Behemoth co-founder criticizes publishers interfering with ‘creative process’

A report by Games Industry had Dan Paladin, The Behemoth‘s co-founder, calling on all publishers to give developers leeway in the development process and let them do their thing. “I would like to see the traditional publishing deal change. I would like to see publishers act more as distributors,” he said.

Paladin spoke out at last month’s Nordic Game Conference, stating that developers will probably all tell you the same thing over and over again – their publisher has removed an idea they wanted in the game or that a feature was changed in favor of the publisher because they had the money and owned the intellectual property.

“I do think you publishers have too much power over developers, for the most part. All publishers are different, but on the whole,” said Paladin in an interview with Games Industry, ending abruptly. Independent game developer studio The Behemoth funded and distributed their own title Alien Hominid over various platforms all by themselves.

“That’s why we risk everything up front, so we can take it in and it’s all there; we trust our own judgement,” added Paladin. Developers are often forced to adopt the ideas of their publishers, according to him, and causes the games that used to be really good early on become a disaster when released later.

“The problem is the people who aren’t making the game are calling the shots on how the games should be made,” explained Paladin, calling such a way of development as “armchair developing.” He claimed publishers just sit on their chairs and think of an idea, and say, “Wouldn’t this be cool?”

It would be really cool if the ideas really worked for the game, but more often than not, they don’t turn out the way everyone plans. “Publishers aren’t developers, so I think they should stay out of the creative process,” he concluded.

A report by Games Industry had Dan Paladin, The Behemoth‘s co-founder, calling on all publishers to give developers leeway in the development process and let them do their thing. “I would like to see the traditional publishing deal change. I would like to see publishers act more as distributors,” he said.

Paladin spoke out at last month’s Nordic Game Conference, stating that developers will probably all tell you the same thing over and over again – their publisher has removed an idea they wanted in the game or that a feature was changed in favor of the publisher because they had the money and owned the intellectual property.

“I do think you publishers have too much power over developers, for the most part. All publishers are different, but on the whole,” said Paladin in an interview with Games Industry, ending abruptly. Independent game developer studio The Behemoth funded and distributed their own title Alien Hominid over various platforms all by themselves.

“That’s why we risk everything up front, so we can take it in and it’s all there; we trust our own judgement,” added Paladin. Developers are often forced to adopt the ideas of their publishers, according to him, and causes the games that used to be really good early on become a disaster when released later.

“The problem is the people who aren’t making the game are calling the shots on how the games should be made,” explained Paladin, calling such a way of development as “armchair developing.” He claimed publishers just sit on their chairs and think of an idea, and say, “Wouldn’t this be cool?”

It would be really cool if the ideas really worked for the game, but more often than not, they don’t turn out the way everyone plans. “Publishers aren’t developers, so I think they should stay out of the creative process,” he concluded.