Intellectual Property

You own the IP. What for?

There's a version of "you keep your game" that means almost nothing in practice. Ownership and control are different things, and the gap between them is where most of the risk lives.

"You keep your IP" is something publishers say early and often in a pitch. It sounds like the good news. Sometimes it is.

IP ownership and IP control are different things. You can technically own your game and still be unable to release it on a new platform, publish a sequel, or do anything commercially meaningful with it, because the publisher holds a perpetual exclusive licence covering every exploitation of the work, everywhere in the world, for as long as the agreement is in effect. In a perpetual contract, that's forever.

A lot of publishing deals are structured exactly this way and work fine while the relationship is active. The problem surfaces when things go quiet. When the publisher has moved on to their next slate. When the game isn't being promoted, isn't in any active campaigns, but is still under a licence that means you can't take it anywhere else.

The three things that actually matter

Whether "you keep your IP" means something in practice comes down to three things: scope, duration, and reversion.

Scope is what the publisher is actually licensed to do. Distribution only, or does the licence also cover porting, sequels, remasters, merchandise, and adaptations? The wider the scope, the less you can do with your own game even while owning it. I've seen contracts where "the Game and all derivative works" was the operative phrase. That phrase hands over most of the commercial future of your IP.

Duration is whether the licence has an end date. A ten-year licence from commercial release is a different thing from "in perpetuity." First drafts from publishers often default to perpetual. It's one of the things worth pushing back on even if you don't get everything else you want.

Reversion is the practical exit. If the publisher doesn't release the game within 18 months of receiving the final build, rights revert automatically. If the game goes off sale for twelve months straight, rights revert. If the publisher goes bankrupt, rights revert immediately. Without these clauses, you're relying on goodwill and a phone call to get your game back. That's a bad position to negotiate from.

The question to ask

Don't ask "do I keep my IP?" That question gets a yes in almost every pitch, regardless of what the contract actually says. Ask instead: what does my IP ownership let me do if this relationship doesn't work out?

If the honest answer is "not much," that's not necessarily a deal-breaker. It depends on the publisher, the relationship, the deal structure, and what you're getting in return. But it should be a conscious decision, not something you discover two years later when you want to make a remaster and find out you need their sign-off.