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Publishing! (oh, great...)
Author
Like most people here, I plan to one day have a good product on my hands, and I will like to release it. Provided that what I''ve got is really cool, what''s my best bet for release? Do I go to a small publisher and hope it sells that way? Do I voulenteer to get screwed by a larger company (let''s assume I show them something they might want)?
I''m curious about this supposed Middle-teir of publishers. I understand that they aren''t all huge... What are our options, and what leaves me in the best position when the smoke clears?
I''ve been trying to do some casual research on the same topic. Some of the things I have been doing are:
1. Looking online for publishers. Gamasutra has a fairly decent list of publishers. I''m not sure what luck you will have with them though.
2. Looking on store shelves for some of these small publishers. On this site, I have heard mention of e-games and Crystal Interactive. So far, I have seen a small selection of e-games software at Walmart and Zellers (here in Canada). I have never to date found anything from Crystal. Maybe they don''t supply Canada, I don''t know. By seeing e-games here though, it leads me to believe they have a fairly big distribution, so maybe you won''t get much per copy sold, but if a big enough number of copies sell, will it matter?
Anyways, that is about as much as I have found so far. I am nowhere near the point of having a game ready yet, so I haven''t looked too hard. But maybe it''s a starting point.
If anyone else has more information, I think there are a least two people here interested.
Thanks
borngamer
Man was born to game, we only work to pay for our toys!
1. Looking online for publishers. Gamasutra has a fairly decent list of publishers. I''m not sure what luck you will have with them though.
2. Looking on store shelves for some of these small publishers. On this site, I have heard mention of e-games and Crystal Interactive. So far, I have seen a small selection of e-games software at Walmart and Zellers (here in Canada). I have never to date found anything from Crystal. Maybe they don''t supply Canada, I don''t know. By seeing e-games here though, it leads me to believe they have a fairly big distribution, so maybe you won''t get much per copy sold, but if a big enough number of copies sell, will it matter?
Anyways, that is about as much as I have found so far. I am nowhere near the point of having a game ready yet, so I haven''t looked too hard. But maybe it''s a starting point.
If anyone else has more information, I think there are a least two people here interested.
Thanks
borngamer
Man was born to game, we only work to pay for our toys!
quote: Original post by borngamer
If anyone else has more information, I think there are a least two people here interested.
Thanks
borngamer
Man was born to game, we only work to pay for our toys!
Make that 3
"""" "'Nazrix is cool' -- Nazrix" --Darkmage --Godfree"-Nazrix" -- runemaster --and now dwarfsoft" -- dwarfsoft --pouya --nes8bit --CmndrM " -- Nazrix
"If your parents didn't explain this one, I'm not going to." --Felisandria
"You know you're cool when you're in Nazrix's sig :) " --Martee
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.
We (me+programmer) have almost finished a demolevel of our project (i guess there´s still a few weeks work left) but...
that would be four then...
that would be four then...
There was an interesting thread about this somewhere else in the topics. Dunno how to link, but if you search back a few weeks you should be able to find it. Can''t have been that long ago (and in one of the more recent threads, there was a link to that interesting thread - make sense?
In any case, Crystal may not have many products out because they were recently taken over by another company and restructured. (I''m not speaking on their behalf, just what I''ve heard).
I''ve also got a game which is almost ready (means I will still be working on it a few months), and looking for publishers as well. I guess your best bet is to contact some, and see what they reply. If they don''t bother to reply, you might as well lose them, since they are obviously not interested - or your mail got lost
Must say I haven''t found very many responsive publishers yet, but if you look around you are bound to stumble upon a few. I also remember a list of publishers at another site, but I seem to have lost the URL of that one
I do remember Crystal being on the list, and e-games, and something called xtreme games. Can''t remember the rest right now, but maybe that''s helped at least a little
Kind regards,
Maarten Egmond.
In any case, Crystal may not have many products out because they were recently taken over by another company and restructured. (I''m not speaking on their behalf, just what I''ve heard).
I''ve also got a game which is almost ready (means I will still be working on it a few months), and looking for publishers as well. I guess your best bet is to contact some, and see what they reply. If they don''t bother to reply, you might as well lose them, since they are obviously not interested - or your mail got lost
Must say I haven''t found very many responsive publishers yet, but if you look around you are bound to stumble upon a few. I also remember a list of publishers at another site, but I seem to have lost the URL of that one
I do remember Crystal being on the list, and e-games, and something called xtreme games. Can''t remember the rest right now, but maybe that''s helped at least a little
Kind regards,
Maarten Egmond.
I''ve also been looking around at different publishers, especially the smaller ones, and I was thinking it would be good if someone made a webpage listing different publishers and details about them. Basic details like contacting them, who to contact about submitting games, how they want games to be submitted, at what stage in the development process, etc. And maybe a list of games they have already published. I was asking before in a different thread if there was anywhere like this, but it didn''t seem like there was.
www.amadev.net has a list of small publishers (check under Tools)
Just links, but still good...
Just links, but still good...
You were talking about finding publishers, here you have a HUGE list of publishers:
http://www.gamezone.com/publinks/company.asp
If you want to submit a game to publishers you can place a demo somewhere in the internet and send an email to them saying where they can download it, for most of them that is enough, I only know 4 (activision, gathering of developers/odigames, 3DO and garagedeveloper) that ask you to sign a silly paper and fax it to them before evaluating the game. If you want a list of email addresses I made one going to some of their web sites (there are many more in the list of publishers of the address above), some addresses are from the same company or from companies who do not accept submissions and a few are directly wrong, the tiny list I made is:
----------------------
3rd-party@redstorm.co.uk
abracad@clipper.net
abracadata@poboxes.com
admin@aztech.com
afriedl@namco.com
alison@empire-us.com
amanda_lannert@jellyvision.com
andrew@adventuresoft.com
anthonyl@kronosdigital.com
aschneider@tsicomm.com
bchase@southpeak.com
bkennedy@iencentral.com
bkosovitch@juno.com
bnichols@aztech.com
branchon@titus.fr
brandons@humongous.com
bslager@bitplayer.net
businessaccounts@tecmoinc.com
careers@westwood.com
cathy@empire-us.com
clay@imonkey.com
clouvier@infogrames.fr
comments@blackops.com
comments@novalogic.com
comments@westwood.com
corpcomm@learningco.com
csornay@infogrames.fr
cust_serv@learningco.com
customer.service@sierra.com
customer_support@vie.co.uk
customerservice@tecmoinc.com
custservice@codemastersusa.com
cv@revolution.co.uk
dave@wintervalley.com
denis@af.kiev.ua
dev@thedawn.it
developpement.ca@microids.com
dexchange@origin.ea.com
distributors@tecmoinc.com
dmunoz@ea.com
don.whiteford@war.rage.co.uk
dwijobs@ea.com
editor@rareware.com
elizabeth.loverso@redstorm.com
employment@terminalreality.com
enquiries@marjacq.com
eurosupport@acclaimworld.net
eurpr@thq.com
feedback@battlefront.com
feedback@bluefang.com
feedback@dexterity.com
feedback@herinteractive.com
fieldingprod@earthlink.net
fletch@ionstorm.com
fred@ent-atty.com
game_webmaster@metro3d.com
gamecounselor@tecmoinc.com
gary@rockstargames.com
garycarlin@aol.com
georgeb@3drealms.com
gfuchs@activision.com
great_games@singletrac.com
greatideas@gtinteractive.com
gwilk@westwood.com
gwinters@mindspring.com
hall@bluebyte.com
hasbro_support@aqinc.com
help@tecmoinc.com
help@tlcsupport.com
help@us.infogrames.com
hi@hasbro.com
hillary@southpeak.com
hotjobs@us.infogrames.com
hr@agetec.com
hr@atlus.com
hr@bethsoft.com
hr@novalogic.com
info@abacuspub.com
info@abc-ware.com
info@aboutgolf.com
info@arcsy.co.jp
info@beachware.com
info@bungie.com
info@cyan.com
info@dice.se
info@hotb.com
info@interplay.com
info@ipoem.com
info@neversoft.com
info@newkidco.com
info@paninteractive.net
info@southpeak.com
info@top-gear.com
info@wintervalley.com
investor@newkidco.com
ismith@microids.com
jacqui@marjacq.com
jaleco@jaleco.com
jamiep@jellyvision.com
jarney@namco.com
jcrsch@game-club.com
jeff.hmm@ix.netcom.com
jim@longbowdigitalarts.com
jmenditto@gtinteractive.com
jobs@cyan.com
jobs@eidos.com
jobs@motorsims.com
jobs@origin.ea.com
jobs@talonsoft.com
jobs@tecmoinc.com
jobs@ubisoft.com
jobs@vie.co.uk
joes@3drealms.com
josh@godgames.com
jpemberton@microids.com
kean.marden@wdr.com
kerryg@humongous.com
kgille1445@aol.com
kschuelke@activision.com
kurtalex@aol.com
licensing@terminalreality.com
lmezoff@tsicomm.com
mark@thegamesagency.com
marketing@agetec.com
marketing@motorsims.com
marketing@novalogic.com
marketing@origin.ea.com
massey.lopes@dresdnerkb.com
mcurrie@gtinteractive.com
mfroikin@mindspring.com
michelle@beachware.com
mjaffe@eloinc.com
mloredo@elpin.com
mscriven@empire-us.com
murrayf123@aol.com
nearl@eidos.com
oracle@godgames.com
pd@us.infogrames.com
personnel@t-tales.com
perwin@activision.com
pr@firaxis.com
pr@midway.com
pr@terminalreality.com
press@bethsoft.com
press@eidos.com
press@runningwithscissors.com
press@shiny.com
press@us.infogrames.com
pressroom@sp.hudson.co.jp
proxyadm@mattel.com
racedirector@motorsims.com
reaume@21stcenturygames.com
recruitment@birm.rage.co.uk
recruitment@live.rage.co.uk
recruitment@newc.rage.co.uk
recruitment@shef.rage.co.uk
recruitment@war.rage.co.uk
resume@capcom.com
resume@thq.com
resumes@3do.com
resumes@blizzard.com
retail@southpeak.com
rhart@iencentral.com
richard@reactiongames.com
robert.smithson@gs.com
robert@godgames.com
rwahkan@dreamcatcherinc.com
saiyo@arcsy.co.jp
sales@21stcenturygames.com
sales@blizzard.com
sales@motorsims.com
sales@novalogic.com
sales@us.infogrames.com
scottm@3drealms.com
shareware@spidweb.com
sharware@spidweb.com
simon@bluebyte.de
sirtech@sir-tech.com
spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com
spidweb@spidweb.com
sroch@shiny.com
steve@dexterity.com
submissions@octagon1.com
submissions@ripcordgames.com
sunsoftusa@aol.com
support@birm.rage.co.uk
support@blizzard.com
support@ea.com
support@empire.co.uk
support@godgames.com
support@interplay.com
support@micropose.com
support@motorsims.com
support@origin.ea.com
support@sierra.com
support@southpeak.com
support@starplay.com
support2@namco.com
swickes@empire-us.com
take2@startekeurope.com
thezealot@ionstorm.com
thq@thq.com
tim_steer@ml.com
uksupport@ea.com
webmaster@21stcenturygames.com
webmaster@3do.com
webmaster@acclaim.com
webmaster@atlus.com
webmaster@aztech.com
webmaster@blackops.com
webmaster@ea.com
webmaster@egames.com
webmaster@koeigames.com
webmaster@mattelinteractive.com
webmaster@microids.com
webmaster@midway.com
webmaster@motorsims.com
webmaster@novalogic.com
webmaster@nwcomputing.com
webmaster@rage.co.uk
webmaster@rareusa.com
webmaster@rareware.com
webmaster@revolution.co.uk
webmaster@shade.co.jp
webmaster@shiny.com
webmaster@tecmoinc.com
webmaster@terminalreality.com
webmaster@t-tales.com
webmaster@ubisoft.com
webmaster@us.infogrames.com
wendy.beasley@redstorm.com
www@origin.ea.com
www@ravensoft.com
-------------------
There are many many more but at least this saves some time, just get a program like Mail Bomber from download.com, save this message and import the addresses to the program, write your message and the mass submission is done. Then you can start going to the web sites to get more addresses
http://www.gamezone.com/publinks/company.asp
If you want to submit a game to publishers you can place a demo somewhere in the internet and send an email to them saying where they can download it, for most of them that is enough, I only know 4 (activision, gathering of developers/odigames, 3DO and garagedeveloper) that ask you to sign a silly paper and fax it to them before evaluating the game. If you want a list of email addresses I made one going to some of their web sites (there are many more in the list of publishers of the address above), some addresses are from the same company or from companies who do not accept submissions and a few are directly wrong, the tiny list I made is:
----------------------
3rd-party@redstorm.co.uk
abracad@clipper.net
abracadata@poboxes.com
admin@aztech.com
afriedl@namco.com
alison@empire-us.com
amanda_lannert@jellyvision.com
andrew@adventuresoft.com
anthonyl@kronosdigital.com
aschneider@tsicomm.com
bchase@southpeak.com
bkennedy@iencentral.com
bkosovitch@juno.com
bnichols@aztech.com
branchon@titus.fr
brandons@humongous.com
bslager@bitplayer.net
businessaccounts@tecmoinc.com
careers@westwood.com
cathy@empire-us.com
clay@imonkey.com
clouvier@infogrames.fr
comments@blackops.com
comments@novalogic.com
comments@westwood.com
corpcomm@learningco.com
csornay@infogrames.fr
cust_serv@learningco.com
customer.service@sierra.com
customer_support@vie.co.uk
customerservice@tecmoinc.com
custservice@codemastersusa.com
cv@revolution.co.uk
dave@wintervalley.com
denis@af.kiev.ua
dev@thedawn.it
developpement.ca@microids.com
dexchange@origin.ea.com
distributors@tecmoinc.com
dmunoz@ea.com
don.whiteford@war.rage.co.uk
dwijobs@ea.com
editor@rareware.com
elizabeth.loverso@redstorm.com
employment@terminalreality.com
enquiries@marjacq.com
eurosupport@acclaimworld.net
eurpr@thq.com
feedback@battlefront.com
feedback@bluefang.com
feedback@dexterity.com
feedback@herinteractive.com
fieldingprod@earthlink.net
fletch@ionstorm.com
fred@ent-atty.com
game_webmaster@metro3d.com
gamecounselor@tecmoinc.com
gary@rockstargames.com
garycarlin@aol.com
georgeb@3drealms.com
gfuchs@activision.com
great_games@singletrac.com
greatideas@gtinteractive.com
gwilk@westwood.com
gwinters@mindspring.com
hall@bluebyte.com
hasbro_support@aqinc.com
help@tecmoinc.com
help@tlcsupport.com
help@us.infogrames.com
hi@hasbro.com
hillary@southpeak.com
hotjobs@us.infogrames.com
hr@agetec.com
hr@atlus.com
hr@bethsoft.com
hr@novalogic.com
info@abacuspub.com
info@abc-ware.com
info@aboutgolf.com
info@arcsy.co.jp
info@beachware.com
info@bungie.com
info@cyan.com
info@dice.se
info@hotb.com
info@interplay.com
info@ipoem.com
info@neversoft.com
info@newkidco.com
info@paninteractive.net
info@southpeak.com
info@top-gear.com
info@wintervalley.com
investor@newkidco.com
ismith@microids.com
jacqui@marjacq.com
jaleco@jaleco.com
jamiep@jellyvision.com
jarney@namco.com
jcrsch@game-club.com
jeff.hmm@ix.netcom.com
jim@longbowdigitalarts.com
jmenditto@gtinteractive.com
jobs@cyan.com
jobs@eidos.com
jobs@motorsims.com
jobs@origin.ea.com
jobs@talonsoft.com
jobs@tecmoinc.com
jobs@ubisoft.com
jobs@vie.co.uk
joes@3drealms.com
josh@godgames.com
jpemberton@microids.com
kean.marden@wdr.com
kerryg@humongous.com
kgille1445@aol.com
kschuelke@activision.com
kurtalex@aol.com
licensing@terminalreality.com
lmezoff@tsicomm.com
mark@thegamesagency.com
marketing@agetec.com
marketing@motorsims.com
marketing@novalogic.com
marketing@origin.ea.com
massey.lopes@dresdnerkb.com
mcurrie@gtinteractive.com
mfroikin@mindspring.com
michelle@beachware.com
mjaffe@eloinc.com
mloredo@elpin.com
mscriven@empire-us.com
murrayf123@aol.com
nearl@eidos.com
oracle@godgames.com
pd@us.infogrames.com
personnel@t-tales.com
perwin@activision.com
pr@firaxis.com
pr@midway.com
pr@terminalreality.com
press@bethsoft.com
press@eidos.com
press@runningwithscissors.com
press@shiny.com
press@us.infogrames.com
pressroom@sp.hudson.co.jp
proxyadm@mattel.com
racedirector@motorsims.com
reaume@21stcenturygames.com
recruitment@birm.rage.co.uk
recruitment@live.rage.co.uk
recruitment@newc.rage.co.uk
recruitment@shef.rage.co.uk
recruitment@war.rage.co.uk
resume@capcom.com
resume@thq.com
resumes@3do.com
resumes@blizzard.com
retail@southpeak.com
rhart@iencentral.com
richard@reactiongames.com
robert.smithson@gs.com
robert@godgames.com
rwahkan@dreamcatcherinc.com
saiyo@arcsy.co.jp
sales@21stcenturygames.com
sales@blizzard.com
sales@motorsims.com
sales@novalogic.com
sales@us.infogrames.com
scottm@3drealms.com
shareware@spidweb.com
sharware@spidweb.com
simon@bluebyte.de
sirtech@sir-tech.com
spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com
spidweb@spidweb.com
sroch@shiny.com
steve@dexterity.com
submissions@octagon1.com
submissions@ripcordgames.com
sunsoftusa@aol.com
support@birm.rage.co.uk
support@blizzard.com
support@ea.com
support@empire.co.uk
support@godgames.com
support@interplay.com
support@micropose.com
support@motorsims.com
support@origin.ea.com
support@sierra.com
support@southpeak.com
support@starplay.com
support2@namco.com
swickes@empire-us.com
take2@startekeurope.com
thezealot@ionstorm.com
thq@thq.com
tim_steer@ml.com
uksupport@ea.com
webmaster@21stcenturygames.com
webmaster@3do.com
webmaster@acclaim.com
webmaster@atlus.com
webmaster@aztech.com
webmaster@blackops.com
webmaster@ea.com
webmaster@egames.com
webmaster@koeigames.com
webmaster@mattelinteractive.com
webmaster@microids.com
webmaster@midway.com
webmaster@motorsims.com
webmaster@novalogic.com
webmaster@nwcomputing.com
webmaster@rage.co.uk
webmaster@rareusa.com
webmaster@rareware.com
webmaster@revolution.co.uk
webmaster@shade.co.jp
webmaster@shiny.com
webmaster@tecmoinc.com
webmaster@terminalreality.com
webmaster@t-tales.com
webmaster@ubisoft.com
webmaster@us.infogrames.com
wendy.beasley@redstorm.com
www@origin.ea.com
www@ravensoft.com
-------------------
There are many many more but at least this saves some time, just get a program like Mail Bomber from download.com, save this message and import the addresses to the program, write your message and the mass submission is done. Then you can start going to the web sites to get more addresses
This list is not exactly good news. A lot of those on the list are developers, even really small ones like LDA. I wouldnt be surprised to find myself on there. I would be seriously annoyed if lots of people started emailing me with product submissions if I am not even a publisher. What makes you think that spamming veryone in the industry will get you a publishing deal?
Anyone will tell you that "mail-bombing" hundreds of email addresses isn''t the way to get your game noticed. If its a strategy game, find the publishers who do strategy games and who are actively looking for product, then compose INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED emails to them.
I never submit a Positech game to a publisher who I do not belive is genuinely interested in that kind of game, and I do not spam hundreds of them at a time either.
just my $0.02
http://www.positech.co.uk
Anyone will tell you that "mail-bombing" hundreds of email addresses isn''t the way to get your game noticed. If its a strategy game, find the publishers who do strategy games and who are actively looking for product, then compose INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED emails to them.
I never submit a Positech game to a publisher who I do not belive is genuinely interested in that kind of game, and I do not spam hundreds of them at a time either.
just my $0.02
http://www.positech.co.uk
I know that some are developers, but I just didn''t know which ones, anyway I''m giving the least away for free so don''t expect it to be perfect, but at least I''m being more helpful than others who just don''t give any info.
Also:
1)If you send an email to a developer they will send you an email saying "sorry but we''re not publishers". Big deal!
2)If an address doesn''t exist you get a non-deliverable message error. That''s all.
3)If the publisher only publish games of some specific type (very rare) they will just reply telling you that.
4)If they don''t accept external submission they will tell you too.
Actually in most of the cases they will just ignore the email but they won''t get annoyed. I erased the messages I got back saying that they were just developers or the ones about addresses which didn''t exist so I couldn''t remove the wrong entries in the list cos I didn''t know which ones were wrong or not.
About writing to each publisher individually after you know about them it''s simple not reasonable, some publishers will take up to a month between the submission and a reply, and even after signing a non-disclosure agreement with your submission they may not reply until you ask a few times if they accept it or not, some don''t even bother in sending and email saying "game rejected" so you could know what happened. In the case of Electronic Arts they told me a few times by email and by phone "we will reply to you with the result of the evaluation" for monthes and if I call them now they will probably tell me the same.
If you''re going to contact publishers one by one and wait until they reply before contacting another one then it will take years, the publishers of small budget games will accept a lot of things but the big publishers reject the majority of the submissions, I even read something from a big publisher about that it''s highly recommended to have at least a demo so you can submit it to many publishers at ones. The big publishers know that when you submit something you are probably submitting the same thing to many others at the same time,
BTW, what is that thing that I read many times of $0.02?
Also:
1)If you send an email to a developer they will send you an email saying "sorry but we''re not publishers". Big deal!
2)If an address doesn''t exist you get a non-deliverable message error. That''s all.
3)If the publisher only publish games of some specific type (very rare) they will just reply telling you that.
4)If they don''t accept external submission they will tell you too.
Actually in most of the cases they will just ignore the email but they won''t get annoyed. I erased the messages I got back saying that they were just developers or the ones about addresses which didn''t exist so I couldn''t remove the wrong entries in the list cos I didn''t know which ones were wrong or not.
About writing to each publisher individually after you know about them it''s simple not reasonable, some publishers will take up to a month between the submission and a reply, and even after signing a non-disclosure agreement with your submission they may not reply until you ask a few times if they accept it or not, some don''t even bother in sending and email saying "game rejected" so you could know what happened. In the case of Electronic Arts they told me a few times by email and by phone "we will reply to you with the result of the evaluation" for monthes and if I call them now they will probably tell me the same.
If you''re going to contact publishers one by one and wait until they reply before contacting another one then it will take years, the publishers of small budget games will accept a lot of things but the big publishers reject the majority of the submissions, I even read something from a big publisher about that it''s highly recommended to have at least a demo so you can submit it to many publishers at ones. The big publishers know that when you submit something you are probably submitting the same thing to many others at the same time,
BTW, what is that thing that I read many times of $0.02?
This topic is closed to new replies.
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