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Publishers discuss their changing role in the mobile space

They're going through changes

Publishers discuss their changing role in the mobile space

Led by Unity's Oscar Clark, a panel of publishers sat down at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2016 to discuss their role in the mobile space in the current market.

The panel consisted of:

  • David Mohr, General Manager Europe, Gamevil
  • Henry Lowenfels, Vice President of Business Development, Scopely
  • Jeferson Valadares, GM/VP of Product Development, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America
  • Phil Elliott, Project Leader for Collective, Head of Community, Square Enix Europe
  • Ravi Belwal, Global Partner Manager - Games, Samsung Developer Connection, and
  • Stephen Hey, Marketing Director, Chillingo

"You work with a publisher to maximise your potential to be the best," said Lowenfels, saying that Scopely shoot for the highest ranks and will work themselves to the extreme to get there.

Mohr disagreed however, saying that because games are a long-term project, "you need to have a long relationship with your publisher", which helps to get your game to the largest reach possible, particularly with Gamevil's links to Korea and other parts of Asia.

Valadares agreed on this point, adding that "you've really gotta make sure everyone knows their role" for the relationship to work best and develop trust between the parties involved.

Regarding how partnerships work, Hey said that a producer should not "be afraid to say what's wrong" and work with the developer to make the game the best it can possibly be.

Finally, when asked for what a developer should bring to a publisher, Elliott said that "I want to fall in love with your content", so bring passion and love and a good product to boot.


Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.