Why doesn't GameSalad publish?
BazookaTime
Member Posts: 1,274
I have noticed lately that some top GS games are no longer in the App store. From my own experience and talking with other developers at a certain point most are not even making the $99 fee a year and decide to not renew their Apple Developer License. It seems like one option would be that prior to exiting the store and having a quality game vanish there could be a system where GS takes over publishing for a year. (For Example) Seems like this would be a good way for GS to build a portfolio of top games made with GS that in return would bring in new developers.
Off the top of my head, I think that Run Rob Run and Cheese Man (not the copies) are no longer in the App Store and I am sure there are other quality, past GOTM games that are no longer there. I know that GS has a lot going on but I am surprised there is not something like this already in place. I get emails from various competitors that advertise one of their games being featured by Apple and this is all done to get the receiver to look at their development tools. Just a thought.
Comments
They had announced a publishing branch years back but I don't think it ever really got started. I'd welcome something like this but unfortunately I assume they don't have the time.
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I agree, I don't think that they have time now. I believe it was Ice Cap games that was going to be offering publishing. I remember they had a really cool looking card game that never made it out.
at first it was something like GameSalad direct. It did not go over well. A few years later they looked at Ice Cap games, but i think there was some mismanagement from on top and it didn't go anywhere.
I do beleive there is a space for them in that market, they just need an pro level tool first.
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Wasn't the last game that GameSalad published via Ice Cap, e-Pig Galaxy? I don't think it went well.
Not seen the guys from e-Pig Games on the forums since... or seen anything new released from them.
And yup...I think the Card game you mentioned was History Fighters. I think they were promoting it at conventions and such, but the game seemed to die a quiet death after the Kickstarter for it was unsuccessful. I think the much touted multiplayer must have become an issue too.
I think in general, they just don't seem to have had much luck when they get behind games to publish.
1) We decided to focus. While we could just put the games up on the store, the real value in publishing comes in marketing. At this time, we'd rather put our resources into the tool and providing value to subscribers than diverting time and money into marketing.
2) Apple frowns on mass unfiltered publishing, so just being a conduit that drops games on to the app store unfiltered becomes a problem (not to mention the time it takes to evaluate games going on to the store to make sure copyrights, trademarks, and just good taste aren't violated).
Game publishing is a MASSIVE endeavor and requires a tremendous amount of resources and coordination to do well. As Tan points out, it's a lot more than just getting the game on the store.
Ice Cap Games was at one time intended to grow into a separate entity that did that, but we definitely didn't have the resources to do it properly, and we'd rather focus on what we do best and simply help our users make better games (and help them get them to publishers, if they need that help).
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
Well, I didn't really think it was a possibility now, I agree there are more important things to take care of. I hate seeing quality GS games that have won awards leave the App Store because it is not worth the $99 a year to keep the game active. It would be nice to see the best GS games remain active somehow but maybe at another time.