Farming vs. Hunting: Right Games for Publishers

You may have heard the terms Farming and Hunting before, commonly used in sales strategies. But how do they apply to game publishing? Let’s break it down:

🌱 Farming – The “Come to Us” Approach

This strategy relies on publishers building platforms or portals where developers can submit their games. Companies like Voodoo, Supersonic, and Kwalee have dedicated submission portals to capture inbound leads.

🔹 The goal? High quantity over quality.
🔹 The BD team reviews submissions daily, selecting games for testing.
🔹 Automated campaigns (or manual tests by the growth team) determine potential hits and quality.
🔹 The success rate? Roughly 1 in 300-500 hundred games make it through, genre depending.

🎯 Hunting – The “Go to Them” Approach

Here, the BD team proactively searches for top-tier games and studios. This is a quality-first approach:

🔹 BD teams use LinkedIn, emails, and industry tools to scout promising games.
🔹 They reach out directly and schedule an investigatory call.
🔹 The focus? Finding potential hits themselves rather than waiting for submissions.

The BD team in general gives higher priority and weighting to the studios they’ve found as part of their hunting strategy, so discovability like we spoke about yesterday is super important.

🔥 Want to Improve Your Chances? Here’s What You Can Do:

✅ Optimize Your Portal Submission:
Provide all relevant details, do not rush it. Do not risk rejection due to missing info! If you have previous test data, include it.

✅ Proactively Connect with BD Teams:
Find the right BD or sourcing contact on LinkedIn if no email is provided. Send a brief, friendly message introducing your studio/game and share your contact info. Building rapport is key!

✅ Personalize Your Approach:
Don’t copy-paste generic pitches! Tailor your message depending on the publishers thesis, treat it like pitching to a VC. Show them why your game deserves attention (and investment)!

📢 Final Thought: Whether the publisher is leveraging farming or hunting strategies doesn’t matter, but knowing how they operate can make all the difference in getting your game noticed. Play smart, and maximize your chances!