GDC is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by day, pass type, topic, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view GDC 2023 session details and speakers, and share your favorites via social media. You will be able to build your schedule and access it during the show via export or Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.

Independent Games Summit: How Publishing Agreements Go Wrong (and How to Fix Them)

Kellen Voyer  (Managing Director, Voyer Law)

Location: Room 2009, West Hall

Date: Monday, March 20

Time: 1:20 pm - 1:50 pm

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass

Topic: Independent Games

Format: Lecture

Vault Recording: Video

Audience Level: All

You received a publishing agreement. How do you spot pitfalls?

Indies are at an informational disadvantage when negotiating with publishers, as developers may not have a strong grasp of key publishing agreement clauses and where problems can occur.

By drawing on over 10 years’ experience negotiating publishing agreements and witnessing relationships between publishers and developers break down, this session leverages stories of failed relationships and conflict to educate developers on risks in publishing agreements and how to avoid repeating them.

This session will educate attendees on 5 key publishing agreement clauses and "gotchas" to watch out for - illustrated with real-world examples - and how to avoid similar issues in their own publishing agreements. Attendees will learn about issues that occur with license, revenue share, marketing, DLC and intellectual property clauses with the aim to put publisher and developer on a level playing field when negotiating a publishing agreement.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn the meaning of critical publishing agreement clauses, common issues that arise and how to avoid these issues. Following, attendees will be able to negotiate publishing agreements from an informed position and to avoid repeating these issues.

Intended Audience

This is for anyone who wants to develop a game and thinks they may be offered a publishing agreement, as well as those who are interested in becoming publishers.