Confirmed Viable Publishers

This is a nonexhaustive list of potential publishers. These are people who meet the following criteria:

• Have text similar to acclaim indicating once we are at an appropriate phase, they might be interested in publishing the title.
• Bring something to the table, such as:
• sell boxed games at retail stores
• sell game cards at retail stores
• advertise in magazines or on television
• direct financial backing
• Are willing to work with us on Customer Service -- i.e. not Sony, with their abysmal support system, for example.

A publisher is not viable if:

• They provide only web-based advertising (we can buy advertisements on Google ourselves)
• They provide only web-based distribution (we have a website, we can buy more bandwidth, we can host files on FilePlanet)
• They don't bring anything to the table in terms of coverage.

Note that web-based advertising and distribution is fine, as long as there is an increase in coverage. Think of it this way, if we ended up with a company like EA or NCSoft, we would see a small minority of the profits. But they would sell a lot of copies of the software, so it would be OK. If we're listed with someone who is taking a majority share of the money, then they need to be getting us exposed to more users.

If they are just buying Google advertisements, and putting our file on a website with a one sentence blurb, clearly, that isn't going to drive adoption any more than if we did it ourselves. And we would get all the profit if we did that ourselves. So the publisher must bring something to the table.

Terminology

Acclaim

http://phpbb.acclaim.com/acclaim/viewtopic.php?t=10

Quote:

If you are publishing a completed online multi-player game and your are looking for a North American or European publisher you have found the right place. We are already working with the top Asian online game publishers. If you are developer with a an online multi-player game near completion or already finished, we could be a good publisher choice because of our focus. At this moment we are not publishing games for the unplugged consoles or handhelds. We are publishing online games for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii. At this time, we are not taking submissions for unfinished games and single player games with multi-player modes. Please email us at submitgame@acclaim.com.

Features:

• Virtual Currency - Fixed
• Boxed Game
• Game Currency Cards
• Pay per Play
• Advertising

Steam

http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=137&p_created=1093309932&p_sid=5chSA3Si&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTMmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9c2Rr&p_li=&p_topview=1

Quote:

Steam consumers enjoy the benefit of starting their favorite applications within minutes of confirming their purchase. They can access their applications from any PC. They are no longer challenged to find the latest updates for these applications. And they no longer need to wonder if their device drivers are compatible with the latest software.

The Steam SDK also includes an integrated set of communications tools and Valve’s Graphic User Interface (V-GUI), which provide built-in support for a variety of services such as instant messaging, configuration, and server browsing.

For more info, or to just shoot us a question, contact sourceengine@valvesoftware.com and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Features:

• Anti-Cheat
• Flexible Billing
• Retail CD Key compatibility
• Location independent install
• Massive User Base and Exposure on PC and 360

Unconfirmed Publishers