Dylan Cuthbert: Game Funding Model Is "Fundamentally Broken"

In an interview with Develop, Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert discusses the "fundamentally broken" games funding model, saying it is geared towards "making publishers stinking rich."

Primarily working on the downloadable PSN PixelJunk series, Dylan Cuthbert doesn't have much occasion to deal with the problems associated with the traditional relationship between publisher and developer, but that doesn't mean he can't feel other developers' pain. During the Develop interview, Cuthbert was asked what area of the game industry needs more investment, to which he replied, "The games investment system needs investment!"

The model of games funding at the moment is fundamentally broken and biased towards making publishers stinking rich. Just look at the bonuses and wages of execs at EA for example, I could make the entire PixelJunk series, including series 2, two or three times over on the EA boss's income bonus.

I'm sure that's somewhat of an exaggeration. Last year EA CEO John Riccitiello only brought home $625,350 in bonuses, on top of his $750,000 salary, and $3.6 million in stock options. Perhaps he meant Activision's Bobby Kotick, who brought home $14.9 million, of which only $900,000 was his salary and the rest bonuses and stock options.

Still, it's obvious Cuthbert is not happy with the publisher/developer relationship, further espousing on his displeasure when asked what disappoints him most about the industry.

"...the top-down relationship most publishers have with their devs. Luckily we haven't been on the receiving end of that so far - touch-wood - but I see a lot of devs in a lot of pain primarily because of publisher-related problems."

FAQ: Dylan Cuthbert [Develop]