Welcome to Wrestling Gamers United Newsletter #312
1) Slow Burn 2) Link of the Week 3) Question of the Week
1) Slow Burn ********************************
What to do, what to do.
So far not one distributor has passed the Write Me a Cheque test. Everybody wants to distribute Uprising but it's a constant barrage of phone calls from them all saying the same thing, "Just give us another day or two to finalize this." Um...yeah but we need to move on here and get to work on what happens after Uprising. It's just sitting here waiting to go out. So why don't we just distribute Uprising ourselves via our website? That would be a GREAT idea except for one thing. Part of our deal with Telefilm Canada is that we have a signed distribution contract in place before they give us the rest of our money and we need that money. Frankly, we might go back to Telefilm for more funding in the future and as much as I'd like to just put Uprising out there I don't really want to break and agreement with one of our primary sources of financing. I really should have thought of self distribution when I negotiated the contract with Telefilm at the beginning and then none of this would have been an issue. We'd have all our money and Uprising would be out there. Whoops. Lesson learned. Think ahead, bonehead.
But hey, focus on what you have, not what you don't have, right?
That little bit of wisdom was bestowed on me by a vistor to the studio a few days ago. You know how I'm mentioning from time to time that we have a fan who also happened to have run one of the biggest game companies in the country and he dropped by again and spent the day with me on Wednesday to offer some guidance. He's helping us with one of the deals we're putting together for future games and he alwaysd knows how to cheer me up while at the same time humbling the living hell out of me (and not in an Iron Sheik way). I was feeling good about the future telling him about the deals I had put together since the last time he visited. One deal in particular involving a wrestler I'm very stoked about. So he asks, "How much money is he giving you?"
"Um...none. We pay him."
"Wow! That's great Dave you have people lined up with their hands out to get paid my you! I could put a million of those 'deals' together!"
He meant it in a light hearted way but he made a good point. Maybe having people ready to take my money isn't exactly the pinnacle of success. He told me that if the guy in question thought this was such a great opportunity he should be more than happy to invest in the company himself. Hard logic to argue with.
I actually had two visitors that day. The other guy was also a former CEO. I can't tell you how surreal it was to hear them tease each other about the games they worked on.
"I got my royalty cheque for pre Christmas sales. I don't know how I'm ever going to top that. It sold 1.8 million units and it's still going strong."
How friggin' blessed are we to have access to people with this kind of experience to help guide us through the sharks? Focus on what I have? Jesus, it blows my mind to think of the opportunities and people we have at the moment. I talked to another publisher this morning who also told me the Fire Pro Returns sales have screwed us royally and it will take a miracle to get any kind of huge publishing deal for a non-WWE wrestling game in the current market climate.
Thank god the advisors and supporters we have are all starting to push heavy for a free-to-play Uprising. That would be the best way to make the strongest noise. I see that now.
But someone still needs to write me a damn cheque.
2) Link of the Week ********************
I finally dug out an old gaming mag from 2001 that featured a preview of Legends of Wrestling. Worth a good laugh to check out. I love how they managed to squeeze Kane's head and put it on Bret Hart. Also check out the references to match type we never saw including barbed wire and scaffold. Further proof that Legends of Wrestling was originally intended to be the next installment of the ECW game franchise before they lost the license. Also explains why Eddie and RVD were in a Legends game at the time.
Time to exercise your marketing muscle here. If shipping Uprising as a free game meant waiting until July or August to release do you think it would be a good idea or a bad idea?
We'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter here: