Hello guys ! I didn’t know where to ask, so I will try here, sorry if its wrong section.
I would like to ask already experienced indie developers, how do they publish their game for example to Steam, EpicStore, GooglePlay, AppleStore, is there article with requirements for this, how much % of the revenue do they keep?
About the copyright, should I create an company which will be branded into the game(s) ? Also, can I use for example names of Google,Facebook etc into the game for examples or scenarios like “Hack Google, or Facebook was hacked” etc…
What is the best approach for publishing and protecting the game from being published as free somewhere else…
Thanks in advance !
I can speak on the real-world branding a little bit.
The use of brand names and trademarks is heavily protected, so I wouldn’t use a brand directly. The biggest brands have such strong identities that people will recognize the implication if you skirt around it with a reference. For example, computers are frequently shown in fiction with a pineapple as their “logo”, even though there’s no real world company that uses a pineapple as their logo.
It’s just not that hard to make something up, and you risk a harsh cease-and-desist order (and potential army of lawyers) if you use their trademarks. Companies are very protective of the use of their trademarks. If the only reason your scenario is interesting is because of the real world brand being violated, then the game itself is missing something.
TL;DR: I’d strongly suggest making up your own, fictional brands to violate in your game.
Thank you for the quick answer ! Is there anyone who have successfully published game to steam or any other game store ?
First up, I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. If you’re unsure of anything I’d highly recommend speaking to a lawyer first.
And with that out of the way!
Revenue splits are different depending on the platform. In some cases, the rev split may also altered by the amount your game is making. My advice would be to look into the specifics for each individual platform but usually you can expect most platforms to take somewhere around 30%.
Before you sign up with them, read the contract thoroughly. They’re long and tedious but understanding them is important before you sign. Especially the sections about; payment, non-compete clauses, content ownership, and contract termination.
Creating a company is something you have to decide for yourself.
You’ll likely need some sort of company to exist for tax purposes, even if you’re just set up as a sole trader (or the equivalent in your country). The question really comes down to the legal protections the different types afford.
If something bad happens and you’re a sole trader there is no distinction between your assets and the assets of the company, so you are personally liable.
If you’re a PLC (or equivalent) then there is a barrier between your company and you, so if someone sued your company those damages shouldn’t spill over to you (in theory).
There are also other types of company but if you’re a small indie then they’re slightly less relevant.
Different types of business have different setup requirements and costs involved in operating them, so I’d recommend speaking to an accountant and a lawyer before making a decision and then assess your options from there.
I’d strongly suggest not including real companies in your game without their permission.
This can open you up to all sorts of litigation which you really want to avoid.
@DragonBloodthirsty already covered the big points, so I’ll leave it there for this point.
Unfortunately there’s not a lot you can really do about people pirating your game. There’s also research that suggest that piracy can actually be good for game sales in the long run.
DRM is annoying and mostly pointless. It’ll stop the script kiddies but any cracker worth their salt will get through it eventually. You’ll also find that there’s less chance of people ripping unknown indie games so you don’t really have to worry about piracy until you’re big enough for people to notice you.
Probably the most effective strategy I’ve seen to combat piracy is to release a modified version of your game on torrent sites before the pirates can do it for you. This can either alter the gameplay in some way (Game Dev Tycoon was a great example of this), or include a message letting the player know that you support their decision and give them the offer to donate via paypal, patreon, etc. if they enjoyed the game.
As for people just copying your game, if they’re directly ripping copyrightable stuff or infringing on trademarks then you can get lawyers involved, but that can be a very expensive option.
However, you can’t copyright game mechanics, so there’s nothing really stopping someone from just copying your concept and reskinning it - just look at all the Angry Birds clones out there (even Angry Birds wasn’t the first to develop that mechanic).
In those cases, you just have to suck it up and hope that your product is the superior version and that people will be happy to pay you rather than playing the inferior free version.
Well that finishes my essay. Hopefully it answered your questions.
I would honestly recommend doing your own research though, as there is plenty of information out there that goes far more in-depth than I can here.
2 Likes
Thank you very much ! Very informative answer !
1 Like