Analyst Evan Wilson at Pacific Crest Securities says publishers would make more cash by treating developers as stars

Gaming’s ‘creative minds should be recognised and remunerated’

Feeling a little under-represented by your publisher? If so than their failure to make you the start of the show is costing them revenues according to one analyst.

Speaking to MTV’s Multiplayer blog, Evan Wilson, senior research analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, has said that publishers would see ‘financial successes coming from elevating talent, and making them a reason a consumer is interested in your project from the get-go’.

“There are very few people in this world who know how to create hits. Not create a hit, but create multiple hits,” said Wilson. “Those creative minds should be recognized and remunerated in the video game industry for their contribution as much as other forms of media. From a business perspective, that might be more expensive, but if the reward is better selling games the trade-off is worth it.”

Wilson added that publishers must stop seeing developers as another cog in their corporate machine – whereas in other fields they are the ultimate commodity.

"If George Lucas died today the probability of another Star Wars installment would go to 0 per cent. If Stallone died today, the probability of another Rambo installment would go to 0 per cent.

“In the video game industry developers usually do not have ultimate control over intellectual property,” he said. “[In most cases], publishers do…I think much of this has to do with the perception of video games as ‘technology’ and not ’stories.’”

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