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Remembering a couple of years ago when I came close to a publishing deal but it fell apart when I had a lawyer read the contract and they stopped answering my emails.
I worry so much about seeming professional and like I know what I'm talking about etc. And some folks don't even try huh.
The contract had a right of first AND last refusal for any future titles + lots of other scary stuff like. I had to pay them back the entire gross profit of the game if we ever terminated the contract for example.
Last refusal is a doozy, because it means if I went to another publisher and tried to work out a deal, they could come in at the last minute and sign the game... What publisher was even gonna talk to me knowing I had a last refusal hanging over my head? Madness.
I looked at this thing and thought 'this is fucked', then hired a lawyer and asked 'is this fucked or is it just me?' and they said 'yes it is fucked'. We offered revisions and then the publisher asked if we could have a more 'chill' informal discussion without a lawyer. Uh.. no.
Then poof! They vanished into the night never to be seen again... Or rather to rebrand a few years later.
I went as far as I did with the contract because one of the guys on the other end was someone I thought was my friend. We had been working on game pitches together for a few months before he up and joined a publisher.
The whole thing was a fiasco and cost me a lot of money. It's also one of the reasons I haven't attempted to get anyone to help out with 'the business side' of my game dev stuff after being screwed over like that.
My lessons learnt are: 1) friends let friends consult lawyers. You shouldn't compromise on contracts because someone is nice to you. 2) trust your gut when something seems wrong. It probably is wrong.
I know a lot of students and younger game devs follow me on here so just a little advice: be careful!!! There are organisations out there that really suck and you need to keep your wits about you + put your foot down every so often.
(sorry deleted and reposted some of this cos I said 'should' instead of 'shouldnt oops')
I haven't had a lot of success actually signing deals but I have been trying to get a game published for almost ten years now (with a lot of studio work in between), and have a fair amount of experience in it.
I also wanna say if you're a dev and you're worried about potential contracts or people and partnerships feel free to reach out. I'm happy to offer some *not legal* advice.
