Waypoint Studios

Fun fact: Minecraft doesn't actually know what percentage of revenue publishers take from creators, or the specific rules they impose, even though we creators must go through them to publish on the Minecraft Marketplace.

And then official publishers terminate my contract, because I express my opinion, what kind of world is this?

Hey, I think context is important, and it can be really difficult to understand a system from the outside, so as an official publisher, we’d like to help. I’m going to go through some points you’ve mentioned and hopefully answer them, but if there’s anything I missed or anything else you want to ask, I’m happy to come back! 10k applications but only 17 new partners - It’s important to note, these stats are not always the best representation, anyone can apply, and we see hundreds of new applications each week, but only a very small % of them are real or up to a quality that you or I would want to actually see released on the marketplace. Where only 17 new partners have been onboarded to the marketplace lots more are going through publishers, learning the ins and outs of marketplace and are on track to becoming their own partner. Huge cuts - As a publisher we take 20%, and official publishers are required to take no more than this. We’re actively monitored by Microsoft and held accountable to this standard. Yes we can take less, but running a publishing business where we’re having to teach every creator who joins our program is expensive, and we actively build processes and products that help not only our creators but the wider ecosystem. There have been, and still are unofficial publishers taking upwards of 60-70% these are doing it without Microsoft permission and you should report these if you see it. Unclear and unsustainable processes - I don’t know exactly what’s unclear so I’m happy to elaborate more, but we help teach you the specifics of creating for the marketplace, we try to get you to a point where basically, you don’t need us! And then we recommend you to Microsoft to join the official program. That for most partners takes around 1 year from start to finish, depending on existing marketplace experience. Specific rules imposed by publishers - I am again not sure exactly what you’re referring to, but as a publisher we do push our creators and have higher expectations than the regular Minecraft partner has put on them by Microsoft. We’re expected to find and nurture the next top creators, not publish more generic trend hopping projects. Our rules reflect that expectation. Publishers buy content - I haven’t heard of this until now. I know we’ve never approached a creator about buying content, and we try to be extremely transparent with our data to help creators understand the potential value of their work, both the lows, averages and highs. I do know that this has happened with non authorized publishers as a means to avoiding “publishing” and it’s important to understand that difference. Difficult to publish - We try to keep our processes transparent, you create content, we perform extensive QA on the product to make sure you’ve made something that works well, but is also high quality and fun. If that’s not the case we work with you to fix it, if not we start the process of getting it on the marketplace. As I say, I’ve tried to address your main points, there are some rather vague statements so I’ve done my best to interpret them how I see them, but if you want more detailed answers, I’m happy to read any clarifications and provide more detailed answers.