Judge_T OP t1_ja946j9 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:26 PM

Reply to comment by Donohoed in eli5: What exactly does a "videogame publisher" do? by Judge_T

Could you go into a bit more detail? I mean, a book publisher actually prints books and has them shipped to bookstores. But a game on Steam doesn't need to be printed or distributed, and Steam barely has any ads in the first place. So a videogame publisher does, what? Just the ads? Are they basically just an advertising agency specialized in videogames?

Twin_Spoons t1_ja97fp1 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:46 PM

The marketing component is big. Getting the game talked about in the spaces that potential customers frequent is hugely important but also requires a lot of resources and connections that developers don't often have. It's not just paid ads but trailers, criticism, launch events, merch, engagement from Twitch streamers, and all the other pieces of the hype engine. The difference between all the good games you've never played and all the mediocre games you have played is mostly marketing.

Also, like book or music publishers, video game publishers may also advance some money to the developers to fund the development of the game, working essentially as venture capital.

Judge_T OP t1_ja99oeg wrote on February 27, 2023 at 8:00 PM

>Also, like book or music publishers, video game publishers may also advance some money to the developers to fund the development of the game, working essentially as venture capital.

Ok. Venture capital usually works by taking a percentage of a funded company's ownership (in the form of stock) in exchange for the cash. In the case of the videogame publisher, what do they get exactly - full ownership of the game's franchise including any control over future sequels, DLC, etc? Or do the developers retain some property rights (like an author would do when selling a book to a publisher)?

Also, I'm not at all downplaying the importance of marketing and funding, but basically this is all that a publisher does? Do they get involved with the actual creation of the game in any way, or with the way that the developer team does stuff?