‘Angry Birds’ Developer: “We Will Not Use Chillingo Again” | Hacker News Reader

‘Angry Birds’ Developer: “We Will Not Use Chillingo Again”

techcrunch.com

11 pointsgcheong11 comments

What he says about not needing publishers when developing video games isn't entirely correct. Except for the Xbox Live indie games marketplace you cannot hope to ship a game for a console unless you are backed by a publisher.

Publishers provide capital when getting started, especially on larger titles, plus resources that small developers may not always have access to like localization teams and QA testers.

He is speaking from their perspective, where the important market is the iphone App Store. Essentially Apple is the publisher.

That's true but Apple's not going to front you any money to develop your app.

Neither is chillingo or the other iPhone publishers. Or at least, in most cases they don't. If you've had a hit with them, then maybe they will front cash.

But the old model where the publisher pays for development is no longer present. The publishers are looking for teams that can develop the title themselves.

>>Vesterbacka also added that the role of the publisher has diminished in modern game development; "You don’t need publishers."

Angry Birds is a great brand now and so Rovio doesn't need publishers anymore. It is possible that Angry Birds could have become a great brand without Chillingo's help, but it is hard to know that for sure.

Rovio's statement would have been a lot more credible if they hadn't used Chillingo to make their first mark in the app store

It's easy to say this after the game has taken off. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make your game successful after the coding is complete. Ex:Marketing/Distribution strategy. Also, publishers have access to a large base of audience that they can quickly reach out to when a new game launches.

I would compare it to record labels in the music industry. They see a lot of artists and pick a few and hope one is a winner...

It has always baffled me why people needed Publishers on the App Store.

With console games, I get it. But it seems like the App Store's different.

I'm not sure why a mobile games studio would need a publisher these days. In the bricks-and-mortar games business you go with them for distribution and marketing. (Or an advance, but mobile games are still relatively cheap to develop) I don't see traditional publishers providing much value in those areas for today's smartphone, app store centered marketplace.

Marketing is still going to help a lot of guys.... that stuff takes experience and money that an indie guy or small company might not have yet.

This is a common perspective, but it is worth noting that it is not a foregone conclusion that the publisher will actually do any marketing.

I've been a developer on several games that were published by a major publisher, in the majority of cases, the games did not get the marketing promised and in most of those cases, got essentially no marketing. We ended up doing the marketing ourselves. We may not have been as good as the publisher could have been, but we had far more effect.

I don't follow iOS news that much, but does anyone know how Apple picks the demo games that are installed on the iPads at the Apple store?

My significant other bought Angry Birds after trying it out at the Apple store. I'm wondering if being added to the display iPads are a cause or an effect of the game's popularity.

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