Congratulations! You’ve received your first video game from a developer or publisher as a gift and your review has been requested (or paid for). Do you have to tell your audience the behind-the-scenes details? Let’s take a step back here. Defining an influencer An influencer is a person who may be a celebrity or, even …
Do I have to tell my audience if I’ve received a game and then reviewed it? Read More »
The article gives a great overview of the recent “do loot boxes = gambling?” debate. The debate was largely brought into the mainstream by Hawaii state representative Chris Lee, who posted a video on YouTube calling for regulation of the industry and lootboxes specifically. Here is an excerpt on my views: Ultimately, Huffman urged caution. “We need to be careful …
Brandon J. Huffman quoted on loot boxes and gambling in Mashable Read More »
This is an excerpt from the free ebook, Key Provisions in Video Game Publishing Agreements. In the marketing provisions [of a video game publishing agreement], there are three main questions to answer. Who has responsibility for marketing? Who has the right to market? Who has creative input in the marketing? The agreement should explicitly say …
Marketing requirements in game publishing contracts Read More »
In the free ebook, Key Provisions in Video Game Publishing Agreements, I write about a lot of different rights and responsibilities a publishing agreement might cover. But happens when the relationship between a developer and a publisher really just needs to end? Ideally, the termination provisions of the contract will set out exactly how that …
Termination clauses in video game publishing agreements Read More »
From the horse’s mouth: The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is the non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns ratings for video games and apps… The ESRB has been around since 1994, and it is, in short, a self-regulatory body. It works like the MPAA for film or the RIAA for music, assigning ratings to games as …
In the free eBook I recently released on game publishing, I wrote that music is a different animal than most other things because – in part – of the way the copyrights for music work. Here, I wanted to expand on that a bit. If a developer or publisher is looking to release an official …
When dealing with game publishing, the question should come up: what about future games or expansions, DLC, etc. related to the same game? Does the publisher have any rights to those? Does the publisher get a cut of the revenue? Who pays for their development? What about games not related to the first title? In …
Video Game publisher options on sequels, expansions and future works Read More »
Content review is when an attorney reviews your creation for potential legal issues. Legal content review for an author generally involves a reading of the article, story, book, etc., marking up any sensitive passages or excerpts, then discussing them with the author at length to vet the sourcing and evidence. Content review for film and tv …
Some game-to-movie adaptations are good, some are terrible. What do they all have in common? They all give developers grand ideas about how great a movie their game will make. Most games will never be movies. But they could. There are two main considerations here: (1) is the developer permitted to sell the movie rights …
In the FREE e-book – Key Provisions in Video Game Publishing Agreements, I have given an overview of publishing agreements. In this post, I will talk about an example financial model for one hypothetical publishing agreement. First, the hypothetical deal: The developer has a title they want to develop. They have invested $250,000 into developing …
Example compensation math in video game publishing Read More »