Pitching a game

- [Narrator] One of the most common questions a working game designer is asked is, "How do I pitch my game to a publisher?" Before I answer that question, let's talk about what we mean by pitching a game. In essence, to pitch a game means to disclose the idea of your game to a publisher or to the public in hopes that they'll like your idea and fund its development. If you want to see a game pitch, checkout the game section on Kickstarter. There you'll find hundreds of pitches for games. Some successful, some not, which reveal ways one might pitch a game. If you're hoping to pitch your game to a publisher directly in hopes of receiving funding, the sad news is that with very, very rare exception, that doesn't happen anymore. You can't just get an idea funded. Publishers get thousands of submissions every week. But it does sometimes happen usually with a unique prototype and we'll also talk about that in this video. Preparing a pitch is also a great way to focus your ideas. Let's begin by talking about the who's who of the game industry landscape. Who pitches and to whom do they pitch? So let's start with the publishers. Game publishers like Electronic Arts, Sony, Microsoft, as well as smaller publishers like Gearbox and Telltale publish video games. This means that they market and distribute the games and handle the costs associated with doing so. Ultimately, these costs will come out of the money the game makes. So it's not a free service obviously. It's an industry remember, so it's about making money. Next up, we have publishing platforms. Digital publishing platforms like Apple, Steam, Humble Bundle, and Good Old Games allow you to publish your game online provided you meet the requirements of the service. For more information on their requirements, which change from time to time, you can visit their sites to get more info. Next up, we have developers. Now game developer as a term has multiple meanings. In the broadest sense, a game developer is a game company engaged in the creation of a video game. Companies like Sony are game developers of course, as well as game publishers. There are plenty people at Sony engaged in the act of creation of video games. Game developer also accounts for comparatively smaller companies of five to 10 individuals who make up the bulk of any game developers. Game developer is also used to refer to a single person engaged in the making of a game. I'm a game developer and so are you provided you're making games. Within the game industry no matter what your actual job is, audio, production, programming, design, art, or animation, if you're engaged in the development of a game, you are a game developer. Sometimes in web development, a developer is a programmer and a programmer only. And in the game industry, we define it more broadly. If you contribute to the development of a video game, you're considered a game dev. Increasingly, we also have agents just like they do in Hollywood. Agents represent game developers and their ideas to those who may fund and publish their games in return for a percentage of the game's budget.