What does it mean to be "Greenlit"? Exactly...

[XFunc_CaRteR]

I hear your game gets a distribution deal with Steam. What kind of distribution deal?

In the movie business, a distribution deal is actually a minimum guarantee to put a movie into a certain territory for a certain duration. With that they can low-ball an average income and then literally hand over to you a Purchase Order (better known as a "Minimum Guarantee") for X dollars.

You can then take that Deal and bring it to a bank and raise the money to complete the project.

That is literally what it means, in the classic connotation (from the movie business), to be "greenlit". It means, basically: "How much do you need to get the project done?"

This deal enables the project creator to go, raise proper funding, hire a crew, rent the equipment, and live like a human being for the duration of the hellish gruelling one or two or three years of work it's going to take to finish the thing. (Most game designers seem to think that prototyping a new project should be absolutely doable on cheap noodles or mac and cheese. Sorry. Not if you're a creative adult.)

Anyway, that's what I'm asking: Is that how definite it means, in Steam's case, to be "Greenlit". There is a bonafide, commitment to X dollars of release? What I mean is, is there the acceptance of shared risk? (And frankly, insurance can back Steam up in the case of a failed project: it's done all the time in movies - it's called a "completion bond").

I mean, if this is all for professionally real then I am all for it.

[Nacimota]

I'm not quite sure I get what you're asking but my understanding is essentially that if your game is greenlit, Valve will distribute it on Steam at a certain price and will keep a percentage of your Steam sales income to themselves.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

Yes, but as a money raiser, I would like to see a piece of that anticipated sales be guaranteed to at least some level. That's called a Purchase Order, traditionally. This way I can take this contract to a bank and raise the funds that are required to make the project.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

Less some fees for banking.

[Nacimota]

Messaggio originale di XFunc_CaRteR:

Yes, but as a money raiser, I would like to see a piece of that anticipated sales be guaranteed to at least some level. That's called a Purchase Order, traditionally. This way I can take this contract to a bank and raise the funds that are required to make the project.

Yeah I don't think Valve does that.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

Then what is the deal for?

[XFunc_CaRteR]

I mean if they agree to distribute, and there are some boundaries to the agreement, then one should be able to extrapolate how much the agreement is worth. Then you define that in dollars, and go to a bank, and get a loan.

This is nothing new, friends. This is the way that movies have been financed for decades now.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

I mean, if that's not the case, then really the "deal" is exactly that: in quotation marks. More like a "we'll distribute it if we want to, and since there is nothing bankable or committed to by us, you can't use this deal to actually raise money from a trusted lender".

[XFunc_CaRteR]

Which means it isn't a greenlight at all.

I mean, if that's the case. Because a greenlight, traditionally, carries a cheque with it.

[Nacimota]

I don't think the point of Greenlight is to raise money for projects under development (or that havent even started development). That sort of thing is more suited to Kickstarter, etc.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

But they say it's a distribution "deal".

If it's really a deal for distribution, it has some financial worth. It's bankable.

A deal must be bankable. Otherwise, what is it?