It was always Icon Games' long term aim to self-publish, and now with the many new online publishing opportunities and available platforms it is an ideal time. To be honest the old publisher funded business model is becoming more and more unsuitable; developing & pitching demos to publishers has become harder to sustain as publishers take longer and longer to make decisions, and expect to see ever more complete games. It's not unusual for a game to take 6 months or more to go through publisher submission and contract negotiation (during which the developer must find some way to pay their staff). These increasing delays have made it ever more challenging for professional developers to manage their businesses, to the point where it has now become easier to take on the challenge of self-publishing than to continue with the old business model. And let's not forget the ever present problem of publisher payment delays!
Obviously there are still great publishers out there and Icon Games' still have on-going relationships with some of them, but more and more they are in the minority and for this reason we now find ourselves bringing forward our plans to self-publish. Icon Games plans to release three games on WiiWare and PSP between now and the end of 2009 (five SKUs in all), plus further titles to be announced shortly.
The first five SKUs are:
- Arcade Darts - WiiWare due Q4 2009 and PSP due Q4 2009
- Arcade Sports - WiiWare due Q3 2009
- Stunt Cars - WiiWare due Q4 2009 and PSP due Q4 2009
Icon Games is an independent game development & digital publishing studio committed to creating games with a focus on compelling gameplay & fun!
To date Icon Games have developed and released over 20 games for a variety of platforms - includingWii, PS2, PSP and PC, working with various publishing partners - including Playlogic, Zoo Games, IN2Games, Ghostlight, Lego Media, THQ, TDK, Majesco, PlayIt, Midway, Midas Interactive, Mforma, Datel and Acclaim.