Game publishing deal terms, explained line by line

How a publishing deal works

In a typical indie or mid-size publishing deal, the publisher pays for some or all of development and marketing. In return it takes a share of the game's revenue and certain rights to sell it. The money the publisher spends is usually recoupable: it's paid back out of the game's revenue before the long-term split applies.

There's nothing wrong with that structure. Problems come from the details: what counts as revenue, what counts toward recoup, how long the deal lasts, and who owns what at the end. A good deal is one where both sides make money if the game does well, and the studio isn't trapped if it doesn't.

Net receipts: what's actually being split

Almost every split is calculated on net receipts, not on the sticker price. Net receipts should mean what the publisher actually receives from platforms after:

• the platform's fee (commonly around 30% on major storefronts, sometimes lower at higher revenue tiers);
• refunds and chargebacks;
• sales tax and VAT collected by the platform.

Watch for contracts that also subtract "distribution costs", "administrative fees" or a flat percentage for overheads before the split. Each of those is a quiet change to your share. A $20 game might return about $12.30 in net receipts per unit after the platform fee and taxes; an additional 10% "admin fee" takes another $1.23 off before anyone splits anything.

Recoupment: getting the money back

Recoupment is how the publisher gets back what it spent. Until the publisher has recouped, most or all net receipts go to the publisher. After recoup, the long-term split applies.

Three questions decide how fair recoup is:

1. What's recoupable? Development funding, almost always. Marketing, often. Publisher overheads, salaries and travel should not be. Ask for a list.
2. Does the studio earn during recoup? Some deals pay the studio nothing until recoup; better deals give the studio a smaller share from the first sale (10–20% is common). It keeps the lights on while the game earns out.
3. Is there a multiplier? Some publishers recoup 1.5× or 2× what they spent before the split flips. That can be fair for very risky projects but should be priced into a better long-term split.

Try our deal calculator to see how these play out for your numbers.

The revenue split after recoup

After recoup, splits between 50/50 and 70/30 in the studio's favour are common for funded indie titles. Self-funded games that only need marketing and distribution can get 75/25 or better. What moves the number:

• How much risk the publisher carries. Full funding from concept is riskier than marketing a nearly finished game.
• Your leverage. A vertical slice with wishlist traction and competing interest gets better terms.
• Scope of rights. All platforms worldwide justify a bigger publisher share than PC-only.

Splits can step: for example 60/40 until a revenue threshold, then 70/30 beyond it. Stepped splits reward the studio for a hit and can be a good compromise when a publisher won't move on the headline number.

IP, term and reversion

IP ownership is the clause that matters most over a studio's lifetime. In most modern indie deals the studio keeps the IP and the publisher licenses publishing rights. Be cautious with deals that transfer IP, give the publisher first refusal on sequels without a fair process, or claim rights to your engine or tools.

Term is how long the publisher has the rights: five to ten years is typical, sometimes "life of copyright" in older contracts. Longer terms are fine if paired with reversion: the right to take the game back if the publisher stops supporting it or sales fall below a floor.

For AI-native games, add one more: model and data rights. If you fine-tune models on your game's writing or on player interactions, the contract should say who owns those weights and datasets. We think the studio should. Player data use must also match your privacy policy and platform rules.

Milestones, approvals and audit

Funding is paid against milestones. Good milestones are specific ("second island playable, 25 NPCs with memory, internal playtest score ≥ 7/10") and written together. Bad milestones are vague enough that the publisher can withhold payment at will.

• Set an acceptance window, e.g. the publisher has 10 business days to accept or reject with written reasons.
• Agree how re-scoping works. Plans change; the contract should expect it.
• Insist on audit rights and regular revenue statements. Monthly or quarterly reporting with platform-level detail is normal; live dashboards are better.

What's different for AI-native games

AI-native games have a cost most publishing contracts were never written for: inference. Every conversation with a character costs money, for as long as people play. That raises questions a standard contract won't answer:

• Who pays for inference after launch? If it's recoupable, a popular game can paradoxically take longer to recoup. We cover it outside recoup for 24 months; whatever you agree, make it explicit.
• What happens when inference costs exceed revenue per player? Agree in advance on levers: model routing, caching, on-device fallbacks, or a subscription tier.
• Who decides on model changes? Swapping a model can change your characters' personalities. Creative approval should stay with the studio.
• What if a provider shuts down a model? The publisher should commit to a migration path so your game doesn't stop working.

Read our inference cost guide to model these numbers before you negotiate.

A negotiation checklist

Before you sign, go through the contract with a games-specialist lawyer and make sure you can answer yes to each of these:

• Net receipts are defined as platform payouts minus refunds and taxes only.
• There's a written list of what's recoupable, and publisher overheads aren't on it.
• The studio receives some revenue during recoup, or the post-recoup split reflects that it doesn't.
• The studio owns the IP, engine, tools and any fine-tuned models.
• The term has a clear end date and a reversion clause tied to sales or support.
• Milestones are specific, co-written, and have an acceptance window.
• Marketing spend is committed as a number or a percentage, not "reasonable efforts".
• Revenue reporting is at least quarterly, with audit rights.
• For AI-native games: inference costs, model changes and provider shutdowns are addressed explicitly.
• Termination terms work both ways, including what happens to unpaid milestones.

Expect a negotiation, and expect the publisher to say no to some of it. What you're looking for is a partner who explains their reasons. A publisher that won't put its standard terms in writing before you've spent months in talks is telling you something too. It's why ours are public.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• Ammighty's standard terms and deal calculator
• How to pitch a game to a publisher
• LLM NPC inference costs