Indie developer turned down a pretty big game publishing contract

alpaca128 2021-08-19 10:16:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> If the business invokes the breach of contract clause, here's what happens:

> - They keep the right to sell the game, and I lose my royalty (so, they keep 100% of revenue)

> - I pay them back all money ever given to me, and...

> - I also pay them all development costs yet to come for them to finish the game without me, with no limit to what that budget or cost is.

Wow, that's financial suicide. You gotta be really desperate to sign that contract as developer.

sidewndr46 2021-08-19 12:11:59 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Yeah, I agree. Items 1 & 2 are pretty rough and would obviously be held over a developer's head all the time.

Item #3 is effectively "you declare bankruptcy, immediately".

__jf__ 2021-08-19 11:21:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> They responded by asserting the contract couldn't be exploitative b/c top lawyers in the industry wrote it and b/c other devs have signed it. The fact that they still easily sign devs on this is a poor reflection on the industry, not a vote in favour of the practice.

A long time ago, we had an expensive lawyer at a prestigious law firm draft a contract for a vital deal we were trying to close. We were in our early twenties and were very impressed by all the risks this contract transferred to the other party or mitigated in our favor. The other party reacted by asking if we had some junior draft the contract because it was so one-sided. They said: "If you want people to sign a contract, this is not the way to go." They proceeded to explain that our dog-eat-dog approach is not a promising start to a business relationship. They went bankrupt a year later.

lucasyvas 2021-08-19 15:00:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Is the message supposed to be that these types of contracts are universally good, or just in this case?

Presumably the financials of the would-be signing party should be considered.

A party with good or bad financial standing could take equal issue with such a contract, and the one in bad standing definitely should be willing to give up more.

AllegedAlec 2021-08-19 11:29:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> Note that though nothing legally stops me, I'm not going to be naming the publisher - just imagine any indie PC/console publisher. It's the industry that's failing devs, not any one company.

Pretty weak. Just because the whole industry is bad doesn't mean you shouldn't give the middle finger to these people.

cableshaft 2021-08-19 11:02:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Yikes. When I was making video games I either released them all myself or licensed completed games, so I didn't see contracts like this, but I can believe this is the norm. I guess it's a good thing I mostly have small designs I can build myself, for the most part (gotten a lot harder for me to do now, I haven't released anything in a while).

I have seen several board game publishing contracts and none of those that I've seen put the burden on the designer to pay the cost of developing a game further after signing (and there's pretty much always extra development done by the publisher after signing). That being said you're not likely to make much (any?) money as a designer in board games anyway unless you are really prolific. It really has to be a thing you do for the love of it rather than as a viable career. Thankfully it's (mostly) a fun process.

2021-08-19 13:41:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]