2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

too much in the web game can have a detrimental effect on the downloadable version(s) distributed in 

the same channel. 

Understanding which business is the primary focus and what metrics the developer is optimizing for, 

is the key to making both of these models work together. As an alternative, one under utilized 

possibility for generating revenue from both Downloadable games and Web games while staying true 

to the each medium's design needs might be for a developer to license their game IP to another 

company to do the other version. This could prove to be highly successful, because while the 

technological difficulty of such a port is low, many developers underestimate the related subtle 

difficulty of supporting both markets effectively. 

b) 

Publishing 

In general  Publishing  is the process of taking a particular piece of IP and making it available for sale 

to the public, either directly or through a B2B relationship, while retaining ownership rights over the 

IP. There are 3 tiers of content publishing referred to as  1

st

 Party ,  2

nd

 Party , and  3

rd

 Party .  

1

st

 Party Publishing is when a game is created in house and distributed to the public through the 

developer's own business development or publishing efforts. 

2

nd

 Party Publishing is when a developer licenses the concept, design, or IP from another developer 

and then launches it under their own label as if it was fully developed in house. 

3

rd

 Party Publishing is when distribution rights to a particular piece of content are licensed, but the 

product is published under the content owner's brand. 

In all three cases a good publishing business depends upon a strong established distribution network 

to drive revenue for all parties involved. In many cases, developers in the Downloadable and Web 

games businesses are already in the 1

st

 party publishing business. However, some very established 

developers have had success entering into 2

nd

 party publishing as an additional secondary business 

model. The 2

nd

 party business is a natural extension for established game developers as they have 

both the expertise and the distribution contacts to provide significant value to an up and coming 

developer.  

Often two talented companies can collaborate quite effectively to create a compelling new product, 

and market it under a strongly established existing brand. It is more unusual to see a company for 

whom the primary business is game development to have success in the 3

rd

 party publishing 

business. The problems start with brand competition. Developers will naturally tend to favor their own 

brand. Other brands that compete for a customer's time and attention tend to detract from their brand, 

and in many ways  compete  for the same people and dollars. Typically a publisher who has 1

st

 party 

and/or 2

nd

 party products will likely tend to push those over the 3

rd

 party products, and thus reduce the 

value the relationship offers to the 3

rd

 party product owner. Worse, 3

rd

 party deals usually stem from 

one or both parties wanting to hedge their bets a bit and avoid the more complete commitment to a 

2

nd

 party deal, resulting in terms leading to reduced economics for both sides. That a successful 3

rd

party business is by nature a volume business, since you can do these deals quickly and with little 

risk or commitment to individual products, bleeds even more economics from the licensor. The final 

nail is that moving into a 3

rd

 party publishing business puts the developer in flanking competition with 

the very partners they rely on for distribution. The result of these combined factors is that the 3

rd

 party 

business is particularly unstable and difficult to make work when pursued by companies that rely 

primarily on a 1

st

 party, in house development effort as their means of doing business.  

PopCap Publishes Nuclide's Rocket Mania 

Written by Sukhbir Sidhu of PopCap 

The game developer Nuclide contacted PopCap and wanted to work with us to create a game 

project  for  PopCap  to  publish.  We  were  already  familiar  with  Nuclide's  game, 

Penguin  Puzzle

, 

and  were  confident  that  they  could  produce  a  game  with  a  high  level  of  quality  that  would 

resonate  with  our  audience.  A  few  different  game  ideas  were  suggested  by  Nuclide,  and  we 

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