210 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
210 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Pitching to Publishers
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description: Pitching to Publishers
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category: strategy
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tags: []
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accessLevel: public
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author: Baby Ghosts
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publishedAt: '2025-11-10T10:42:09.228Z'
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---
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# Pitching to Publishers
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_Jennie's notes from Jason Della Rocca talk at Digital Alberta. These can be fleshed out and expanded on!_
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## Mindset
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You’re pitching an opportunity, not a problem. Pitching is a critical survival skill - there’s no shame in getting out in the world and talking about yourself.
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Think beyond publishers. Pitching is also to garner:
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- Love/support from platform holders
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- Favors from vendors
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- Input from peers
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Pitching is about getting people behind your vision. Think in terms of long-term relationship building - not every meeting is a win/lose.
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## Before going
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1. **Build a target list**
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- Do research on past deals/genre tags supported by publisher
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- Chase most important first
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2. **Book meetings before the event**
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- Chase via email, get intros, cold call
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- Sign up for the matchmaking system
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- Pro-tip: Schedule most important targets for day 2 - day 1 is for practice
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- Avoid early morning - higher flake risk
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- Pro-tip: Chase a published studio for an intro
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3. **Prepare materials**
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4. **Practice practice practice**
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## Pitch materials
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- Prep your meta materials for publishers to look at
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- LinkedIn
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- Website
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- Social channels
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- Prepare materials
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- 1-pager
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- Visual assets: video, screenshots, concept art
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- Pitch deck
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- Stable game build - absolutely essential
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- Best result is request for pitch deck and build of the game
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- Pro-tip: load everything to your laptop and phone for backup - don’t rely on access to the internet
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## Intro Cycle
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Intro based on one-line summary and piece of art.
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- Ideal if done via a mutual trusted connection
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- Or “cold call” on LinkedIn/Twitter or meeting matchmaking system
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Meeting request with one-pager
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- Pro-tip: Include one-pager link in matchmaking system request
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Likely agreement to meet
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- May request extra information
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- Don’t send anything unless asked
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Keep email exchange simple, focus on logistics
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- Save game details for meeting
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- Pro-tip: Update contact cell numbers
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## 1-pager design
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- 1 letter sized page, PDF
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- Visually sharp like a movie poster
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- Key data elements
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- Genre, platforms, price-point
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- Current production status, target release date
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- Key features/USP
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- Competition/market
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- Studio logo, contact info
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## Pitch formats
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- Casual/at-the-bar
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- Elevator
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- “Performance” (e.g., GDC pitch, pocket gamer big indie pitch)
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- Initial meeting
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- Follow-up meeting
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## Typical “1st Meeting Pitch” Elements
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LESS IS MORE. Make it fit on 10 slides - target 5 minutes. No walls of text - keep it highly visual as support for your presentation.
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1. **Awesome cover art/logo**
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- **Goal**: Catch attention right from the start
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- Establish brand vibe
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2. **Gameplay/story overview + art**
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- **Goal**: Articulate core essence of the game succinctly
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- Don't waste time on discussing combo mechanics for 20 minutes
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3. **Video clip**
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- **Goal**: Show off how cool the game is and that it is (mostly) real
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- Could be teaser, raw gameplay footage, mock gameplay
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- 30-45 seconds
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4. **USPs + art**
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- Prove your game has unique/innovative elements, compelling
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- Already thinking about how it will be marketed
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- “Fun to play” or “indie style” are NOT USPs
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5. **Traction**
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- **Goal**: Prove that others think you are cool or worthy
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- Social media likes and views
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- Festival selections/showcases
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- Discord size
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- Press coverage
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- Special deals, relationships, partners, advisors
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6. **Business model + Competitive analysis**
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- **Goal**: Demonstrate there is a market for your game
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- Include: pricing, platforms, genre tags
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- Skip sales forecasts and focus on finding good comparables
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- Ideally games released in the last 12 months
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7. **Production timeline**
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- **Goal:** Help publisher understand the state of the game and how much work is left until launch
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- Use “sausage” timeline visual
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- Include key production milestones past/future, reveal, release, DLC dates, events or big marketing beat dates
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- Assumes you have budget and production schedule!!
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8. **Team, pedigree, awards**
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- **Goal**: Convince them you are the team to make this amazing game
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- Can include production partners
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- Past notable studios/projects
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9. **Ask**
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- **Goal:** Clearly ask what you need and expect from the publisher
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- Can cover stuff like:
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- Funding requirements and broad use of funds
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- Role/functional needs (ie, PR, trailer, localization, porting, etc)
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- Product/genre expertise
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- Specific geographical or platform needs
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10. **Contact/socials info, more awesome art**
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## Practice, practice, practice
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### During an event
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1. **Use 1hr meeting blocks to allow for buffer**
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- Be 2 people in each meeting (one talker, one note-taker)
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- Pro-tip: Mark actual local time in the calendar title
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2. **Meeting zones**
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- Biz lounge
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- Expo/booths
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- Other chill areas like hotel lobby - scout in advance
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3. **Daily debriefing and tweaking**
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- After each pitch, assess how it went and update your deck
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4. **Meeting flow**
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- Typically 30 minutes
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- 3 min. - small talk and biz cards
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- 7 min. - Get publisher talking about themselves
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- Pro-tip: Get them talking first so you can modulate
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- Ask open ended questions
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- 5min. - Run through deck
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- 5 min. - offer to play build (they’ll prob decline)
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- **10 min. - Q&A/discussion and next steps**
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5. **On-site chasing**
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- COVID impacts to keep in mind
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- Parties and networking events
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- Ask for on-the-spot intros via other devs
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6. **Goal of the meeting**
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- Get past the “shit-filter”
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- Assess compatibility
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- Timing, funding size, roles
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- Setup next meeting, post event
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- Have clear follow-up/action items
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- Collect market intelligence
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- Use notes! What are publishers focused on?
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7. **Post-show follow-up**
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- Debrief and update targets spreadsheet
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- Pitch postmortem (what went right/wrong, to improve)
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- Follow-ups
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- Follow-up emails per action items
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- Add everyone on LinkedIn
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- Nags
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- Max 2 nags after call, 1-2 weeks apart
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- Afterwards, only ping based on meaningful progress
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