The path from developer to publisher is a well-trodden one. Marketing specialists that have made that same move are a far rarer beast, however.

Chilibite began life handling marketing, sales and PR for firms operating in the mobile market. Less than a year after its launch, however, and the firm has decided to turn publisher, bringing apps from developers to market on iOS and Android.

Its newcomer status also means Chilibite has a fresh perspective on where publishers stand at a time when some claim they're surplus to requirements in the digital arena.

We caught up co-founder Yann Bautista Wiberg to find out what Chilibite plans to bring to the table in its new role.

Pocket Gamer: Before we talk about Chilibite's new direction, can you explain what the company used to do?

Yann Bautista Wiberg: We offered sales, marketing, PR and social media services to companies in the mobile space on a consultancy basis.

For the past year we've worked with the likes of Handmademobile, helping it launch its flirting social network Flirtomatic in Spain and Swedish outfit Polarbit supporting its publishing department.

So what brought about this transition into a publisher?

We started Chilibite because we wanted to run our own business, but we did not know at that point exactly what to do.

Consulting for different companies with very different profiles was the perfect way to figure out where the opportunity was and what we like to do the most.

We have a strong background in the mobile games industry - where we've been from the very beginning - and working with Polarbit was a really valuable and inspiring experience that definitively helped us make this move.

We realised that there are many independent developers creating great games that don't get the exposure they deserve because of lack of knowledge, resources or interest to distribute and market their products properly.

We saw the opportunity to fill this gap for them and let them focus on what they do best – creating amazing games.

So we decided to re-orient Chilibite and use our knowledge, experience and network to launch a new games publisher.

Is there any elements you can take from Chilibite's previous hand in sales, marketing and PR to bring to the company's new role?

Absolutely - all of them!

Product and market knowledge, a global distribution and PR network, social media management skills, marketing experience…nothing has gone to waste.

In the company's previous role, you had worked with developer Polarbit. Is that a relationship you're looking to extend now you're a publisher?

Yes, we have a great relationship with Polarbit and we still collaborate with them on cross-promotional activities, which is something that we are very keen to do with other publisher partners too.

Some argue that, on digital marketplaces – and on mobile in particular – publishers aren't really needed anymore. What's your take on that, and what do you plan to bring to the table that's unique?

Well, if you're a well-established developer with the resources to have a dedicated team distributing and promoting your products then you may not need a publisher, but if you're a smaller developer you may struggle quite a bit if you're trying to do everything yourself.

I think what makes us most different from more traditional publishing houses is the way we work with our developer partners - hand in hand with them from an early stage of the development process, providing key product assessment on things such as UI, UX, gameplay an monetisation models.

Also, we're a small team and we rely on quality, not quantity. Each game we publish is very special to us, so we put our hearts in trying to make every one a great success.

We've been in touch with a few developers that have had bad experiences with bigger publishers because their games have not been given the attention they've deserved, namely due to the large number of titles constantly being released by the publisher, or because the game did not immediately perform upon launch and was quickly downgraded to the back catalogue.

Any particular genres or types of games you're looking to specialise in?

High quality, fun and engaging games, with a unique style, smashing graphics and a great storyline. Games that surprise and put a big smile in people's face.

Our first two titles, Stunt Bunnies Circus from Playerthree and The Mordis from Codi Games (see below), are great examples of what we'll be bringing to the market.


Thanks to Yann for his time. You can find out more about Chilibite Games on the publisher's website.