1. Pitching Your Game

2. Know who you’re talking to Keep it simple Focus on your hooks
Outline
Know who you’re talking to
Keep it simple
Focus on your hooks
Be confident
Be prepared
Be realistic
Pitch yourself

3. Research the company, talk to the person.
Know who you’re talking to
Research the company, talk to the person.
Different publishers want different things. Do your research first to make sure that you’re talking to the right person. The last thing you want to do is waste everyone’s time by pitching a mobile game to a console publisher or a horror game to a children’s company. Once you’ve found the right company, look at who you’re actually talking to: Design vs Business.

4. Elevator Pitch Keep it Simple Short and Sweet
Pitch your game, not your monetization scheme, or your inventory system. If you have time, you can discuss these things with your audience but they are there to talk about your game. Focus on making your game first and figure out your pricing later. Talk about what the player is actually doing moment to moment and why it’s fun.

5. What’s your hook? Focus on your hooks
Talk about what makes your game special. Publishers don’t want to buy into a game that already exists. Pillars are not hooks. Discuss the hooks of the projects people are currently working on.

6. Where are you? Be Prepared
Depending on where the pitch is taking place, you will require different things.
If you’re pitching at a conference like GDC, have a laptop or a tablet big enough to look at. Bring over the ear headphones if what you’ll be showing them contains sound. them before the conference to set up a meeting, they are going to be busy and it’s better to have something planned then to rely on meeting them by chance. Likewise, be respectful of their time, make sure that you can condense or expand upon your pitch as the conversation allows.
If you’re meeting them in an office setting, have a backup plan for when things fail (projectors, sound, etc.). This will make you look good, (you showed that you can think ahead) and allow you to pitch in less of a panic. Have summary documents made for them to take away, keep them short (1-2 pages). *note don’t worry about this as much at conferences as they will be acquiring dozens of pamphlets that will likely just end up on the floor.*
Follow up with them in a reasonable timeframe, 3-4 days. Particularly if you met at a conference, they’ll likely take a few days to get back into the office and you don’t want your to be lost in the backlog they have to go through.

7. If you don’t think your idea will succeed, no one will.
Be Confident
If you don’t think your idea will succeed, no one will.
Be confident in your design.

8. Everyone needs to get paid.
Be Realistic
Everyone needs to get paid.
Know your goals. How much is this going to cost? What’s a reasonable expectation of success? How long is the project going to take? Do you currently have the skill to pull the project off? If not, who do you plan on getting?

9. Be polite Be professional Be memorable
Pitch Yourself
Be polite
Be professional
Be memorable
You are attempting to enter into a long term (at least 6 month) working relationship with the people you are pitching to. If they don’t want to work with you, they won’t. If you can’t get your act together for 20 min or an hour to discuss the thing you’re most passionate about with them, what are you going to be like when you’re sleep deprived and nothing’s working?

10. 30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch
Learn More:
30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch
You Suck at Showcasing Your Game
How to Pitch Your Product to Publishers