Chapter 1.2: The Role of Each Entity in Game Publishing

Overview

Kathy Schoback, director of external development and publishing, Sega of America

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Delivering a game into a consumer's hands has become an increasingly complex, lengthy, and costly process. Members of the interactive entertainment industry constantly debate the relative importance of game developers as creative auteurs versus publishers as soulless businesspeople, or retailers as channel arbiters versus media as opinion mongers. However, financial and logistical market forces have created a system in which each "driver" entity on the highway to the consumer—developer, publisher, platform owner, retailer—is essential to the transaction, and profits accordingly. "Adjunct" entities that feed into the channel offer a plethora of service alternatives that reduce cost, save time, or improve quality along the channel and, ultimately, for consumers.

In this article, we examine the roles of 14 entities that collaborate to bring a game to market.