Why do Developers drop Chillingo?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by triggywiggy, Aug 3, 2011.

  1. triggywiggy

    triggywiggy Well-Known Member

    Jan 24, 2010
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    I am wondering why developers use Chillingo then drop them?

    For instance we all know how Angry Birds was originally published by Chillingo and there was a big Huha to change that. The Rovio published Seasons and Rio under their own brand basically dropping Chillingo.

    Well now it has happened with Zeptolab, Now this time we haven't heard of any problems between Chillingo and Zeptolab so why are they dropping them?

    My theory is that game Developers are using Chillingo to start of with, Get there name around, then publish other games by themselves.

    What's your thought? Share them with the TA community.
     
  2. TakenXXDeadly

    TakenXXDeadly Well-Known Member

    Jun 7, 2011
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    #2 TakenXXDeadly, Aug 3, 2011
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2011
    This is exactly what I was thinking. Maybe because they are greedy? Like if they dropped Chillingo when Seasons was made, then obviously they want all the credit (and also money) for making a game that is in the top 10. Chillingo probably isnt sensitive and/or dont really care... This dev made a cross over with world of goo and feed me oil and named it world of oil, too. Just want to also point that out.

    Poor Chillingo.
     
  3. kohjingyu

    kohjingyu Well-Known Member

    Mar 20, 2009
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    Because, publishers take a pretty big cut out of the profits. When you get your name out, like the devs of Cut The Rope and Angry Birds have, you don't need a publisher to do the PR for you anymore. When you're new to the app store, having Chillingo or Gameloft as a publisher can really get you noticed.
     
  4. triggywiggy

    triggywiggy Well-Known Member

    Jan 24, 2010
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    Yep exactly what i thought.... :p, Do you publish with them or will ever consider it?
     
  5. EnShinNoi

    EnShinNoi Well-Known Member

    Apr 2, 2011
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    #5 EnShinNoi, Aug 3, 2011
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2011
    They take 10% of profit or something ridiculous. Don't quote me on that though.
     
  6. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    It has nothing to do with greed. The developer deserves pretty much all the credit for making a popular game; the publisher's main role is to market the product, and they may or may not provide funding (which they recoup from sales), but for the majority of externally-developed games, they don't have a hand in the actual design. Off the top of my head I can't think of any publisher who deserved more of the credit for a game being successful and popular than the developers themselves did.

    Trying to claim a developer who drops a publisher who is no longer required is being "greedy" is like saying a musician who self-publishes their music instead of going with a record label who will take the majority of their money is "greedy". The idea that a developer should continue to give away their profits to any entity that is no longer providing a benefit to them is nonsensical.

    Every developer in the world would prefer to be able to promote and develop their own product effectively without a third party taking credit and/or money from them; fortunately, this is much easier to accomplish on the app store than it is when dealing with physical media. Every developer on the app store would prefer not to have to give Apple any money as well, but that's unavoidable.

    In the case of Angry Birds, and now Cut the Rope, the developers have apparently seen that their established brand no longer requires input, funding, or marketing from a third party in order to be successful, and have taken action accordingly. This is a good thing, because it means that more of the profits now go back to the developer directly (with Apple still taking their cut), which in turn is likely to promote development.

    No they didn't, if by "this dev" you mean ZeptoLab. World of Oil has nothing to do with Chillingo either (nor does it have much in common with either World of Goo or Feed Me Oil other than the name, if you were suggesting one or both games were being ripped off), so I'm not sure why you brought it up.
     
  7. triggywiggy

    triggywiggy Well-Known Member

    Jan 24, 2010
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    Plus one there mate :p
     
  8. kohjingyu

    kohjingyu Well-Known Member

    Mar 20, 2009
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    Well, I wouldn't really like the idea, but I guess it looks good in a portfolio :)

    Any game that Chillingo is willing to publish, in my opinion, is good enough to make a lot of sales even without a publisher.
     
  9. arta

    arta Well-Known Member

    Feb 14, 2009
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    Good enough yes but will people know about it? Would Jump Birdy Jump have done better if people knew the game existed? With Chillingo publishing I'd give a strong yes.
     
  10. pchukwura

    pchukwura Well-Known Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    I don't think the developers are greedy for going it on their own now. It was Zeptolab's and Rovio's idea and work that developed the title and Chillingo was simply used as the marketing arm, which in my opinion doesn't entitle Chillingo to any future versions of the game.

    I would bet that future deals with Chillingo and similar publishers would involved the publisher owning the IP rights, which would bring the console-like deals to the mobile market, in turn making it even harder for indie shops to be noticed.

    I'm not saying that publishers are a bad thing, especially since it's very hard for your game to be seen amongst the endless titles on the App Store, I just think it gets bad when only titles from major publishers are paid attention to 9 out of 10 times.
     
  11. AOR

    AOR Well-Known Member

    Jun 27, 2011
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    Well, it's not the consumer's fault that only major publishers get their money in the marketplace. They have more money than us indie developers and can throw it around for marketing with ease. If you go to any iPhone-centric website, you'll see that Chillingo has a choke hold on all the ad space of 90% of these sites so people are constantly bombarded with ads for their newest games. I say good for them but man, it does make me kind of intimidated haha! I guess we just have to come out with awesome games and pray for word of mouth if we don't have the cash to go on a PR and marketing spree.
     
  12. antony.thai

    antony.thai Well-Known Member

    Dev that was connecting with Chillingo one probably know them much better, and I think that there only few of them do the second business with Chillingo.

    You know, Chillingo has been releasing their games almost weekly but we can see that there're only few of them actually work.

    Also, our personal exp with them is that they won't help much to indie developer to improve the game quality, and the worst is about their communication with us, not very god.

    If we take only 10% of a popular games, with more players love it, we won't hersitate to sign in the contract with that publisher.
     
  13. whitebigrabbit

    whitebigrabbit Active Member

    Apr 14, 2011
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    Chillingo take more than 50% forever and really do nothing after a game been famous.

    that's why they drop Chillingo.

    i will do the same thing.
     
  14. pchukwura

    pchukwura Well-Known Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Yea I hear ya. The App Store is an extension of the gaming industry, and the gaming industry is entertainment...and in entertainment the folks with the big bucks shine.

    The good thing about the App Store right now, is that it's dominated by indie developers and is 100% digital distribution so we don't necessarily have to play by the rules of the big guys compared to our console developer counterparts.
     
  15. pchukwura

    pchukwura Well-Known Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    I'd also like to add...I think of publishers as parents. They use their finances, experiences, and knowledge to help you along. But there comes a time when the child is grown and doesn't need the helping hand of mom and dad anymore. :)
     
  16. phattestfatty

    phattestfatty Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2010
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    ik ctr2 was published by zeptolab, correct me if im wrong, but wasn't it promoted by ea mobile? aka, the people that own chillingo? why would they do that if zeptolab chose to leave them?.....
     
  17. pchukwura

    pchukwura Well-Known Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    I wasn't aware that/if EA Mobile promoted Cut the Rope 2. If they did, the only thing I can think of is if they know sales of ctr2 would also help version 1.

    Or perhaps they are in a looser agreement with EA for the second installment, which perhaps allows them to self-publish, with EA marking help?
     
  18. triggywiggy

    triggywiggy Well-Known Member

    Jan 24, 2010
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    Nop they didn't promote it...
     
  19. Vetasoft

    Vetasoft Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2010
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    We are going to go through an editor for our next game that we have been working for several months. We'll see how it will happen.

    In our case, we publish our first games, but our marketing side hasn't been at the top and we made many mistakes. We'll see if there is a difference and may be learn things that we have not anticipated.

    You know, creating a game is one thing but marketing is really the thing that you need to masterize. After two years of painful work, we really understand that.

    But to answer the main question, I think that these developers stops because they know where they go, especially after an eventual success.
     
  20. diffusion8r

    diffusion8r Well-Known Member

    Dec 21, 2008
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    There is no moral obligation for developers to stick with a publisher because it publicised their games. Chillingo do barely anything major in terms of publicising games; they do not have a hand (or major contribution) in the game development. They are purely a name. Were you surprised why they were not bought by EA for more than they were a bit ago? Because they thrive on games coming to them, and in return people will associate these games with big hits such as Angry Birds and other favourites they have heard of/like.

    They make such a sizeable amount of profit from games with fairly little effort they're the greedy ones in many respects.
     

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