Fade is an action RPG billed as a mix of Dark Souls' combat and Fable's narrative direction, and after shopping it around to publishers while self-publishing in extended Steam Early Access (which included a bit of a hiatus), solo creator Knight by Night has doubled down on independent work because they can't find a publisher deal that works for them.
"After a few months of actually going through publisher emails and negotiations, I’ve decided I’m gonna stay solo," reads an impassioned post from the game's official Twitter (X) account. "Most want 60 - 75% of the revenue/ownership, additional monetization, license rights to sequels. Heart's with this project, I’d rather die first."
Publisher cuts can vary dramatically between games, studios, platforms, and even regions, but it's standard for them to get a sizable chunk of a game's revenue. Beyond the parties involved, it can also depend on when in development a deal is struck and what support a game needs. Terms for services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus can alter things, storefronts like the Epic Games Store may offer lump sums for timed or permanent exclusivity or giveaways, you also have discount and sale clauses, and so on. Completely solo devs also face unique obstacles regarding risk and resources, which is partly why many self-publish.
This estimation of 60 - 75% certainly appears to be on the higher end, but it's not unheard of. I've heard averages of 20 - 40% floated in so-called indie golden eras, but even that can be gross revenue. Starting at something like a 60/40 revenue split in the publisher's favor and then improving the developer's rate once the publisher's investment is recouped isn't uncommon. Publishers may also take all revenue until they make their money back.
This helpful report from PC Gamer, written in 2020 when Epic Games rolled out a publishing wing with a roughly 50/50 split, offers some useful (albeit now slightly dated) comparisons that help put Fade's comments into context. Obviously, the past three years haven't been entirely kind to the games industry, so it seems doubtful that deals have noticeably improved since 2020.
In replies to sympathetic readers, Fade's dev reasoned that, "I suppose with the way games have shifted over the past years, smaller publishers would rather fund multiplayer or highly monetizable games, not to mention get their stake in [what] could be popular IP." As it happens, 505 Games owner Digital Bros – which is notably not a small publisher – just announced 30% global layoffs and a new strategy that is pretty much exactly this: focusing on sequels and, more broadly, IP that are proven successes.
"Two factors I know: I’m a solo [dev] and I work with other artists and voice actors for other portions of the work," Fade's dev added elsewhere. "Since I don’t have a larger team, they hinted they were trying to mitigate risk. [Plus] some didn’t feel confident funding a game without in-game monetization or multiplayer."
"The ones that reached out tended to seem okay with my situation and loved the pitch deck/demo, but when it came down to the deal memo, the agreements got predatory," another comment reads. "One even said I wasn’t gonna get any revenue from the project for a year after release."
"I hope other devs have an easier time, but for now all I have are horror stories lol," they said.
Fade's dev is currently preparing for a Kickstarter, and the game's Early Access updates suggest it's still fairly far from completion, so I'm assuming the game's publisher pitch would've been seeking development funding as well as distribution and/or marketing support. But that is an assumption, and it's also unclear how the terms of the deals this dev was offered may have improved over time. Whatever the case, clearly they weren't having it.
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