In "The ultimate game pitch guide to secure a publishing deal" at PGC London, Nocturne Games venture partner Bobby Wertheim shared his top tips to developers seeking funds from a games publisher.

With over 20,000 game pitch evaluations under his belt from scouting for Sega to Curve Games to his own company, Wertheim’s perspective on building the strongest pitch deck possible is an incredibly insightful one.

"Start with a really high-level overview to set the scene; that’s super crucial," he started. "Close the gap between your vision and the viewer’s understanding. Leave an impression with strong imagery. Show a video early."

Standing out from the crowd

Wertheim stressed the importance of a strong logo and key art ahead of the elevator pitch, as well as sharing the track record of the studio doing the pitch - "what the development and publishing capabilities are". Games previously released, how well they’ve done, any co-development work and what elements were worked on by the studio, are all important information to include in the pitch.

Discussing the studio’s team is important too. Wertheim noted: "I much prefer a strong leadership team in a studio than a strong rest of the team."

He also advised developers to think about what makes their games stand out, and to spend time in the pitch exploring the game’s key mechanics. The story and characters shouldn’t be covered too deeply in the initial pitch, however.

"Your audience, who are they? What do they like? Talk about your community as it is today. I much prefer a community-validated development approach than brute-force marketing at the end of development," Wertheim added.

Mentioning awards, recognitions and grants is a good idea when pitching too. As is an outline of the production timeline, including post-launch plans if there are any. An understanding of the pitched game’s closest competition will also give the listener an idea of the game’s potential.

Of course, commercial details are essential also: "You really have to give your budget in the pitch and where you’re going to spend the money."

Lastly, Wertheim suggested not going into the weeds of multimedia brand ambitions in a pitch to a games publisher. They "just publish games", after all, "so keep it to gaming". And be sure to include contact details.

There’s a lot more still to discover from PGC London 2024. Find out more about what's on and how you can be part of it here.