Sorry, can't resist...
gameslice.com
What exactly is Wilson doing that?s going to be the party-pooper for major publishers such as GT Interactive and Activision? His concept, in short, is to team up with a number of independent developers who would own their own equity share in a publisher. As John Romero points out, "The concept is definitely cool. What developer wouldn?t want to own their distributor? The profits made will not feed a publishing engine, but a creative engine." With a group of developers joined together as a publisher, the hope is that the relationship will afford developers "?more time to make our games, and more funding to help create a triple-A product," remarks Brett Combs, Vice President of Terminal Reality.
A board of directors for the Gathering will be comprised of the business staff on Wilson?s end and one representative from each developer with a share in the company. By "eliminating the middleman," Romero explains, "the developers will make more money, thus they will be stronger, more stable and be able to grow." Other costs can be minimized by joint-resources such as the motion capture, sound studios, and laser scanning facilities Wilson plans to set up in Texas for the use of all developers in his group.
Scott Miller calls the concept of developer-driven publishing "revolutionary," but the heart of the issue seems to revolve around the idea of having more control over projects. As Ritual Entertainment Vice President Jim Dose states, "[the Gathering] recognizes that developing brand name loyalty with users is far more effective at the developer level than the publisher level."
Part of a loyalty relationship with consumers involves marketing, an issue that developers often feel is mishandled by larger publishers. Combs explains that "The current notion in the publishing industry is that developers don?t have a clue how to marketing their products. The Gathering will prove these publishers wrong." Combs and other board members are looking to prove their point by allotting equal marketing budgets for all titles and, as Wilson explains, "If a developer feels like a product was marketed poorly under the Gathering, they should point the finger at themselves."
The creative-driven control at the Gathering is not anything new, says Wilson. "Madonna did a similar thing when she started Maverick Records. It happens in every industry where a few large companies are doing a bad job, or at least not as good a job as a few smart people could do," with the obvious implication being that Wilson thinks that g.o.d. will be the saving grace for the industry.
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Perhaps the strongest statement on the impact on publishers comes from Mike Wilson, who says, point-blank in response to my question about whether publishers should be scared of the Gathering by stating: "They should. Publishers like GT Interactive aren?t going to be able to lie to a developer, strong-arm them, or mislead them as to what is a good deal now that we are around." When we heard Wilson?s strong words, we asked Chaimowitz to comment. He urges that developers should look at the "total package" when deciding on a publisher, and affirms that GT "remains competitive with other industry publishers" and "often provides those with proven records with various stock options as added incentives. In four years, GT Interactive has grown from zero to almost $500 million. One doesn?t achieve that success as a publisher?by lying or strong-arming creative talent."
"High royalties accompanied by low sales isn?t a successful formula."
--Ron Chaimowitz, CEO GT Interactive
Chaimowitz continues with a warning that "High royalties accompanied by low sales isn?t a successful formula." Without question, even with the Gathering?s attractive royalty rate, other ancillary benefits such as international distribution, marketing, and merchandising that GT Interactive specializes in are not yet implemented at the Gathering of Developers.
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Still, despite all the advance hype surrounding his concept, Mike Wilson hasn?t yet raised a penny toward the Gathering concept. It?s believed that his next step is an extended road show to solicit funding from venture capitalists and institutional investors. When asked about the possibility of taking the Gathering group public, Wilson asserts, "We just want this way of doing business to propagate itself throughout the industry, whether it is through us or through forcing other publishers to do business this way. If it comes down to us, and other publishers refuse to see the light, every independent developer worth their salt will come to us and then we will see what happens."
"I would rather take a billionaire?s money over a publisher?s any day," says Mike Wilson.
One unique possibility that presents itself is an investment from an existing software publisher, such as Activision. "They would have to be in there with a non-voting share, and understand the business plan," says Wilson. "If they have a check and do not want to get involved in the day to day operations, it might happen, but I would rather take a billionaire?s money over a publisher?s any day."
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