publisher forms its reputation based on the games it advertises, and if it is linked to an engine, if the game is not good, it will be negatively affected. On the other hand, there are many games made in Gdevelop but very few are enough to carry out an advertising campaign. A game is not measured based on effort, intentions, or how much you have learned doing it. It is based on the effect on people and whether you are ready to compete with others in your same niche. I’m not talking about any particular case, but given the statistics, the majority of people who would pay to advertise a game made in Gdevelop, as well as in any engine that makes it easier to make your own game, would be to promote games that are not up to par, just because they are excited to present their game to the world. Furthermore, a publisher has to have many contacts to be able to launch your game, and this does not happen overnight. I think the concept of a service to publish a game on a platform could be good, but not as a publisher as they are known in the video game world. However, it must be taken into account that the Gdevelop developers make efforts to make it easier for us to upload the games to the different platforms. They might end up discontinuing these efforts and ending up focusing on them doing it for you, which wouldn’t be good either.

[MagicBiscuit]

You guys are seriously overthinking this and blowing it out of proportion…

…also, just because something is usually done in a way, it dosent mean you cant do it differently, thats how innovation happens… and when it comes to innovation, GDevelop, from my experience using other engines, is pretty awesome at it, for the better.

GDevelop is not a Marketing Corporation, yet… they offer a marketing service within their own ecosystem… Mind blown yet?

…what if they “sorta” acted like publishers? What if they marketed your game as they already do with their services… AND were able to get your game onto stores provided you payed the fees, then you shared the profit.

It would be an added feature, nothing huge… and more! It would be clean revenue, no making paywalls, no charging for engine features, it would be yet another service outside of the engine for them to make money to support the engine.