It's the question that always arises when developers cluster together; what's the role of the publisher?

"You don't need a publisher now," kicks off Nicholas Lovell, developer consultant at GAMESbrief.

"In the world of carriers, you needed a publisher. Now you don't need a publisher, but some developers will use a publisher if they get a good deal from them."

"There is room for everyone," half agrees Glu Mobile's Olivier Bernard. "There will be some developers who will release a Doodle Jump success, while some will need publishers to help them out in terms of marketing and channel support."

"We work with developers on co-development deals as well as publishing almost completed games. You don't come to Glu just for iOS. We cover every platform, across the world," he adds

Greg Robinson of Connect2Media is - unsurprisingly - also bullish on the publisher role. "The advantage of using a publisher is you can focus on what you do best, which is making a game. The publisher is publishing games every day of the week."

Who has the love?

But what can publishers do better than developers who love their games, asks chairman Tim Harrison?

"Developers can burn two or three products learning how to publish a game if they want," argues Greg Robinson. "But for every success story, there are hundreds of developers who aren't."

"The relationship with the consumer is more important than the relationship with the publisher, who will take your IP and your relationship with the consumer," says Lovell.

"You give these things up in order to pay your wages. Being a developer gives you a better chance of have a global hit and exploring new business models such as freemium."

Will this attitude shift to console games, Harrison ponders?

Nicolas Lovell has a view (oh really!): "If your business model is about selling something at a high price, I think you will struggle. But if it's a freemium model with in-app purchases, you continue to build a relationship with your consumers, most of whom will play for free forever.

"But a few players will spend a lot of money on your game. You don't need millions of downloads to be successful."

Money for new rope

Harrison - an ex-publisher himself - thinks the budget publishers can enable means developers can build higher quality content.

"We are looking for developers who have a fantastic product and we will partially fund that," agrees Glu's Olivier Bernard. "We also have many brands and networks available in terms of promotion. We measure the data for every user. We study it very carefully."

Harrison shifts the focus to Android.

"It's hard for us a carrier to partner with small developers for Android,” Peter Bacher from Deutsche Telekon UK confesses.

"We see a lot of money being available on the carrier deck for Android," Olivier Bernard enthuses.

"We will be keen to help operators make more Android games available. There is a gatekeeper, the carrier, but that is good for Android. I think you'll get more money from the carrier on Android that via the Android Market."

Core values

"But I hate asking for permission to do things. It's easier to ask for forgiveness," Nicholas Lovell says.

"This new model enables developers to make money from things they care about. In this new world, the sales process and marketing is part of the creative story of the game, and that means I don't need to talk to a publisher.”

"There's a bonfire of self publishing," replies Connect2Media's Greg Robinson.

"Publishers aren't going to beat down on developers to get them to do things. It's a shared risk and shared development model. You don't have to give up your IP. We are republishing for large console companies. There are many models in the world."

"We're not asking for IP rights either," says Glu's Bernard. "We're adding value in terms of analytics and the chance to stand out from the competition. Publishers give you a better chance of doing that than attempting to do it on your own."

What about the impact of the Amazon store, asks Harrison?

"It's the third wave after carrier and OEM stores. Amazon's power in the number of consumers and credit cards it has access to. We're there for the US launch. We're really excited about it," says Greg Robinson.

Question: The carriers are coming back. You should be more bullish

Olivier Bernard: "Sure, with a publisher, you have less risk and you make some cash."

Nicolas Lovell: "Sharing not telling is the new method of marketing. The real opportunity for the indies is sharing. It's about motivating the tribes. The topdown model of making things easy for consumer [carrier model] will exist, but it's not so exciting. If you're not in content creation or content distribution, you'll be out of a job in five years.

Greg Robinson: "Social communities are great but people still have to find and buy the content they like. There will always be the impulse purchase. That's where the carrier and publisher are."

Q: How can you tell between good and bad publishers?

Greg Robinson: "Ask them what they will do for your game, and talk to the community and other companies who have worked with them before."

Nicolas Lovell: "Do you like them and trust them?"

Greg Robinson: "You have to clear about you want to do with your game. It's your vision. Be sure the publisher knows what you want to do with the game. It's a two-way relationship."