How to Propose an Idea as an Indie to a Big Company?

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4 comments, last by Hodgman 6 years, 10 months ago

Hello.

Let's say that we've got a good idea/design for a game, but we can't develop it on our own due to our beginner knowledge and skills, so instead we want to propose/sell/give the idea to one of the big publishing companies like Bandai, Ubisoft and Square Enix. Is it possible for beginners to propose ideas for big companies? and if so then how? please we need a detailed answer if possible. Thanx in advance.

*Note: we're NOT saying that we want to be employees in the company, what we mean it is more like working together with the company in the way that we give them the idea of the game and they develop it and then both sides benefit.

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I don't think that something like this is possible. One thing you have to consider is that the idea is actually the easiest part of creating a game. Also as you said you are lacking the experience to develop it yourself. This also means that you are unable to know wether your idea can actually be realized.

In addition to that most publishers don't want to hear about your idea at all. This is because it could happen that they already have a similar project. To avoid that you try and sue them over this they will simply not listen to your idea.

 

1 hour ago, Raigon said:

Is it possible for beginners to propose ideas for big companies?

No, it isn't.

Purely for legal liability reasons, game companies do not take solicitations from third parties on game ideas. It opens them up to cases were you propose a game they're not interested in right now, then some years later long after forgetting about you someone else proposes something vaguely similar and they start it up, and then you sue them for stealing your idea. Tossing your idea directly into the shredder without even glancing at the title is _by far_ the smartest thing for them to do.

Let's not also forget the company's employees' own creativity. Why would anyone want to sign up to work on _your_ idea instead of working on _their own_ idea? Same applies to a large company like Ubisoft; why would they work with an unproven and unknown outside party instead of greenlighting one of the countless game ideas their own employees are kicking around by the thousands?

That said, it is entirely possible to be approached by such a company if you make a prototype that's widely known and received. It was common some years back for companies to approach students in competitions like IGF or IGC to hire the team to remake the game as a commercial project. The most famous example of that is Valve's Portal ("inspired" from the student game Narbacular Drop). The important bit is that the students didn't approach Value, but rather Valve approached the students, after they already put a solid year+ of very hard work into a competition-grade student game and demonstrated first-hand that their ideas were actually original and clever, that the core concept actually worked as a game, and that the students could actually do meaningful work coding and designing the game.

Sean Middleditch – Game Systems Engineer – Join my team!

I wrote an article about how to pitch an indie game to a publisher. http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson21.htm

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

8 hours ago, Raigon said:

*Note: we're NOT saying that we want to be employees in the company, what we mean it is more like working together with the company in the way that we give them the idea of the game and they develop it and then both sides benefit.

In order for them to benefit, you've actually got to bring something of value to the table, such as experience/competency/talent/money that they don't already have. An idea by itself doesn't have any value at all, so is the same as coming to the table empty handed. That's a fact that might take a while to become evident...

If you want to give it to someone so they can make it, just go ahead and write about your ideas. If they're amazing, and people like them, maybe they'll end up inspiring something similar in a real product one day.

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