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DayZ creator Dean Hall has questioned the relevance of publishers in today’s industry, referring to the success of Minecraft as proof that “you can end up with a cross-platform massive franchise without any publisher at all in the traditional sense”.
“We had a lot of publishers approach us with DayZ,” Hall told VideoGamer.com during last week’s Gamescom, “and I was like, ‘Okay, well what are you going to offer us? You offer us money. We don’t need it. You offer us distribution. We don’t need it. You offer us marketing. We don’t need it.’
“So I kind of think publishers are becoming a bit irrelevant. What can EA provide? Does Minecraft need a publisher? No. Do we need a publisher? No.”
Hall compared the evolution of the games industry to that of the music industry, saying:
“Look at what iTunes has done to a lot of producers, publishers and distributors. It’s cutting out the middle man. So I would ask EA, what value are they providing customers? I don’t know what value it is. I took business at uni, but I can’t really figure out what it is. They used to provide distribution, marketing and pushing products, but I feel like companies like Bohemia that are publisher-less… I think publishers need to find their place.”
He continued: “It’s an open question I guess, but what is a publisher’s role? I think they need to find that. I think Notch really solidly proved that you can not just make money but you can make buckets of it. And you can end up with a cross-platform massive franchise without any publisher at all in the traditional sense.”
Hall argues that social media has negated the need for big marketing budgets to raise awareness, saying that online chatter allows for a “cool idea” to reach a “mass-market instantly”.
“And there’s an enabler there with social media,” he continued, “which has suddenly allowed a breakout like Minecraft to reach millions of people very quickly. And DayZ, same thing. Cool idea, bam: reaches a mass-market instantly that transcends all the normal media processes.
“As some dude making some mod, you can’t just ring someone up at IGN or wherever and get an article published. Whereas with Twitter, one person just picks this up and goes, ‘Wow, this is cool’, and it gets retweeted and suddenly it’s all over the internet.”
He later added: “People support something because of the genesis of it. If the genesis of it is a good idea then I think people flock behind it, almost regardless of whether it’s a publisher or a person, if it’s got at its genesis a good heart behind it, I think it gets a voice. People see that.
“The initial big promoter of DayZ was 4chan, without a doubt, and a couple of other forums like FacePunch and NeoGAF. But 4chan really got behind it.
“4chan really did a massive service there.”
The upcoming standalone release of DayZ will implement Notch’s Minecraft model to deliver “fast iteration, [a] low-entry price-point, high community involvement, and small collaborative development”. It’s due for release on digital platforms later this year.
Hall told VideoGamer.com that he had explored the possibility of making the standalone game free-to-play.
