IndieGameBusiness Deep Dive: Building Strong Publishing Partnerships 2026
2026-05-27
-- online --
who it's for
indie developers, indie studio founders, founders seeking funding, publishing managers, business development managers, games legal counsel
topics
three-tier pitch decks; playable vertical slice demos; publisher due diligence (KYC and EDD); publisher deal economics and recoup; contract net definition and deductions; scout outreach and tracker workflows; steam pages, wishlists and keys; ambassador and partnership programs; financial modeling low/med/high scenarios; burn rate payments and change order clauses
| title | author | length |
|---|---|---|
| I Love You But Your Pitch Sucks | Meg Clarke | 01h 00m |
Scouts triage by specifics: expect 130 pitches in two days so email a deck ASAP (no NDA first), make it easy to open and share, and have builds or Steam pages… | ||
| Why Your Pitch Won, But Your Background Check Failed | Chelsea Anglin | 58m |
Explains how U.S. background checks actually work: automated KYC vs Enhanced Due Diligence screens, when human investigators dig in, and which databases are… | ||
| How to Start (and Maintain) a Game Studio with No Experience | Alina Matson | 01h 01m |
Built an Animal Crossing–style fitness game (Fitment) that fails to secure fundraising and shuts down, then pivots to a desktop companion called Nudes released… | ||
| Publisher Relationships - What it Gives and What it Takes? | Dmitry Martirosyan | 58m |
Industry numbers matter: 105,000 developers on Steam, 21,000 games launched in 2025 and 9,000 already in 2026, so discoverability is the bottleneck. Expect… | ||
| Finding the Right Publishing Partner for Your Game | Jay Powell | 01h 01m |
Breaks down concrete signals and numbers: you need a playable demo, a Steam page and wishlists before outreach, and publishers accept under <1% chance of… | ||
| Your Publisher Is Still Judging You | Eline Muijres | 57m |
Framework names actual trust dimensions: ability, integrity, benevolence. Examples: a Kickstarter promising hundreds of backer‑custom assets that explodes… | ||
| Building International Networks: Ambassador & Partnership Strategies | Katherine Vildoso | 01h 00m |
Describes how an association is launched and formalized within a year using Scrum and design‑thinking steps: empathy, define core problem, prototype small… | ||
| Working with Publishers: Lessons Learned from 3,000 Agreements | Patrick Sweeney | 01h 01m |
Handles ~3,000 publisher agreements and shows what actually breaks deals: vague net definition that eats royalties, broad deductions that turn a 50/50 promise… | ||
| After the Event with Ash and INDIE | Building Strong Publishing Partnerships | Ash | 01h 07m |
Clear, specific pitching beats long descriptions: have a 10-, 30- and 60-second pitch, a short deck and a detailed follow-up, condense 10 slides into five for… | ||
| nothing matches | ||