When you think of "game publisher," what comes to mind? The truth is, the definition of game publisher is hard to pin down, and that's because they are ever-changing. Not every publisher provides the same benefits and perks, but one thing is certain: Publishers' names are attached to the games they put out to the world.
Challenging this idea is a relatively new phenomena of influencer-created publishing companies. Big Mode, headed by popular YouTuber videogamedunkey, put out Billy Basso's critically-acclaimed Animal Well earlier this year. Another such publisher, Offbrand Games, is hoping to make waves with its upcoming platform fighter title, Rivals of Aether 2.
Created by Ludwig Ahgren and Thor (aka PirateSoftware), TechRaptor wanted to learn how these publishers stand apart from others. To that end, we talked with Offbrand Games Director of Publishing Bryan Herren to learn more about the benefits of being led by influencers, and how to -- hopefully -- become successful in a highly volatile industry.
Getting a Foot in the Door
Offbrand Games is one part of the Offbrand umbrella, a brand co-founded by Ludwig several years ago. This new branch aims to act as a publisher for games, but the overarching brand itself is known for producing high quality, streamer-related events such as the CDawgVA Charity Auction and the Olympics-inspired Streamer Games.
One wouldn't immediately see how being a production studio would correlate to video game publishing, but the pieces for a publisher were already there. Offbrand has an in-house marketing team, in-house artists for graphics, and other valuable resources a publisher might need.
"And so for a lot of other publishers, that is getting outsourced to agencies to do," said Herren. "And so the fact that we can do it in house is really powerful. And then we have the ability to use our events that we're running to promote our games, right? And so I think what you're seeing, not only in the influencer publishing space, but in other areas of celebrity, is people using their platforms to create products that they're passionate about, and then using their platforms to like, market their existence."
Herren also notes that not all publishers fall into the same basket, as some will provide, say, technical assistance with in-house QA, while others provide funding. As a new publisher, he admits it's asking a lot for developers to believe in what Offbrand Games could provide out the gate.
"So we had to build trust, right?" said Herren. "You know, we are coming from a space of we haven't published games before, so people are going to have to take a leap of faith to work with us, and that we are going to be able to hold up our end of the bargain despite not technically having done it before."
With plenty of experience in publishing numerous indie games in the past, Herren was able to assuage any concerns, though he admits it was difficult operating under the radar, trying to get developers on board before the publisher's formal announcement last June during IGN Live.
Rivals of Aether II's on the Horizon
During that IGN Live event, the publisher announced their first game, which launches in a few weeks on October 23: Rivals of Aether II, the anticipated sequel a popular indie platform fighter. Its successful Kickstarter received over $1 million in funding, and has an army of fans chomping at the bit to play.
"So a lot of the things I was talking about before in terms of marketing, and I would say that like our relationship with Aether Studios and Rivals is much more loaded on that new publisher angle of we're creating trailers, we're running events, we're doing marketing, we're doing influencer reach outs," said Herren.
The role Offbrand Games plays is as co-publisher with the game's developer, Aether Studios. On the surface, then, the choice to publish this sequel seems random, but it was intentional on Offbrand Games' part. It's no secret Rivals of Aether II is heavily inspired by Super Smash Bros., which is something near and dear to many of the publisher's employees.
Herren is also the founder of Smash Summit, a popular series of now-defunct Super Smash Bros. tournaments. Rivals of Aether head Dan Fornace sponsored one of the first Summit tournaments, so there was already a relationship established. Other employees within Offbrand are said to be big fans as well; Ludwig, for instance, is a Smash player and runs events and even commentates.
"It just was a very natural fit for our first partnership that just made sense," said Herren.
A Co-Op in Game Publishing
Offbrand Games may very well be one of co-op game publishers in the business, and no, we're not talking about cooperative games. To quote directly from Offbrand, being a co-op means "each full-time Offbrand employee will have a vote on the direction of the company, and our profit will be shared evenly amongst co-op members." This puts the publishing division in a unique position.
"We're not precluded from getting venture capital," said Herren. "But there's no reason for a venture capitalist to ever invest in our company, because legally in the United States, the amount of return they can get is capped every year. Any investor into Offbrand would be limited by a pretty significant amount in terms of, like, how much they would get year over year."
What does this mean for the products they produce? As we've seen far too many times this year, developers and publishers alike are either laying off employees en masse or shutting down completely; by being a co-op, it's the hope that there is a system of checks and balances, and that all employees have a say in the decisions being made.
"As a result, our focus is not on, you know, 5xing the size of the company in five years, it's being sustainable," said Herren. "And so, we're going at this in a slow and measured way. That means that we're, hopefully, still going to be around in 10 years, and we will be -- if we're successful -- slightly bigger. We won't suddenly be like this multinational corporation, right?"
Developers have responded to this approach favorably, according to Herren. Offbrand Games touted itself as a developers- and player-first company. Herren wants developers themselves to feel good about the way games are promoted. This stems from a mindset that the streamers Offbrand Studios supported in previous endeavors should feel listened to and to have ideas valued -- he says the developers are in charge.
"And so we took that kind of idea of like creators first," said Herren, "and then applied that to game development by saying, developers are creators too, right? They're creating their own products, just like a Twitch streamer is creating their stream or creating their content.
"These are developers that are going through really intense creative processes, and it's their baby, right? This is what they're working on. This is what they're spending, you know, sometimes decades of their life on and so. We want to make sure that with every decision that we make... is an extremely transparent process with our developers to make sure that they feel like this is representing them and who they are."
The Streamers Behind Offbrand Games
It's not a hyperbole to say influencers can be controversial. Earlier this year, a certain influencer was dropped by their own game studio. There's an inherent risk attaching a public figure's name to a brand, and this is something Offbrand Games acknowledges.
"I don't want to pretend that we're like some Messiah coming in to save the industry," said Herren. "We're not. We're not trying to be that, we're not big enough to do that. Our only hope is that we can do right by our developers and do right by our customers. And we are open to being told that we're not doing right by either group, and we want to listen and learn and hope to do the best we can."
That said, the two key figures in the limelight for Offbrand Games each come with a key set of skills that will, hopefully, set its developers up for success. These are the aforementioned Ludwig Ahgren and PirateSoftware. As influencers with large followings, they're not immune to community backlash, which means more is at stake should they make a misstep.
Both have years of experience in content creation, but Thor from PirateSoftware, in particular, has tangible experience in the game industry, like working at Blizzard. With Thor's know-how (on top of his large following on Twitch and YouTube), it's Herren's hope this can help the publisher navigate the murky waters of game publishing. Ludwig, on the other hand, is like the life of the party.
"[Ludwig's] kind of that guy where he, like, put all of his points into charisma when he was born," said Herren, "and so he's really good at, like, bringing people together, running events, hosting events, utilizing those events to promote our games, and talking about games honestly, and his community believing him when he says something."
Herren's perspective on game publishing is candid -- game developers don't need a publisher. Steam allows for games to be self-published, and those can go on to become successful. Even still, companies like Offbrand Games hope to provide valuable resources to developers that would otherwise be unavailable.
"We want everyone to be going wide-eyed into our partnership, knowing what we're providing," said Herren, "what you're getting out of it, and not thinking of it as like, 'oh, I have to have this to be successful,' right? And so as a result of that, what the value a publisher provides is changing.
"And so I think creators and influencers are realizing that they have a lot to offer developers in terms of feedback, community, marketing, exposure that makes you know them working on game publishing a great fit, and I'm just happy that streamers and influencers have started investing in games instead of investing in cryptocurrency."
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