“If you want to grow your digital distribution network globally without increased overhead, fuss or worry, I would thoroughly recommend working with Genba Digital.”
– Stuart Dinsey, Curve Digital
Over the past few years we’ve established a variety of fantastic partnerships. From indie developers to AAA publishers, we’ve discovered along the way that distribution requirements come in many shapes and sizes. With that, the open and agile approach of our team has been essential in tailoring a unique service for our partners.
We spoke to Stuart Dinsey, Chairman of Curve Digital, to find out how partnering with Genba has transformed the way they distribute their games…
Founded in 2012, Curve Digital was one of the first purely digital games publishers in the industry. They started out as a work-for-hire developer, converting games onto console platforms. But they soon saw an opportunity to utilize this experience by approaching indie developers who had been successful on Steam – offering to convert and publish for them onto console. Since then, they’ve been working with some of the world’s best game developers to help bring their games to the broadest possible audiences all over the world. They continue to invest in indie titles and have become one of the largest specialist publishers of indie games across both PC and console.
Seeking the solution
As a global publisher, the UK is only 6% of Curve Digital’s business. They were concerned they were missing opportunities with other retailers because they were too hard to manage, or simply didn’t know they existed. Curve had always prioritised what they could achieve directly with the platform holders. The retail space outside of this presented unanswered questions: Where does a direct account start and end, and what can it deliver? How much effort and resources does it require? Is there another way of reaching a greater audience?
Widening the distribution network
Curve had seen widening their distribution network as “a horrendous challenge” for a long time. They had tried opening more direct accounts, increasing the size of their internal sales resources in order to do so – but this approach wasn’t delivering the revenue to warrant all the effort. Recommended by a fellow industry peer to partner with Genba Digital, they engaged with us to launch their successful simulation game, Bomber Crew, in 2017. Through distributing their game via the GENBA™ platform and allowing Genba to take the reins on Curve’s network expansion, they started to experience increased efficiency and quickly gained a wider global presence.
“We received immediate commercial benefits through using Genba’s services. They enabled us to widen our digital distribution network without having numerous additional accounts to service, and without having to understand and learn how certain additional accounts operate. The fact that Genba already had a trusted network that they had built over time, made as much difference to us as the fact that we could outsource the management of those retailers. Discovering Genba was an absolute godsend to our business.”
Reducing the workload through bespoke service
Despite the immediate increase in their network, Curve noticed their workload had actually decreased; no longer were they having to juggle lots of direct accounts, manage product promotions, or tackle currency issues and local market conditions. We had taken responsibility for all of that.
“We were very pleasantly surprised to experience the level of account management that we get directly from Genba. In order to maximise the incremental revenue, attention must be paid to the promotional needs of the different retail partners and the local landscapes. We do that successfully because we talk regularly with Genba – they’re open to trying new approaches with us, providing a bespoke account management service that suits the needs of our business.”
Getting paid
A common concern for any global publisher when expanding their distribution network, is ‘am I going to get paid?’ Curve were no exception in this case when they initially partnered with Genba, but their fears were soon alleviated.
“Finding Genba really helped solve a challenge for us, which, until then, we had no idea how we would overcome. Clearly, we had to trust some of Genba’s promises, such as credit control and payment terms, which Genba were very honest and open about from day one. This trust was further cemented by the positive references for Genba from other games publishers. And because our relationship is directly with Genba and they take full responsibility of payment, that gives us great confidence and makes our lives a lot easier.”
Achieving incremental revenue
With the workload lightened and payment concerns taken care of, Curve also started to experience consistent incremental revenue. After the launch of Bomber Crew through the platform, their endlessly popular co-op, Human: Fall Flat, entered the spotlight. Since partnering with us in 2017, the title has been selling thousands of units on a weekly basis through the GENBA™ platform, to a growing network of Etailers around the globe.
“The launch of Bomber Crew was a huge success as a release, but also as a partnership. And with the addition of online multiplayer to Human: Fall Flat, we saw significant incremental revenue delivered to our already fast-growing business. The full year revenues delivered in our first year with Genba were simply stunning, and we’re very confident we’ll be registering record revenue again this year…
If you want to grow your digital distribution network globally without increased overhead, fuss or worry, I would thoroughly recommend working with Genba Digital.”
Interested in starting a game-changing partnership with us? Get in touch with our Commercial team.
