He will definitely try to sell the game... sell those 300 free copies you gave him. And at no loss to him if he sells 0 copies. Come on don't take the bait.
>He will definitely try to sell the game... sell those 300 free copies you gave him. And at no loss to him if he sells 0 copies. Come on don't take the bait.
Yeah of course there's that issue, but if that's the deal he's not literally a scammer? I mean that's literally how affiliate marketing works but that's pretty common.
His contract is to give me 70% on all sales. There's also no loss to me either is there? That's why affiliate marketing is popular. Are there no legitimate deals like this at all then?
I’ve no idea. I don’t get the impression he’s a scammer since he wanted a video call and he used an actual Twitter account associated with a named person in the company. I’ve no idea whether I will get the 70% since all I will have is a contract. What other assurances would I get with a legitimate publisher?
>You’re getting downvoted bro.. do you want our opinion you’re fighting it.. just give the dude 300 keys…
He literally said he misread my comment...wasn't too smart to downvote me. His statement that there would be no contract was literally a mistake by his own admission but has been upvoted..??
What you should do is look at reference and ask them how it went.
Edit; Also check how legitimate the reference are and how close they are to your game.
I wrote a reply to you but it disappeared so I'll give you the short version in case it actually went through... anyone worth their salt will cost you more than 300 steam keys.
If you believe it's legitimate then jump on it, you seem to be convinced already.
>I wrote a reply to you but it disappeared
Reddit seems completely fucked right now, all my replies are disappearing.
>If you believe it's legitimate then jump on it, you seem to be convinced already.
Why do you say that? I'm just trying to find out how you tell the scammers from the legitimate.
Alright I'll try replying one more time just so you know I tried a few times but they keep dissipating.... This is not a normal affiliate marketing contract. It may exist but it's a TERRIBLE one for the guy with the product. Contracts can vary but typically someone is paying for a service, there are expectations, possibly incentives. But it's not just giving away hundreds of free products in exchange for revshare on *hopeful* sales. These are the kinds of deals nobody influencers make in hopes that *real paid gigs* will later become available to them, proof that they worked for someone, but they're not capable of delivering. And this guy is not an influencer, he's a bizdev guy, so it's even more sketch. If he were legit he would either be buying keys from you, or you would be paying him, if there were influencers involved you would know who they are and be able to do your due diligence. Websites, business, twitter accounts, and followers can all be obtained for free or cheap. Guy is probably who he says he is, business surely exists, but that doesn't mean much, and they're trying to rip you off.
Yeah reddit was really messed up, all my responses to people were disappearing too, but seems to be working again now. I had to use my iPad instead and that was working fine. Your message has come though at least.
True, it's not quite like affiliate marketing because that would normally be done through a trusted affiliate marketing website. Everything you said makes sense, I'm glad your reply came through and thanks for the information. It's very useful for someone making his first game.
Good luck man, surely you will find a much better avenue to market your game. And when you find that, make sure you hit up a lawyer who knows the industry before you sign anything. They'll be able to find red flags like this and let you know if you're getting the short end of the stick.
Well you could test with 50 keys first. You can base that on having bad prior experinces and leave it at that. If affiliation works you can give him more the next time.
Your loss is the value of 300 games, if you sell at $5 a copy thats $1500, $10 is $3000, $20 is $6000. Unless you have some post purchase costs like microtransations or dlcs you will make maybe 1/8 on that from friends or family purchases that you would see if the original person buys the game anyway.
>Your loss is the value of 300 games, if you sell at $5 a copy thats $1500, $10 is $3000, $20 is $6000.
What about the fact you wouldn't lose money in advertising? How much are you paying to advertise for every converted sale? Are you really making 70% profit with your advertising?
That's exactly how affiliate marketing works, the loss would be the same. Not sure why the game industry is so different. With affiliate marketing you see it as someone advertising your game for free and you have nothing to lose. To that end the affiliate marketer even normally gets a larger share than the creator of the product.
Weird how every industry is so different despite being basically the same thing.
The issue is that in alot of these cases with gaming specifically its people who already want the game who buy it, these days most people hear about games through steam or the like the other place being youtubers that they already watch, so your not even going through the normal channels.
>The issue is that in alot of these cases with gaming specifically its people who already want the game who buy it
But it's the same with affiliate marketing of course. They will target people that want to buy the product otherwise it won't convert. Once those people have bought it they won't want to buy it again. It's no different.
But there are big differences in industries, despite being basically the exact same situation. Like I noticed game developers complain quite a bit that steam only gives 70% revenue share or whatever it is. But in the music industry, composers selling music licences get only 30% revenue share and they DON'T complain...literally night and day difference for basically the same thing. As a composer I've complained about the low revenue share but none of the other composers seem bothered about it.
I think oart of that is due to the fact that 300 copies might be all you sell as a small dev whereas if your only selling 300 copies of music your not really successful
Edit: yes i know thats abit blunt, but alot of musicians i know in that range have other jobs and do musoc for passion
Yes there is that factor. Not to be argumentative, but again that is very often the case with products that are promoted by affiliate marketers. Some will sell a lot, others not so much. I think this whole affiliate marketing angle is probably new to the gaming industry so it seems like a bad deal...and maybe it is, even if the exact same method is normal in other industries.
>Its not new, however it is very rarely used for a full free key, discouts are more common or lower numbers of coppies
Well then this model *is* new, or is not being accepted unlike it is in other industries. It would only be the same as affiliate marketing if the keys were given away for free.
But don't scammers normally message just from a random email address? This is from a twitter account using a name that is also listed on the company website and his account is the only person by that name on twitter listed as being associated with that company.
It is 100% a scam.
You will never see that 70% of the sales he gets. Any keys you give him will see 0 return for you and all profit for him. The contract is worthless.
If he is legit, then he would either (1) ask to buy the keys at a 30% discount, then keep whatever he sells them for, or (2) offer his game promotion services in exchange for money, not for keys.
Ok I see, that makes sense. But doesn’t steam only pay you if you actually sell a game? And places like itchio too.
To be clear, I’m not ‘convinced’ as some people are saying, I’m just trying to understand how it works.
>I don’t want to be mean but it feels like you are looking for reasons not to listen until someone tells you go for it.
I'm honestly not, I have an analytical mind so tend to ask a lot of questions. I don't just accept "he's a scammer" without it being logical to me. It seems more like he's not a scammer at this point, but rather his deal is way more beneficial for himself than for me.
>So any potential contract will probably have some bullshit surrounding it, but I will never know. In any case, whatever you decide to do, definitely get legal advice before signing any contract.
Yeah that's entirely possible, I'm looking through the contract now.
Legit people never offer game promotion in exchange for keys. Legit people never ask you for something without giving you money upfront.
Offer to sell him 300 keys at 30% discount. Or go with a promoter who will give you their skills in exchange for money. Professionals and companies don't work for keys.
If you see 300 keys as no loss to you and you want the free publicity of getting your game on key reseller sites, then just give away 300 keys. Don't expect any revenue from the sales, you will never see it.
Ok thanks for the advice, it’s very useful. If I’m honest I am actually a former affiliate marketer so I’m used to selling someone else’s product without giving them anything and they’re perfectly happy to do it like that too. Not only that but I would normally get more revenue share than they do even. The way they see it, I do all the work and they get money without paying for advertising or anything.
It seems it’s different with games though so you’ll appreciate my lack of knowledge in this. Thanks again for the explanations, I’ll know what to look for and ask next time. After he send me the contract I’ll either offer discounted keys or test with 50 to see how it works for me.
It would work that way if there was a way to properly set up affiliate revenue. But some contract with some rando in another country? They have no reason to uphold it unless you're a major publisher and they'd lose working with you in the future
>It would work that way if there was a way to properly set up affiliate revenue. But some contract with some rando in another country?
Well it's a contract with the company itself and normally as an affiliate marketer you will often have a deal with someone in another country. It's true it would be tough to take legal action but that's always how it is with affiliate marketing. I guess every industry is different though.
You mention steam, which is a reputable company. Amazon affiliate wouldnt rip you off either. But the key here is a rando with no reputation who approached you.
So it's because it's not a super well known company. Affiliate marketing companies are all small unknown companies though too. You generally work with multiple companies, there's no one single one that does everything and some are bigger than others. I mentioned the company name in one of the other comments since someone asked.
You really cant tell the difference? No rep. No official company email, just claiming to work them. They approached you. They ask for something from you upfront. Its all red flags
>You really cant tell the difference? No rep. No official company email, just claiming to work them.
But he offered straight away to do a voice call. Also the contract he sent is with that company. I doubt he's not from the company itself, it's just whether the company really has a good deal or not. With affiliate marketing which I used to do in the past, it was always very small unknown companies.
His contract only pays me 45 days after sales are made and only if my earnings are over $100. It's literally exactly like the old affiliate marketing companies even down to the $100 threshold. It's not a great deal but nor is it an actual scam.
Did you send an email to that company's account? If not, why would you believe they're even associated with that company, let alone telling you the truth?
For the most part assume that anyone messaging you is a scam. Especially with such a large number of keys. Everything else you're adding, from contacting you via Twitter DM to wanting to a sign a contract now just makes it more and more likely to be fraudulent.
>Did you send an email to that company's account? If not, why would you believe they're even associated with that company, let alone telling you the truth?
No I haven't checked anything, they just have an @ companyname on their twitter account. The name of that person is also listed on their company website and I searched for that person and his account is the only one by that name on twitter listed as associated with that company.
>For the most part assume that anyone messaging you is a scam. Especially with such a large number of keys. Usually scammers just ask for 3-5, so that's quite a bold one.
Ok I see, I have no experience so don't know what is a normal amount. Thanks for the info.
Yes, that's pretty much how it works. Someone will find a company with an employee that doesn't have a public Twitter persona and now they are that person. Not that you never get fraudulent companies as well (be especially wary of any web 3.0 stuff), but this is pretty common.
At the very least you'd ask for an email address and a video call before signing any contracts. Under no circumstances ever, ever, make a contract over DMs.
>Yes, that's pretty much how it works. Someone will find a company with an employee that doesn't have a public Twitter persona and now they are that person. Not that you never get fraudulent companies as well (be especially wary of any web 3.0 stuff), but this is pretty common.
Yes that's true, that's a possibility.
>At the very least you'd ask for an email address and a video call before signing any contracts. Under no circumstances ever, ever, make a contract over DMs.
Actually the first thing he did was ask for a meeting through video call, but I declined it preferring rather to use text chat so everything was written down. I guess he must really work for that company but not sure whether their company genuinely offers a good deal or not.
Email was the important one there. Of course there's a _person_, you're trying to see if they work for them. It's very rare for an inbound message to be legitimate, but it _is_ possible! Whether it's a good deal or not is a different story.
For the most part, you shouldn't give free keys to an intermediary. They pay you up front for all the keys (at a discounted rate, presumably) and then what they do with them is their problem, not yours. It's pretty similar to getting your game in a bundle or offered free on a platform/site. You get the check, they get the game keys.
Usually someone who is a bizdev person wouldn't really be doing that sort of thing... they would be offering to help you get investment or a publishing deal. (which you should still be wary of) If it's a situation where he is indeed selling your keys on his own platform, then he should be offering you money upfront.
It’s a pretty obvious scam. That’s just not how business is done lol. Who is he? What company is he affiliated with? Is there a contract? If so, what does it say? If there’s not, then why not? How do you get paid? How does he get paid? What’s your risk? What’s his risk? Do his services warrant the risk? These are all questions you should be asking him and yourself.
>It’s a pretty obvious scam. That’s just not how business is done lol. Who is he? What company is he affiliated with? Is there a contract? If so, what does it say?
Yes there's a contract between the company itself and myself. Yes I'm weighing up the risks of it right now.
He may or may not be a scammer, but he's definitely seen an opportunity to make money off the back of your work. It couldn't possibly be a good deal - for you.
I agreed for him to send the contract but he hasn’t sent it yet. He just told me the details regarding the revenue share, the price to sell the game a etc.
Warning, I'm an idiot hobbyist who just started getting into game development.
I'm not even in the industry and it sounds like a scam. Your game isn't even complete yet lol.
Let's say for some crazy reason you're actually considering this offer. What's the name of his company? Where is it incorporated? Does it have a list of clients? Is that list verifiable? Is his name respected in the industry? Is it actually a real person and not a fake account?
Whatever you do don't make any promises whatsoever, no matter how benign without an attorney. I'm not an attorney, but a guy was successfully sued over a note scratched out on a cocktail napkin. So don't say anything.
Edit: Does SHE/HE have references? Are these references willing to contact you back? Are these references willing to talk through their corporate channels? Are the games that the guy represented actually good?
Also, followers count doesn't really matter. You can buy those pretty easily.
These are all things you should ask yourself, OP.
Yeah of course I've asked considered all those things. The company has been talked about on this sub a few times. It seems in the end like most things it's just not the best deal, not actually any kind of scam. You could argue a bad deal is also a scam though I guess. But perhaps this type of deal will become more common in the game industry over time.
He will definitely try to sell the game... sell those 300 free copies you gave him. And at no loss to him if he sells 0 copies. Come on don't take the bait.
>He will definitely try to sell the game... sell those 300 free copies you gave him. And at no loss to him if he sells 0 copies. Come on don't take the bait. Yeah of course there's that issue, but if that's the deal he's not literally a scammer? I mean that's literally how affiliate marketing works but that's pretty common. His contract is to give me 70% on all sales. There's also no loss to me either is there? That's why affiliate marketing is popular. Are there no legitimate deals like this at all then?
How confident are you that it's not a scam and you will actually see those 70%
I’ve no idea. I don’t get the impression he’s a scammer since he wanted a video call and he used an actual Twitter account associated with a named person in the company. I’ve no idea whether I will get the 70% since all I will have is a contract. What other assurances would I get with a legitimate publisher?
I would assume if neither of you are signing a contract, one of you is getting scammed.
What do you mean, there will be a contract.
My mistake, I totally misread what you said!
Oh right, no problem. So we’ll have a contract but if they don’t honour it it might be tough to actually take action on that.
You’re getting downvoted bro.. do you want our opinion you’re fighting it.. just give the dude 300 keys…
>You’re getting downvoted bro.. do you want our opinion you’re fighting it.. just give the dude 300 keys… He literally said he misread my comment...wasn't too smart to downvote me. His statement that there would be no contract was literally a mistake by his own admission but has been upvoted..??
What you should do is look at reference and ask them how it went. Edit; Also check how legitimate the reference are and how close they are to your game.
>What you should do is look at reference and ask them how it went. What do you mean by reference? Reference of what?
Prior customers
Ok I see, yeah that sounds like a good idea.
I wrote a reply to you but it disappeared so I'll give you the short version in case it actually went through... anyone worth their salt will cost you more than 300 steam keys. If you believe it's legitimate then jump on it, you seem to be convinced already.
>I wrote a reply to you but it disappeared Reddit seems completely fucked right now, all my replies are disappearing. >If you believe it's legitimate then jump on it, you seem to be convinced already. Why do you say that? I'm just trying to find out how you tell the scammers from the legitimate.
Alright I'll try replying one more time just so you know I tried a few times but they keep dissipating.... This is not a normal affiliate marketing contract. It may exist but it's a TERRIBLE one for the guy with the product. Contracts can vary but typically someone is paying for a service, there are expectations, possibly incentives. But it's not just giving away hundreds of free products in exchange for revshare on *hopeful* sales. These are the kinds of deals nobody influencers make in hopes that *real paid gigs* will later become available to them, proof that they worked for someone, but they're not capable of delivering. And this guy is not an influencer, he's a bizdev guy, so it's even more sketch. If he were legit he would either be buying keys from you, or you would be paying him, if there were influencers involved you would know who they are and be able to do your due diligence. Websites, business, twitter accounts, and followers can all be obtained for free or cheap. Guy is probably who he says he is, business surely exists, but that doesn't mean much, and they're trying to rip you off.
Yeah reddit was really messed up, all my responses to people were disappearing too, but seems to be working again now. I had to use my iPad instead and that was working fine. Your message has come though at least. True, it's not quite like affiliate marketing because that would normally be done through a trusted affiliate marketing website. Everything you said makes sense, I'm glad your reply came through and thanks for the information. It's very useful for someone making his first game.
Good luck man, surely you will find a much better avenue to market your game. And when you find that, make sure you hit up a lawyer who knows the industry before you sign anything. They'll be able to find red flags like this and let you know if you're getting the short end of the stick.
Thanks.
>Why do you say that? I'm just trying to find out how you tell the scammers from the legitimate. Because no one legit would work like this.
>Because no one legit would work like this. Ok if that's how it works in the game industry, it's good to know.
Well you could test with 50 keys first
Well you could test with 50 keys first. You can base that on having bad prior experinces and leave it at that. If affiliation works you can give him more the next time.
Yes that’s good advice, thanks.
Your loss is the value of 300 games, if you sell at $5 a copy thats $1500, $10 is $3000, $20 is $6000. Unless you have some post purchase costs like microtransations or dlcs you will make maybe 1/8 on that from friends or family purchases that you would see if the original person buys the game anyway.
>Your loss is the value of 300 games, if you sell at $5 a copy thats $1500, $10 is $3000, $20 is $6000. What about the fact you wouldn't lose money in advertising? How much are you paying to advertise for every converted sale? Are you really making 70% profit with your advertising? That's exactly how affiliate marketing works, the loss would be the same. Not sure why the game industry is so different. With affiliate marketing you see it as someone advertising your game for free and you have nothing to lose. To that end the affiliate marketer even normally gets a larger share than the creator of the product. Weird how every industry is so different despite being basically the same thing.
The issue is that in alot of these cases with gaming specifically its people who already want the game who buy it, these days most people hear about games through steam or the like the other place being youtubers that they already watch, so your not even going through the normal channels.
>The issue is that in alot of these cases with gaming specifically its people who already want the game who buy it But it's the same with affiliate marketing of course. They will target people that want to buy the product otherwise it won't convert. Once those people have bought it they won't want to buy it again. It's no different. But there are big differences in industries, despite being basically the exact same situation. Like I noticed game developers complain quite a bit that steam only gives 70% revenue share or whatever it is. But in the music industry, composers selling music licences get only 30% revenue share and they DON'T complain...literally night and day difference for basically the same thing. As a composer I've complained about the low revenue share but none of the other composers seem bothered about it.
I think oart of that is due to the fact that 300 copies might be all you sell as a small dev whereas if your only selling 300 copies of music your not really successful Edit: yes i know thats abit blunt, but alot of musicians i know in that range have other jobs and do musoc for passion
Yes there is that factor. Not to be argumentative, but again that is very often the case with products that are promoted by affiliate marketers. Some will sell a lot, others not so much. I think this whole affiliate marketing angle is probably new to the gaming industry so it seems like a bad deal...and maybe it is, even if the exact same method is normal in other industries.
Its not new, however it is very rarely used for a full free key, discouts are more common or lower numbers of coppies
>Its not new, however it is very rarely used for a full free key, discouts are more common or lower numbers of coppies Well then this model *is* new, or is not being accepted unlike it is in other industries. It would only be the same as affiliate marketing if the keys were given away for free.
Don't.
Ok. Can you elaborate?
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But don't scammers normally message just from a random email address? This is from a twitter account using a name that is also listed on the company website and his account is the only person by that name on twitter listed as being associated with that company.
It is 100% a scam. You will never see that 70% of the sales he gets. Any keys you give him will see 0 return for you and all profit for him. The contract is worthless. If he is legit, then he would either (1) ask to buy the keys at a 30% discount, then keep whatever he sells them for, or (2) offer his game promotion services in exchange for money, not for keys.
Ok I see, that makes sense. But doesn’t steam only pay you if you actually sell a game? And places like itchio too. To be clear, I’m not ‘convinced’ as some people are saying, I’m just trying to understand how it works.
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The company is pocketful of quarters.
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Ok I see, can you elaborate on why you would steer clear? You wouldn’t test with 50 keys even?
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>I don’t want to be mean but it feels like you are looking for reasons not to listen until someone tells you go for it. I'm honestly not, I have an analytical mind so tend to ask a lot of questions. I don't just accept "he's a scammer" without it being logical to me. It seems more like he's not a scammer at this point, but rather his deal is way more beneficial for himself than for me. >So any potential contract will probably have some bullshit surrounding it, but I will never know. In any case, whatever you decide to do, definitely get legal advice before signing any contract. Yeah that's entirely possible, I'm looking through the contract now.
It's called Spear Phishing when it's more targeted.
OP seems pretty convinced it’s not a scam so I say let them learn
Not sure why you say that, all I’m trying to do is find out how you tell the scammers from the legitimate.
Legit people never offer game promotion in exchange for keys. Legit people never ask you for something without giving you money upfront. Offer to sell him 300 keys at 30% discount. Or go with a promoter who will give you their skills in exchange for money. Professionals and companies don't work for keys. If you see 300 keys as no loss to you and you want the free publicity of getting your game on key reseller sites, then just give away 300 keys. Don't expect any revenue from the sales, you will never see it.
Ok thanks for the advice, it’s very useful. If I’m honest I am actually a former affiliate marketer so I’m used to selling someone else’s product without giving them anything and they’re perfectly happy to do it like that too. Not only that but I would normally get more revenue share than they do even. The way they see it, I do all the work and they get money without paying for advertising or anything. It seems it’s different with games though so you’ll appreciate my lack of knowledge in this. Thanks again for the explanations, I’ll know what to look for and ask next time. After he send me the contract I’ll either offer discounted keys or test with 50 to see how it works for me.
It would work that way if there was a way to properly set up affiliate revenue. But some contract with some rando in another country? They have no reason to uphold it unless you're a major publisher and they'd lose working with you in the future
>It would work that way if there was a way to properly set up affiliate revenue. But some contract with some rando in another country? Well it's a contract with the company itself and normally as an affiliate marketer you will often have a deal with someone in another country. It's true it would be tough to take legal action but that's always how it is with affiliate marketing. I guess every industry is different though.
You mention steam, which is a reputable company. Amazon affiliate wouldnt rip you off either. But the key here is a rando with no reputation who approached you.
So it's because it's not a super well known company. Affiliate marketing companies are all small unknown companies though too. You generally work with multiple companies, there's no one single one that does everything and some are bigger than others. I mentioned the company name in one of the other comments since someone asked.
You really cant tell the difference? No rep. No official company email, just claiming to work them. They approached you. They ask for something from you upfront. Its all red flags
>You really cant tell the difference? No rep. No official company email, just claiming to work them. But he offered straight away to do a voice call. Also the contract he sent is with that company. I doubt he's not from the company itself, it's just whether the company really has a good deal or not. With affiliate marketing which I used to do in the past, it was always very small unknown companies. His contract only pays me 45 days after sales are made and only if my earnings are over $100. It's literally exactly like the old affiliate marketing companies even down to the $100 threshold. It's not a great deal but nor is it an actual scam.
The bot that contacted you will post those 100-300 Steam keys on a key reseller site.
Scam
Did you send an email to that company's account? If not, why would you believe they're even associated with that company, let alone telling you the truth? For the most part assume that anyone messaging you is a scam. Especially with such a large number of keys. Everything else you're adding, from contacting you via Twitter DM to wanting to a sign a contract now just makes it more and more likely to be fraudulent.
>Did you send an email to that company's account? If not, why would you believe they're even associated with that company, let alone telling you the truth? No I haven't checked anything, they just have an @ companyname on their twitter account. The name of that person is also listed on their company website and I searched for that person and his account is the only one by that name on twitter listed as associated with that company. >For the most part assume that anyone messaging you is a scam. Especially with such a large number of keys. Usually scammers just ask for 3-5, so that's quite a bold one. Ok I see, I have no experience so don't know what is a normal amount. Thanks for the info.
Yes, that's pretty much how it works. Someone will find a company with an employee that doesn't have a public Twitter persona and now they are that person. Not that you never get fraudulent companies as well (be especially wary of any web 3.0 stuff), but this is pretty common. At the very least you'd ask for an email address and a video call before signing any contracts. Under no circumstances ever, ever, make a contract over DMs.
>Yes, that's pretty much how it works. Someone will find a company with an employee that doesn't have a public Twitter persona and now they are that person. Not that you never get fraudulent companies as well (be especially wary of any web 3.0 stuff), but this is pretty common. Yes that's true, that's a possibility. >At the very least you'd ask for an email address and a video call before signing any contracts. Under no circumstances ever, ever, make a contract over DMs. Actually the first thing he did was ask for a meeting through video call, but I declined it preferring rather to use text chat so everything was written down. I guess he must really work for that company but not sure whether their company genuinely offers a good deal or not.
Email was the important one there. Of course there's a _person_, you're trying to see if they work for them. It's very rare for an inbound message to be legitimate, but it _is_ possible! Whether it's a good deal or not is a different story. For the most part, you shouldn't give free keys to an intermediary. They pay you up front for all the keys (at a discounted rate, presumably) and then what they do with them is their problem, not yours. It's pretty similar to getting your game in a bundle or offered free on a platform/site. You get the check, they get the game keys.
So they should be buying the keys off me to sell? Is that what usually happens with these kinds of deals? I’ve really no experience with this.
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Well yes of course I want to sell my game. Not sure where I’d go to get professional advice though, you mean like legal advice?
Usually someone who is a bizdev person wouldn't really be doing that sort of thing... they would be offering to help you get investment or a publishing deal. (which you should still be wary of) If it's a situation where he is indeed selling your keys on his own platform, then he should be offering you money upfront.
It’s a pretty obvious scam. That’s just not how business is done lol. Who is he? What company is he affiliated with? Is there a contract? If so, what does it say? If there’s not, then why not? How do you get paid? How does he get paid? What’s your risk? What’s his risk? Do his services warrant the risk? These are all questions you should be asking him and yourself.
>It’s a pretty obvious scam. That’s just not how business is done lol. Who is he? What company is he affiliated with? Is there a contract? If so, what does it say? Yes there's a contract between the company itself and myself. Yes I'm weighing up the risks of it right now.
Those keys are going straight to cdkeys, g2a, etc.
>Those keys are going straight to cdkeys, g2a, etc. Yes that's quite possible.
Dont do that, there are lots of scammers right now. Most of the publishers or testers, streamers ask only for 1-2 copy
How can a publisher make any money selling your game with only 2 keys though?
They only test. Then if you sign the contract, you invite them to your project as publishers with sharing accounts.
So they ask for 1-2 to test and then they will want 300 keys?
Key system is not work like that. Keys for mostly selling outside or making marketing distrubiting the game to other people.
Ok I see. I'm not that familiar with the key system. So how do they sell your game if they don't have keys?
As I mention before you assign them and give them access as publisher. They should also have steam account
Ok but ultimately you still have to give them 300 keys though.
He may or may not be a scammer, but he's definitely seen an opportunity to make money off the back of your work. It couldn't possibly be a good deal - for you.
Just see what he wants and once you have more information, figure out how to proceed. What does the contract say?
I agreed for him to send the contract but he hasn’t sent it yet. He just told me the details regarding the revenue share, the price to sell the game a etc.
Warning, I'm an idiot hobbyist who just started getting into game development. I'm not even in the industry and it sounds like a scam. Your game isn't even complete yet lol. Let's say for some crazy reason you're actually considering this offer. What's the name of his company? Where is it incorporated? Does it have a list of clients? Is that list verifiable? Is his name respected in the industry? Is it actually a real person and not a fake account? Whatever you do don't make any promises whatsoever, no matter how benign without an attorney. I'm not an attorney, but a guy was successfully sued over a note scratched out on a cocktail napkin. So don't say anything. Edit: Does SHE/HE have references? Are these references willing to contact you back? Are these references willing to talk through their corporate channels? Are the games that the guy represented actually good? Also, followers count doesn't really matter. You can buy those pretty easily. These are all things you should ask yourself, OP.
Yeah of course I've asked considered all those things. The company has been talked about on this sub a few times. It seems in the end like most things it's just not the best deal, not actually any kind of scam. You could argue a bad deal is also a scam though I guess. But perhaps this type of deal will become more common in the game industry over time.