Chillingo explains why devs need them

Chillingo COO Ed Rumley had a chat with GamesIndustry, and said that the iOS publisher (which is owned by EA) is more needed than ever by developers. Yes, he admits it's easier than ever for anyone to make and publish a game on the App Store, but the hard part comes after that. "We always remind people there is a huge difference between self-publishing a game and self-distribution," said Rumley. "The role of a publisher like Chillingo is to do far more than just upload a game onto an App Store. Today's market is extremely competitive, there are dozens or hundreds of games launching every day whether it's on iOS or Android or Windows. Our role is to help navigate this minefield."

Rumley also said that more indie devs are coming to Chillingo than ever to get that help polishing and marketing their games, and I can attest, as a player, that it's been working for them. There is definitely a consistent level of quality in the games Chillingo's putting out, partly because of who they're choosing to work with, and partly because their experience on the App Store is so substantial at this point (don't forget, this is the company that published both Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, so they kind of know what they're doing by now). While obviously every game is different, Rumley did say that Chillingo is still getting heavily involved in app development, probably more so than a lot of traditional publishers out there. "Half of our role is getting a game ready for market. By that I mean making sure the balance is there, making sure the game is fun and making sure the monetization is correctly implemented. If you don't get that right, you're not going to have success acquiring consumers in the first place."

Rumley added that the future of Chillingo isn't necessarily in publishing more games, it's in publishing on more platforms. The company has been making a push on Android recently, and Rumley says that the quality of iOS games as compared to the last few years has been getting better and better. But he also added that means the bar is raising higher and higher, even as he recommends that indie developers put an extra month of polish into their titles, then another month (and maybe more) on top of that. "It's a ruthless platform," said Rumley, "and there's just no room for anything except perfection."