I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's a nice way to get some publicity and a publisher.

On the other...five years?! That's practically a lifetime in this industry.

And the "prize" is pretty questionable. It's an advance on your royalties. So it's not even extra money on top of sales...it's your sales for the next few years until the royalty earns out.

Personally, I think I'd still enter the contest...then refuse to sign the agreement if I won. That way, I still get the publicity (possibly more for the controversy!), and I'm not tied down to a distribution deal.
 

Well, now that you've stated that publicly, I'm sure they'll avoid selecting you :) :)

I suspect you will need to sign some kind of letter-of-intent or something to submit your game as a candidate. I dunno.

But again - it's (from what I can tell) a non-exclusive deal. So nothing will prevent you from selling your game through other channels as well. The only time you might lose out is if a customer chooses your game over GameTap over a more lucrative (for you) distributor. Ideally, you more than make up for it in volume. It's the same thing as getting your game up on a portal like Big Fish or Real.

So, like everything else, there's pros and cons. It's definitly worth consideration, though. ESPECIALLY if you are one of THOSE indies doing a retro-style game, which would fit well with GameTap's existing audience.

You know, I saw the word "advance" in the description, but it didn't register on my brain at all. One of those mornings I guess. That strikes me as kinda.. well, cheap. Not that I'd complain about getting $10k up front like that, but still...