Challenges of a Game Publisher to Attract the Audience

On Thursday July 6th, over 2000 people attended Tehran Game Convention. During the event, one of the panels discussed the challenges of a game publisher in attracting the audience.

The panel was held on the threshold of the first TGC international event and included Mohammad Mehdi Behfrrad, CEO of Pishgaman Yara Kish, Sobhan Foroughi, CEO of Tapsell and Arash Jafari, director of FunGames.

“In many cases, we may have a great game, but these games do not succeed in attracting the audience,” said Arash Jafari, director of FunGames during the panel. “There are clear methods for attracting users and the use of uncommon methods carry a lot of risk; and much confidence is needed to use new methods,” he continued. During the panel Jafari advised the young game developers of Iran to study the path of “similar games” in order to attract the audience.

Do Not Neglect Creativity in Attracting the Audience

Although the director of  FunGames advised game developers to pursue and learn from the success stories, Sobhan Foroughi, CEO of Tapsell, advised game developers to not neglect creative ways of attracting the audience.“It’s really good for us to see what similar games did in order to attract the audience, but the person who becomes a market leader is the one who uses creative and innovative methods,” said Foroughi.

It Is the Publisher’s Responsibility to Attract the Audience

During the panel, Mohammad Mehdi Behfarrad, CEO of Pishgaman Yara Kish addressed the changes of the gaming industry for publishers. “Our main challenge in the past was the cost of production, but today’s main concern is attracting the audience.” “We have to see what the product is, what our goals are, and based on that, find the method to attract our audience,” he added.

Behfarrad also emphasized that from the beginning of the production process you need to forecast the cost of attracting your audience. “Our experience has shown the best place for advertising games is within other games,” said the CEO of Pishgaman. “We have two options for publishing a game. One is to seek out publishers, and the other is to take the role of a publisher. In this regard, I must make the following point that anyone who speaks English and has lived abroad does not necessarily qualify as a good publisher. One of the main responsibilities of a publisher is attracting the audience, and if they do not do this, then practically speaking, the presence of a publisher for the project is useless,” he added.