Want to see a real game developer contract? |
Ó
Gamasutra posted an article days ago (January 12), and we're telling you that if you haven't looked at it yet, you should. This is one of the rare opportunities to read a real game development contract. This one is between developer "Spark Entertainment" (Spark Unlimited) and Activision Publishing for Call of Duty: Finest Hour (PS2, Xbox, GameCube).The contract is an interesting look at the innards of the game industry... Advance Payments (10.1) and Royalties (11.1): We're talking sums as big as "Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars" in royalties and an advance payment of "Six Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars". If you're still wondering why you have to pay so much when you buy games, there's part of the answer: developers and publishers throw around big money to get the game to market.
Speaking of market... Marketing (13.1): Activision agreed to throw in "Two Million United States Dollars" for marketing of the game. Wouldn't you like to take a peek at the marketing budget of games with big ad campaigns like Gears of War, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess?
There are also interesting clauses about timing and deadlines. That makes us wonder what kind of messy clauses (and stapled-on appendices) happen with games that keep getting delayed (like the much-anticipated but still-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for the PC).
As a rule, a contract can't be shown to the public because of a confidentiality agreement that's part of the contract (you can't even tell other people what's in the contract). But Spark sued Activision in August of 2005, so the contract became filed as a court exhibit. Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tricia Ann Bigelow recently unsealed the exhibits, and that means it's now public information.
By the way, Activision sued Spark (this is the gaming industry; it's an eye for an eye), and one of the points in Activision's counter-suit was that Spark breached the confidentiality agreement when Spark filed its lawsuit.
Gamasutra's article includes running commentary and plain-English explanations of the contract. The excellent opinions and thorough analysis come from three gaming attorneys: Tom Buscaglia of gameattorney.com and Chris Bennet and Dave Spratley of the Video Game Law Blog at www.davis.ca.
36 Jumps PSP homebrew - MHUSPEED v3
25 Jumps Sony helping fix Bayonetta for PS3?
22 Jumps PSP homebrew - MacroFire v3.0.12
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
Comments [refresh]
yummy
I have not seen one commercial here in the US for the LOZ. Where is this big AD Campaign for that game?
man in the real world 2 million dollars is nothing. You would be lucky to get even a days worth of advertising on any of the major networks. That probably went to physical advertising like magazines, posters, etc.