I’ve been speaking with a fellow hentai entrepreneur who advised me to seek a game publisher. The offside of publishers is that they grab a sizable cut from your profits (20-30%). The upside is that you don’t have to be incorporated. You don’t need to have a company, or a trade name.
What does this mean? It reduces my taxes. I can keep my legal status as a “freelancer”. I don’t have to take the mandatory insurance that was thousands of euros, or worry about tax brackets.
If I was making a mainstream game with an established studio, I could easily foot these bills. But in a niche industry like hentai, your expected profit is lower. For someone just starting out, it’s too much risk.
In just two years, I pay €10000 just for having a trade name in the government registry. Sure, the law lets me negotiate that money back if I fail to profit. But I’m not organized enough for even bookkeeping.
This works out perfectly. I’m gonna finish our backlogged game projects and get a publisher to handle the dirty paperwork.
