David Jaffe to Developers: "You Deserve What You Get"

[StewShearerOld]

David Jaffe to Developers: "You Deserve What You Get"

David Jaffe wants developers to demand better contracts from publishers or improve themselves to the point that they can.

It's a common belief amongst many gamers that publishers are evil. We're not even talking mildly evil either, like someone who steals the coins from the Leave-A-Penny tray at the checkout. Videogame publishers are supposed to occupy that strata of wickedness reserved for the likes of Sauron, Joffrey and that creepy kid from The Omen. They exist only to squeeze money from the hopes and dreams of unsuspecting developers, whose one simple desire is to make a good game. Recently, an anonymous designer <a href=http://kotaku.com/we-need-better-video-game-publishers-472880781>wrote an editorial decrying things like unfair publishing contracts and inept and uninterested management trying to force bad ideas where they don't belong. In response, God of War-creator David Jaffe has told developers to quit whining.

"I reject the tired accusation that it's the publisher keeping game developers down. And I reject that accusation because of the classic line that I am sure you've heard before: you are worth what you can negotiate," said Jaffe, writing on <a href=http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2013/04/you-are-not-as-good-as-you-think-you-are.html>his personal blog. "Don't like the way a publisher treats you? Don't sign a contract with that particular publisher. Or if you do, make sure you have what you will and won't tolerate written into the contract. And if your studio is not good enough to demand better deals and is not clever enough to secure alternate forms of financing (thus allowing you to bypass the publishers all together) then you deserve what you get."

Jaffe isn't unsympathetic to the travails of modern developers, but he nonetheless urges them to take steps to regain control of the development process and improve their clout in the industry. "You want to be treated better? Sign a contract demanding it. You are not able to get such a contract? Then improve your team until you can demand in the real world what you think you are really worth in your mind. Because at the moment the real world is making something very clear to you. And that is this: For the time being anyway, you are not as good as you think you are."

Source: <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-16-jaffe-you-are-worth-what-you-can-negotiate>GamesIndustry




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[Fappy]

I kind of get the sense that he is generalizing too much. While I am sure this is the case for many developers, some just get straight up fucked over. This is the case in every industry though. Sometimes companies just find themselves on the raw end of a deal.

 

[grey_space]

This seems remarkably fair and honest.

And It's on the internet coming from a game designer.

Is it the End OF Days?

 

[geizr]

I would think digital distribution may provide an avenue for developers to circumvent the publisher. A similar phenomenon is occurring for music, books, and image art (and I wouldn't be surprised to find film also doing the same). Basically, the digital age is reducing the necessity of the publisher and giving content creators an alternative avenue to market and sell their works.

ADDENDUM: The more I consider it, the more I feel the game industry is in desperate need of a crash to kill off the excess of stupid that has built up over the years.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

There is a better proving point for developers to determine how valuable he/she and his/her ideas are to players, and it doesn't have to involve contracts. It's called indie.

 

[jollybarracuda]

That's all well and good, Jaffe, except that your company made God of Freakin' War. You struck gold and then start acting like everyone else has it so easy. Maybe I just have a personal bias against Jaffe, because every single thing he says seems to be soaked in snarky rhetoric. Maybe he's right, i dunno, but if judging by what he says, that only a company that can get a good contract deserves to be treated fairly, then something is still wrong with that part of the industry regardless.

 

[FloodOne]

That's all well and good, Jaffe, except that your company made God of Freakin' War. You struck gold and then start acting like everyone else has it so easy. Maybe I just have a personal bias against Jaffe, because every single thing he says seems to be soaked in snarky rhetoric. Maybe he's right, i dunno, but if judging by what he says, that only a company that can get a good contract deserves to be treated fairly, then something is still wrong with that part of the industry regardless.

You're acting like Jaffe debuted with GoW, but that's not true. He worked hard to be in the position he has now.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

A few years ago, I might have disagreed with Mr. Jaffe, but these days anyone with with a good reputation, a portfolio of any kind, & a kickstarter account seem to be able to get at least some level of funding. There are more distribution options than ever as well (Steam, GOG, Desura, & more than I can even list here)

It's pretty common knowledge that developers are treated terribly by publishers & paid to match, yet there is this serious resistance to making any kind of effort to change it. There should be a diagnosable mental condition for the phobia the industry has of unionization. This seems to be changing somewhat, as veteran devs are jumping ship in record numbers to go indie. AAA publishers over-budget themselves closer to bankruptcy daily; if dev studios started actually negotiating their contracts, these publishers wouldn't have the bargaining position they like to think they do.

Fact is, publishers aren't the only game in town anymore (pun intended) & developers would do well to remind them of this once in a while

& for f*** sake stop chomping at the bit to work 80+ hours a week for maybe $30,000/year

 

[jollybarracuda]

That's all well and good, Jaffe, except that your company made God of Freakin' War. You struck gold and then start acting like everyone else has it so easy. Maybe I just have a personal bias against Jaffe, because every single thing he says seems to be soaked in snarky rhetoric. Maybe he's right, i dunno, but if judging by what he says, that only a company that can get a good contract deserves to be treated fairly, then something is still wrong with that part of the industry regardless.

You're acting like Jaffe debuted with GoW, but that's not true. He worked hard to be in the position he has now.

Well, his first game was apparently Mickey Mania, and then right into Twisted Metal, which propelled his career to where it is now. I guess its not fair for me to make it sound like he was just given his position, but he is unique among developers in that the only two franchises he's really worked on are both mega-blockbusters for Sony, and to then go out and act like it's just so easy to get treated fairly in the industry, when he himself was thrust into such high respect. As I said, I have a personal bias with him because every time he's quoted on the internet, it's some kind of blunt and crass remark, so I guess just take my opinion with the smallest grain of salt.

And to be on topic, I guess even with my bias, I have to admit that yah, developers probably should be more demanding with their contracts. They do all the work on the game, and they should definitely be given more respect than the industry really gives them.

 

[cerebus23]

this is the same stuff the comic book business whined and moaned about in the 90s which gave us image comics. and which we also found out that most comic book people were lazy, not very talented, in many cases. causing book schedules to fall off and some ok comics from decent artist dying simply because they could not keep a schedule.

it also helped make the bubble of a 100 different companies springing up to grab apiece of the pie and a giant crash in the whole market a few years later.

so lets see who the image of the video game world turns out to be.

 

[Veylon]

At first I was going to write the guy off as one of those wanna-be Libertarians who's got theirs and sneers at anyone who dare protest. But he goes on to say this:

...when you are talking digital games for $14.99 (and ideally less), talent can begin to demand amazing deals if they have the track record to back up their demands because core gamers- as always- will continue to follow the talented teams and average gamers will take chances at those lower 'impulse buy' price points. We will see this more in the coming generation of games as getting core games digitally stops being something that only the core gamers do and -with each passing year- becomes the normal way for all gamers to acquire new content.

The gist of his article is that if you want triple-A money for your game, you're going to have to sell your soul (or at least your game's soul) to get it. He's been there, he's done that. The advice he gives is to go indie if a publisher won't give you what you want. And that's looking like better and better advice.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

why exactly do we care what Jaffe says anymore? Guy is swiftly turning into the game equivalent of Kevin Smith

 

[CardinalPiggles]

This sounds more like an address to development team leaders/owners. The individual low grade developer doesn't get the option to demand more from publishers. And they are the ones suffering ridiculously low wages, ridiculously long hours and no respect.

However I do fully agree that if you have the option to demand more from publishers, then do it, because they will only squeeze you for everything they can.

 

[Terramax]

Stranger's Wrathe was an incredible game and EA didn't advertise it at all.

Psychonauts was one of the games of the decade but the publisher didn't do the game justice.

Shut up David Jaffe. Perhaps when you've made a title that's of a quality more than slightly-above-average, then we'll take you seriously.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

While he has a point but in practice unfortunately it doesn't work out. As much like the music industry new up and coming developers and even more established developers do not often have the clout to be able to go toe to toe with publishers and legal reps in contract negotiations, meaning that while there are exceptions who manage to wrestle good contracts out of publishers most don't as the publisher comes into the negotiation from a position of greater strength.

 

[Somebloke]

Well, I'm pretty sure studio leaders are not in a very good position to make demands, when they have the wages of 100+ people to pay, and need black numbers to offset running costs.

Not even the most highly regarded auteur, or best synergetically welded together team of talent is irreplaceable, in the eyes of the high and mighty - there are plenty more oakies out there, who need to eat.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't get why a Publisher is even needed. Aren't most AAA development houses big enough to publish their own games without the need of a 3rd party publisher? Or am I missing something?

 

[Erttheking]

This sounds a wee bit like victim blaming.

 

[cidbahamut]

This sounds a wee bit like victim blaming.

That's basically what I took away from it.

If you're in a position where you're taking publisher funding to finance your project then you're not really in a position to be making demands.