Someone knows poki.com

[unazona]

Hello Guys,

I just finished a nice html5 game with stunning graphics. In my research among publishers I met Poki and they are asking for a life time exclusive deal for 50/50 share.

 

What do you think guys about this?

Thanks,

 

[b10b]

What does the non-exclusive deal look like in comparison?  Probably similar, but with "40/60" or less?  Does two partners at 25/75 equate to one partner at 50/50?  What does 100% look like, where is the break-even point, what are the risks?  Etc.

Games or not, a solid exclusive licensing deal typically includes a minimum royalty per period, a basic advance, and / or a comprehensive go-to-market plan (that the IP owner should approve).  Anything less is to leave the IP owner's royalties entirely to chance ... with no recourse if "life time exclusivity" has been assigned.  In a nutshell, unless you fully trust your publisher, it's very unlikely to be worth assigning exclusivity just for a claimed increase in share - instead ask about the "special treatment" for this and future titles - focus on relationship building.

Or casually throw this one to chance and focus on building the next game

 

[unazona]

Thanks for detailed answer,

It's either non exclusive deal for a fixed amount as low as 500$ or an exclusive 50/50. They are also talking about an iframe option where the game can be published on various platforms but they keep 1/3.

I'm very fine with exclusive contracts but the problem with poki that they want to get the exclusive and in the same time own a part of the game. All of that for 500$ spend in advertising. And the real problem in all of that deal, if the game didn't work at all at Poki, I only have the possibility to keep paying them 1/3 of AD while publishing on other platforms that eventually acccept iframed content.

I assume this deal might work very good for a softgame or hypercasual marathonned or reskins. While peanuts for a long dev unique game.

I think that I will not Poki this time ? 

[b10b]

3 hours ago, unazona said:

I assume this deal might work very good for a softgame or hypercasual marathonned or reskins. While peanuts for a long dev unique game.

I'd agree with this analysis.  Perhaps the thing to do, before dismissing entirely, is discuss further with your potential partner about their long term plans for your property.  If their answer is default, then your decision can be default.

Yes, it's good to be realistic.  HTML5 is a great platform to get new players to play a game (onboarding is mostly free, easy, instant, ubiquitous).  But it's not a great platform to monetise directly - e.g. in-game ads are unlikely to break-even on months-of-work until years later?  So a long-dev game needs to know ahead of time where their audience is and why, and how, that audience will pay for their game.  If the game scope is sufficiently impressive, it may be worth splitting it into two ... a cut-down version for casual release on as many platforms as possible - intended to get eyeballs on the game rather than monetize directly - and then a premium release via a store that includes the full content for those that enjoyed the teaser.