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[Orymus]

Many of us have dealt with publishers before.

I'm wondering how 'early' has any one of your managed to enter a publishing deal
- Completed Project, just going for distribution / marketing
- Close to release but still needed to bug-hunt
- Some kind of Alpha, needed dev money to keep things moving but the 'vertical slice' or core was solid
- Somewhere during pre-production, with some parts of the game still left to demonstrate
- Prototype
- Just off some documentation
- Elevator pitch for a a project that you basically just made up as you talked
(not a poll, any omitted choice is definitely allowed).

I'm mostly curious.

[WarpQueen]

I've worked for a publisher before, and the answer is going to differ depending on a lot of variables.
Is it a proven team? Has the publisher worked with them before? Then it might be really early.
Is it a senior team, but they have not worked with this particular publisher before? Might still be really early/late, depending on a lot of other things.

A new team though? Bet on late.

[Orymus]

In my case, the team has ~10 years of experience in the business in some key positions in other studios (Tech Director, Creative Director, Senior Producer, etc.)
I've been offered deals earlier than I was comfortable, but would normally not consider anything before Vertical Slice, but wondering whether other people have, and what kind of results they've had (did the publisher go greedy on the rev-share, making it an unprofitable venture for the dev?), etc.

[WarpQueen]

With a team that senior, you can get some early offers, that's not too strange.
The earlier, the bigger share they will want though.
If the publisher are paying to the entire development, they want to be as sure as they can be that they'll get a return on their investment. Not that strange.

If you can, I would hold out until you have as much of a game as you can, to get a better deal.

Bonus advice: Talk with several publishers, talk with people they have worked with before, and if possible, hire a legal council to check contracts before you sign anything.