platforms and publishers: perfecting your pitch | melinda montano, john cooney
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Platforms and Publishers:Perfecting Your Pitch
Melinda Montano and John CooneyKongregate Business Development
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Introduction - Kongregate
Kongregate is a leading game publisher for mobile, web, and beyond, publishing titles such as AdVenture Capitalist, Bullet Boy, Spellstone, Tap Adventure, and Battlehand.
Kongregate.com is our web games portal, featuring over 100,000 games spanning from indie games to MMO’s and other f2P content, and everything in-between
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If the game isn’t good, this won’t help.
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Platforms
● Apple● Google● Amazon● Steam● Other
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● Direct Publishing● Sub-Publishing
○ Location Based○ Device/Provider Based
● Self-Publishing○ Apple, Google, Kongregate, Newgrounds,
Itch.io, etc
Publishing
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Why Do You Want a Publisher
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You find a publisher that compliments your attitude, design, and vision for the game, and can help support you in the places you need help
The strongest teams are the ones who know their strengths and weaknesses, and ask for help in those areas
Needing a Publisher isn’t an admission of failure, it’s recognizing that game development is difficult and there’s others to help drive success
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What Isn’t a Publisher
An ATM - We’re not an endless bucket of money
Guaranteed Featuring - We can never promise anything that is out of our direct control, and you shouldn’t work with a Publisher who does
A bandage for bad design - If your game is super broken, there’s only so much we can move the KPI’s
Soulless money machines - We really want developers to be successful, and your publisher should care about you as a developer and help you grow and learn
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Why Do You Pitch to a Platform
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Platform managers curate the largest features in each storefront
Creating a relationship with a Platform can open opportunities in the future for features & re-features and promotion opportunities
Remember that many platforms are worldwide!
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What is a Pitch Deck
A pitch deck is a summary document of your team, the game, and your expectations of the game. When you contact a publisher or platform, this is an incredible vehicle for conversations and helping tie together
Basic layouts are quickly found online, but make it unique
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Make it Unique
Your pitch is in an inbox with 200 other emails, and your meeting is not the only one your potential publisher and platform manager is having. Show, don’t explain, why your game stands out.
The most standout position you can make is having a good, well described game design
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Media
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Media is critical to showing commitment to the project and your ability to create polished, marketable content:
● Screenshots, concept art, sample art direction
○ Why we care: Our ability to visualize the art direction is much harder to get through text description. While it takes time and energy, it really helps solidify our vision of the game
● Testflight/APK/online build access
○ Why we care: We see unfinished games all the time, and we know the difference between a prototype and just a bad game. Hands on is the best way to get a feel for the game.
● Shareable videos of gameplay
○ Why we care: Videos are the fastest, simplest way to convey game design visually. When we
share the game across the company we often send the video first, then the playable. It’s often the quickest way to pass/fail.
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Know Thyself
Awareness of your project and your team is the most important part of your pitch deck
● Know your game○ Core KPI’s (if you don’t have them, what do you have)○ Roadmap, past and present○ Design choices and why you made them
● Know your team○ History and background of your team○ Your previous games (KPI’s, performance, are a plus!)
■ Even if underperforming, fail upwards○ Runway and positioning ○ Resources, burn rate, and future growth of team/game
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Know Thine Endeavor
Awareness of the goals of each pitch will define and help individualize your presentation
● Know your potential platform○ Each platform has different wants. ○ Find the right person to talk to○ Have a test build or mock up on that platform
● Know your potential publisher
○ Understand what that particular publisher does (even if you’re just skimming the website)
○ Find the right person to talk to
○ Fun fact: We’ve had devs call us the wrong company name for an entire meeting
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Ask!
Developers who ask smart questions are better positioned than developers who ask no questions
Publishing is a partnership, you should have as many questions as we do
If you game is rejected from featuring or publishing, get information why*
*within reason
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Why Pitches Get Rejected
● Game doesn’t show well or ***isn’t shown well***● Game is actually bad, visually or gameplay● Developer doesn’t have enough experience to execute game● Game doesn’t drive enough value as currently pitched● Developer needs are too large/risky● Developer and Publisher don’t agree on goals for the project● As a publisher, we can’t help this game● Developers doesn’t need a publisher● Game doesn’t fit in publisher’s portfolio● Developer scares us (too many reasons to list)
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It’s Not “No” Forever
A big thing to remember is that business decisions are really business decisions, and in the future things might be different. Rejections from publishers and platforms are rarely ever in bad blood.
Most platforms have a New and Updated section. Re-evaluate if an update would garner a new feature.
Many of our pitches from great developers get rejected, but next game pitches get signed or evaluated
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Don’t Do That
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● Vague Email Subjects● Double, Triple, Quadruple Dipping● Rebound game pitches (“don’t like that? You’ll
love this…”)● Taglines that don’t live up to the pitch: “It’s
Crossy Road + Clash Royale + Puzzle and Dragons!”
● Threaten us (“you’ll be sorry”)● Ask if I’m in accounting/PR/marketing at a
dev/publisher conference● Lie about priorities and needs
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Quick Overview of Requests: LP Announcement
Kongregate released Launchpad X in February 2016, as a publisher/incubator for cutting edge, emerging content.
75 game pitches in the first 24 hours. 250 game pitches in the first six weeks.
Out of that group we signed 4-5 games (1-2%). About 80% are rejected from the initial pitch.
3 most common mistakes in Launchpad pitches
1. No data on team, pitch focused on the game only2. Game wasn’t well explained3. Game intends to monetize and doesn’t explain why or how
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If the game isn’t good, this won’t help.
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John Cooney
Director of Launchpad
jmtb02
Business Development Manager
MelChiwi
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Melinda Montano