Single project developers are a 'risky investment'

Speaking at New Zealand's AnimfxNZ event, Capcom's vice president of strategic planning and business development Christian Svensson spoke out about the difficulties faced by small developers when approaching a publisher.

"I can't think of a riskier business today than being a one-team game developer shop, especially in today's climate with funding becoming increasingly difficult, and publishers becoming increasingly risk-adverse, given the pummelling some of them have taken over the last 18-24 months," he explained to GamesIndustry.biz.

He went on to discuss how publishers view a one project development team, which places all its eggs in one gaming basket.

"There are lots of projects that get killed along the way," he points out. "If you're a one-team shop and you're going from milestone to milestone, and all of a sudden that project is gone, there's a really high likelihood that your shop is gone too."

Svensson also pointed out that publishers aren't just interested in the game that is being brought to the table - the developer making that pitch is just as much a part of the deal's appeal, and advised developers to keep this in mind when making their pitch.