A brand new research by Pollen VC highlights the significance of self-publishing if a cell recreation maker is hoping to make themselves a gorgeous acquisition prospect.

The information states that 85 p.c of cell video games studios acquired within the final twelve months self-published their video games, while no acquisitions had been made from studios who utilised third-party publishers, and 15 p.c acted as publishers for titles by different studios. However, this information excludes any acquisitions above $1 billion.

This information highlights an ongoing pattern within the business for recreation builders to draw back from conventional publishing fashions.
“The post-IDFA environment has accelerated the trend we’ve seen over the years – shifting from a distribution-centric to an original IP-centric M&A focus,” mentioned Pollen VC vice chairman of development and analytics Stanislav Rudoi. “Strong player affinity towards a particular studio’s games makes a self-published studio acquisition more valuable both in terms of IP itself and player base.”

The pitfalls of publishers

The report notes that, while the cell gaming market has historically been dominated by a growth studio/writer relationship, “self-publishing has become the dominant business model for gaming studios over the last few years. Gaming studios have recognized that the economics demanded by mobile gaming publishers were disproportionate to the value-added – a typical revenue share being around 60/40 in favour of the publisher after accounting for all user acquisition costs.”

“Gaming studios are increasingly finding the economics of mobile game VC publishing deals unpalatable. Our analysis of the M&A data makes it clear that studios that have the ambition to ultimately be acquired need to either develop skills in-house to self-publish or work with third parties to buy in components required for them to publish their own games in their own name successfully,” mentioned Pollen VC Martin Macmillan.

In August, Pollen VC CEO Martin Macmillan wrote about tips on how to rent a CFO in your cell video games studio.