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AFTER MIDNIGHT// enterprises

Publishing services

What a publishing agreement with us actually covers

Four services, and the boundary of each one written beside it. Nothing here is priced, because a publishing agreement costs a developer nothing — what it does is set out who does what, what is financed, and how it is recouped.

01

Multi-platform publishing & distribution

PC, console and mobile — one release plan, one set of build pipelines.

We take a finished or near-finished game to market across PC, console and mobile storefronts: store pages, build pipelines, certification passes, pricing and regional setup, patch cadence and post-launch updates.

  • Store page setup and copy, screenshots, capsule art briefs and trailer placement on Steam and the console stores.
  • Build submission and certification passes for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, prepared by our producers.
  • Regional pricing, launch scheduling and release windows across territories.
Everything in this service

Where this stops

  • We cannot grant platform approval. Certification is decided by the platform holder, on their timetable.
  • We hold no platform-holder accreditation of our own — submissions are filed through the developer’s accounts under written authorisation.
  • We do not promise featuring, front-page placement or store editorial coverage. Nobody can sell that.

02

Milestone financing & co-production

A publishing agreement that funds agreed milestones — not a loan, not an investment product.

Where a project fits the slate, we can co-finance development against an agreed milestone plan and co-produce it to release: scope review, milestone definition, production oversight and the commercial terms that go with them.

  • Scope and budget review of the plan you already have, in your own numbers.
  • A milestone plan with acceptance criteria written down before anything is signed.
  • Financing of agreed milestones under a publishing agreement, recouped from revenue of the title.
Everything in this service

Where this stops

  • This is not a loan, deposit, security, investment product, crowdfunding offer or public offering, and we give no financial or investment advice.
  • We publish no funding figures, budget ceilings or per-title amounts — what can be financed depends on the project and the agreement.
  • We do not take money from developers. There is no submission fee, reading fee or evaluation fee, ever.
  • We do not promise that a submitted project will be financed. Most are not.

03

Global PR, creator outreach & community

Announce, sustain, launch — run by people who answer for what they send out.

Campaign planning from announcement to launch and beyond: press and creator outreach, asset production briefs, storefront wishlist campaigns, community management and the day-to-day of a live player base.

  • Announcement, beat and launch planning around a real content calendar.
  • Press and creator outreach with disclosed, labelled review keys.
  • Trailer, capsule and key-art briefs, and the production scheduling behind them.
Everything in this service

Where this stops

  • We do not buy reviews, ratings, wishlists, followers or user numbers, and we do not run undisclosed paid coverage.
  • We do not promise coverage, a review score, an audience size or a chart position.
  • We do not publish invented performance figures for past campaigns — where a number is quoted, its source is quoted with it.

04

QA, localisation & age-rating preparation

The unglamorous half of shipping, done before certification looks at it.

Functional and compliance QA, platform requirement checklists, localisation and LQA, and preparation of the age-rating questionnaires each territory needs — so a build reaches certification in the state certification expects.

  • Functional, compliance and regression QA against the platform requirement checklists.
  • Localisation management and linguistic QA in the shipping languages.
  • Age-rating questionnaires prepared for PEGI, ESRB, USK and IARC, and filed through your accounts.
Everything in this service

Where this stops

  • We do not issue age ratings. PEGI, ESRB, USK, IARC and the platform holders do, and only they can.
  • We hold no ratings-body licence and act as no board’s agent — we prepare the paperwork, you file it under your account.
  • We do not guarantee a first-pass certification result. No publisher can.

The route

00:00 to 06:00 — the whole thing, stage by stage

A publishing relationship goes wrong at the handovers. Each stage below says what you deliver and what we deliver, so both halves are written down before anything is signed.

  1. 00:00

    Signal

    You send a build and a plan.

    A playable build, a design document and the remaining budget as you see it. Nothing is signed, nothing is charged, and the submission is read by a person rather than scored by a form.

    You
    Playable build, design document, budget plan.
    Us
    We read it and reply to the address you gave us.

  2. 01:00

    First read

    We play it and write down what we think.

    The first pass is on the game itself: what it is, who it is for, and whether it is a fit for the slate. Most submissions stop here, and they stop with a written answer rather than silence.

    You
    Nothing — the build does the talking.
    Us
    A written assessment: fit, risks, what we would want to see next.

  3. 02:00

    Terms

    Scope, milestones and money in writing.

    If we go on, the milestone plan and the commercial terms are drafted together: what is delivered when, what is accepted how, what is financed, how it is recouped, what happens if either side walks away.

    You
    Your production plan and your numbers.
    Us
    A draft agreement, in language you can read without a lawyer beside you.

  4. 03:00

    Build

    Production, with a producer who answers the phone.

    Milestone acceptance, external QA scheduling, vendor sourcing for art, audio and localisation, and a weekly rhythm that does not consume your development time.

    You
    The game. You keep the creative call.
    Us
    Producer time, QA scheduling, vendor sourcing, milestone acceptance.

  5. 04:00

    Certification

    Platform requirements, ratings paperwork, store setup.

    Compliance QA against each platform’s requirement checklist, age-rating questionnaires prepared for PEGI, ESRB, USK and IARC, and store pages built out. Approvals belong to the platform holders and the boards; the paperwork is ours to get right.

    You
    Your platform accounts — submissions are filed under written authorisation from you.
    Us
    Checklists, questionnaires, store pages, submission builds.

  6. 05:00

    Launch

    Announce, sustain, ship.

    Press and creator outreach with labelled keys, a beat plan through to release day, regional pricing and a launch-week war room that is staffed rather than scheduled.

    You
    Release candidate and patch capacity.
    Us
    Campaign, outreach, storefront setup, launch-week cover.

  7. 06:00

    Dawn

    The part most publishers stop paying attention to.

    Post-launch patches, seasonal beats, platform ports, sales events and reporting — and revenue statements you can reconcile against your own numbers.

    You
    Updates you want to make.
    Us
    Store-side operations, reporting, ports, ongoing campaigns.

Plainly stated

The disclosures that go with all of the above

Financing

Development financing here means a commercial publishing agreement: where we agree to fund milestones, the money is advanced against the title and recouped from its revenue on terms set out in a signed contract. It is not a loan, deposit, security, investment product, crowdfunding offer or public offering, we take no money from developers, and we give no financial or investment advice.

What we will not promise

Publishing outcomes depend on the game, the market and the launch window. We do not promise sales, revenue, wishlists, chart positions, platform approval, store featuring or press coverage.

Authority to act

Console submissions and rating applications are prepared by us and filed through the developer’s own platform accounts under written authorisation. We hold no platform-holder or ratings-body accreditation of our own and do not act as an approved agent for any of them.

Age ratings

Age ratings are issued by the ratings boards and platform holders — PEGI, ESRB, USK, IARC and the store operators — never by a publisher. We prepare and file rating questionnaires; the rating itself is theirs to grant.

Submissions are read during office hours — Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:00 (Europe/Copenhagen). Every submission is read by a person. We reply to the address you gave us. We publish no response-time guarantee, because a number nobody measures is a promise nobody keeps.