The problem of Mobile Game ecosystem and venture funding

Today I noticed a post from Janette D'Alessio of Lab Cave and it literally made my day. Unlike some well-known publishers, they are acquiring games. At AuctionVilla Marketplace we always wanted to build a secure and friendly platform for both mobile game developers and publishers. We developed a working MVP, onboarded 200+ game devs, 300+ app devs, and met with 80+ investors. From investors, all we heard was "it's early for us" or it will never gonna work. We ultimately had to slow down our operations to focus on other revenue-generating products. Being game devs ourselves, we knew what was missing. We wanted to be helpful to independent developers and support the business of aspiring publishers. Indie developers and bootstrapped studios are top two vital elements of this ecosystem. Sadly we ended up seeing the ugly side of game publishing. After reaching out to 70+ game publishers with a curated collection of games, we understood they are always looking for free lunch. They want indie devs and bootstrapped studios to send them countless game prototypes that they will test first, then ask to do changes for free, and only if there is a potential they will sign a contract. The contract will include clauses like paying a % of the profit to the developer after all expenses and it can take months to years. They know this trick will not work with established studios, thus paying a monthly fee and retainer alongside revenue share is the only way to make established studios work for them. We hoped this to be stopped someday and better publishers to appear in the scene. Every business works based on building meaningful relations. You can't take advantage of the FOMO forever. A game dev like every other human needs to pay her/his bills. They can't keep working on a day job and develop the games for free just because they love to do it. The promise that their game may become a world hit someday won't cut for it. Just last night, I saw an ad from a well-known publisher requesting devs to send them prototypes even if its just a gameplay video. Needless to say, the change is coming. Support the devs monetarily if you want a good balance - either acquire their games, pay for changes, or offer them good partnership terms. We saw firsthand how irritated indie devs were when we asked them why they are not partnering up with publishers and the total opposite, a smiling face, when we asked them to sell, even if the price was not great. Huge respect Lab Cave and the team for supporting the game dev ecosystem. If you are a game dev with a great Unity-based game, please reach out to them as they are planning to acquire their next game. At AuctionVilla Marketplace we look forward to resuming our operations soon so that we can be helpful too! #mobilegamedevelopment #gamepublishing #indiegamedev