Who's got any games business questions for me? The last time I did this on twitter is got us a client (BIGMODE), lol - ThreadSky

callum.uwu.biz • 90 days ago

Who's got any games business questions for me?

The last time I did this on twitter is got us a client (BIGMODE), lol

Comments

fayer.dev•90 days ago

What's the best next step for a collective of people that made a critically acclaimed game that didn't sell that well.

Asking for a friend 😅

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Depends how much it is selling and if it can pay enough for you / or a smaller subset of you / to make a new thing

fayer.dev•90 days ago

Yup, not enough to pay

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Start over and try get funding for the next thing :(

fayer.dev•90 days ago

Ok :(

crookspeak.bsky.social•90 days ago

Just release a VR game, it's reviewed pretty well but it's not getting any sales. Any general tips for turning things around after a recent release? When should you know to call it quits? (FYI current plan: A/B testing store assets and regularly updating).

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

It's tough in VR - VR seems to be generally down everywhere, honestly. If you can't get Oculus to be promoting you in the main store, there isn't a ton that's going to change things I think :(

crookspeak.bsky.social•90 days ago

Thanks Callum, appreciate the honesty!

ayershole.bsky.social•90 days ago

VR market is way up this year vs last?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Not across the board

valentinachrys.bsky.social•90 days ago

What games are publishers looking for these days? Preferable budget/scope?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

No way to answer this I’m afraid / everything from free to 50 million

joramwolters.com•89 days ago

Do you need personal contacts or a pub with contacts to get into talks with EGS / Xbox game pass (with project funding) or could you do that as a Solodev if you have a good prototype and pitch deck?

callum.uwu.biz•89 days ago

Yeah you can do the latter - another dev will always tell you how to get in touch

gameshaped.com•90 days ago

Are games that already have Steam pages still interesting for publishers to pick up? Since I've seen it - when is it beneficial for both dev+pub to make such a deal?

callum.uwu.biz•89 days ago

Yes absolutely they are - but only if you’re showing momentum with wishlists

evilkimau.bsky.social•90 days ago

Biggest waste of money new companies spend?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Office space 🤣

samdelia.bsky.social•90 days ago

Where do you see yourself in 5 days

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Being 1 day away from hanging with my pal sam

milan-heartcase.bsky.social•90 days ago

If you had 2k marketing budget as an indie with no Steam page yet, what would you spend it on?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Hmm I need someone else to answer this. @futurefriendsgames.com ?

futurefriendsgames.com•89 days ago

heya both!

that's a really good (and tough) question for any indie.

thomas did a GDC talk last year "How to Budget Your Indie Game's Promotion Campaign" - definitely have a watch to get started and feel free to ping over any follow-up questions :)

https://youtu.be/-jM9Tx6AVIE?si=b9lbw_kUTC4nUywh

milan-heartcase.bsky.social•89 days ago

I'll have a watch, thanks for the suggestion!

futurefriendsgames.com•89 days ago

no problem. we could probably write an entire thread for it, but definitely quicker to watch that. and honestly, any questions please do let me know :)
(kris)

milan-heartcase.bsky.social•87 days ago

Had a look, very informative, thanks for the recommendation 😄

milan-heartcase.bsky.social•89 days ago

Appreciate it!

choomsky.bsky.social•90 days ago

which of Alex’s looks do you prefer

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

failbettergames.bsky.social•90 days ago

what's the best kind of videogame to make

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Long, wordy games that also have fun mechanics (genuinely, it's why I love your games so much)

adriaan.games•90 days ago

Do exits for indie studios happen often? What do you think are ideal conditions to make that happen?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Making 10s of millions of dollars a year, and yes, below that maybe but usually in a “well acquire you/your studio and fold you into our company to do our games”

adriaan.games•90 days ago

What do you think of all the games coming out on Itch to test the waters first? Smart, or a missed opportunity to release on Steam immediately?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Incredibly smart - I wish more publishers than critical reflex took notice

adriaan.games•90 days ago

What’s a game biz formula that you think more often works than doesn’t?

adriaan.games•90 days ago

Is the time of self publishing over?

ycjygames.bsky.social•90 days ago

no?
when was the time of self publishing started?

grahamoflegend.com•90 days ago

🤒 why are you asking that? Do you think it's over? 😥😥😥😥😥

alientrap.bsky.social•90 days ago

is it a good idea to pitch someone your game by showing a video on your phone, outside a bar, at midnight at GDC

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Probably the best time as long as they are actually a game scout and not a homeless person

ptrhlm.com•90 days ago

What are some overlooked channels and/or platforms that could be worthwhile for small pennyless indies?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

I’m not really too sure - depends on genre. Things like big fish games are very overlooked but only work for certain types

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

And smaller key sites like fanatical

ptrhlm.com•90 days ago

Ok? That’s surprising. I had kind of ruled them out, as it seems you’d just be competing with the same stuff that dominates Steam?

freya.bsky.social•90 days ago

did I come across weird in our last meeting?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Is that a real question?? Of course not

freya.bsky.social•90 days ago

partially a real question but mostly joking c:

idk I just felt like I failed a pitch meeting or something even though that was literally not what it was ahah

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Lmao that is in your head I had a lovely time

dislekcia.bsky.social•90 days ago

How do best I make the jump from $250-500K pitches to $5-10M pitches? Take a loan and polish visuals/vertical slice? Have a lo-fi version go viral? Stop pitching altogether and get really weird with hats?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

5-10 is brutal right now, my basic answer would be - don't. That said, not much changes in format, but since the risk profile is much higher, generally all of the "maybe this is a red flag" become "this is 100% a red flag". Demo needed, for sure.

dislekcia.bsky.social•90 days ago

Thanks! I was hoping that 5-10 was less brutal than 0.25-0.5 feels right now.

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Oh much worse because the amount of people funding at that level rn is single digits

tys.work•90 days ago

What is going to be the consensus in 5 years for the reason "why everything went wrong in 2023-202X"?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Overspending during Covid, changing customer base, when the Martians attacked

mautar55.bsky.social•90 days ago

How mush self publishing previous experience helps pitching?

mautar55.bsky.social•90 days ago

how mush ... 🍄

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

Mush!

Hmm if you’re pitching for self publishing funding then lots, if it’s for normal publishing then the only thing that helps is that you know how to ship and ship on time and to budget

mautar55.bsky.social•90 days ago

Interesting. Thank you very mush! 🍄

zachstronaut.com•90 days ago

do games without an art pass yet (placeholder asset packs, or actual whitebox) ever land publishers with funding deals?

indiedevkey.bsky.social•90 days ago

With the industry the way it is at the moment, is it better to have multiple smaller projects to pitch (200-500k) or should I pour more effort into one vertical slice for a bigger budget?

Bonus: Is GDC worth the expense? 👀

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

If it was me - I would do smaller projects. For sure.

GDC - ehhhhhhh. Depends what you want and if you have clear goals and/or if you have money to burn on just seeing friends

lotovik.com•90 days ago

hi there callum! 👋 what are the most important info points when pitching your indie game?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

I feel like there is a huuuuuuge amount of info about this! @ifnotnowgwen.bsky.social deck here is a great place to start https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sBAQvfuGt_guknfyYHhWhBEripuOcH9aiOS86-l5TGY/edit

mautar55.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

steviesg.bsky.social•90 days ago

When should indie companies sell to big bad corp?

callum.uwu.biz•90 days ago

When they want the money

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