Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Indie Competition, or Indie … Sabotage?!?!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 3, 2011

One of the awesome things about being an indie today (as opposed to, say, six or seven years ago) is the number of game-making competitions out there.  Now I still consider the single biggest and best competition out there to be the marketplace, which has always been there (and is better than ever for small developers). But I do love the idea of game-making competitions, an idea was almost unheard of a few years ago. The IGF was the only one I knew of, and it was kind of a new, weird thing that got little respect (even from me, ’cause I was a dope back then. Well, more of a dope than I am now.)

Now we have lots of competitions – some for little more than bragging rights, some that are more of a “game jam” than a competition, and some that could lead to potentially lucrative publishing deals. All of these can be pretty cool. But then we’ve also got some that may or may not be in every indie’s best interest to enter, and I’m not just talking about the waste of an entry fee.

The case in point may be Activision’s indie contest, which we’ve discussed before. I don’t know if the admiral’s warning here is appropriate, but a law student examining the rules / contract for Activision’s Independent Developer’s Contest at Do It Yourself Games suggests this may be a concern…

When Winning is Losing: How Activision’s Indie Games Competition Tricks Devs

I’d say take this analysis with a grain of salt, but be aware of the potential for trouble.  And use this to get an idea of the focus of the competition. It’s very, very different from something like IndieCade or the IGF, which really focus on the indie scene and promoting the works of independent developers. The Activision contest, to me, seems to be more of an effort to foster a relationship with small developers with potential. It’s not a place to submit completed or near-completed games. It’s for a game that you might develop a design and prototype for specifically for this contest, perhaps with an eye towards becoming a guns-for-hire “microstudio” often working for Activision in the future. If that vision works for you, awesome! This contest may be perfect for you.

Just take a careful look at the restrictions of a contest before you enter. I don’t think paranoia will do you any good, but a healthy suspicion is often in order.


Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: Read the First Comment



  • Xenovore said,

    Quote: “The clauses in the Activision competition agreement combine to destroy a developer’s substantive claim to their own game.”

    Dunno if it’s paranoia or not, but it does appear to me that the wording of the agreement is deliberately intended to allow Activision to acquire (read: “steal”) any and all game concepts that are submitted to the competition.

    I’m not going near that with a 1000′ pole. (I already despise Activision’s current practices in the game industry, and this just adds more fuel to that fire…)

top