What it's actually like being a game publisher
With No More Robots founder Mike Rose.
A publisher's perspective: we haven't had one of those on the Eurogamer Podcast yet, not until today! And publishing is an area there are many misconceptions about. Are they goodies, are they baddies? We just don't know! And how does signing a game, and marshalling it out of the door, work?
My guest today started their own label five years ago in the hope of doing things differently, and things have gone very well. Today, No More Robots employs 13 people and is responsible for games like Hypnospace Outlaw, Descenders, Not Tonight, and Yes, Your Grace. Good games.
In fact, the recently-announced Dreamsettler, a spiritual successor to Hypnospace Outlaw, became the company's most Wishlisted game - an important metric for predicting how a game will ultimately do. Well, it used to be, anyway, but more on that in the chat.
My guest is Mike Rose, and once upon a time, it was just him at Gamescom 2017 taking a punt on a Dutch downhill biking game, which looked very different to the Descenders game it would become. But apparently he has a knack for spotting talent because Descemders would go on to become the company's most successful game - so successful, in fact, it has allowed the studio to now branch into making internal games. But it wasn't all success: Rose did once pass on the wonderful couch co-op game Overcooked because he didn't think co-op would take off again. Oh Mike!
Mike Rose is candid and funny, and shows publishing in a different light. Episode 14 of The New Eurogamer Podcast [since renamed One-to-one] is now available to all, from here or all major podcasting platforms (let me know if you can't find it anywhere).
You can find all other episodes of The New Eurogamer Podcast in our handy archive. And remember, premium supporters of the website get these episodes first, plus a smorgasbord of other treats.