Welcome to an interview for the series Game Credits Who’s Who (#GameCreditsWW). Ever read the credits page of a game you enjoy and wonder about the various positions listed? Would you like to work in the game industry someday but are not sure how some of the positions work? This Monday series will take a personal look into those positions and introduce you to real people doing those very jobs in the game industry. This week, let me introduce you to Aldo Ghiozzi, working in game distribution services.
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do as game distribution services.
Impressions is a service hired by game companies to take care of getting the games to distributors. We handle the sales, shipping and warehousing for these companies. We do also sell to retailers, but that’s on a limited basis.
Impressions is definitely an oddity in the industry. Only myself and PSI do what we do. We’re like a rep, but not. We’re like a fulfillment house, but not. The reality is that if a game company doesn’t want to call distributors or retailers to sell them games, that’s what our job is all about. We only handle the business-to-business side for them…we don’t do anything consumer-related like Kickstarter fulfillment, mail order or convention booths.
How did you get involved in game distribution?
I used to design games back in the 90s. The story is pretty parallel to most game publisher startup stories…I played tons of games, and one day a friend and I thought we could make better games. With that, I had my part-time game company on the side of a full-time job and put out some RPGs and miniatures rules. My full-time job was sales and marketing in the video game industry, so it was pretty simple for me to track down distributors to sell my games to. Eventually, other game publishers wondered how I could get my less-than-stellar games into distributors when they couldn’t get distributors to call them back about their beautiful games! In 2000, I decided to try my hand at making games full-time and helping others sell to distributors. I published a couple of other games in the early 2000s, but Impressions was the calling.
Share with us some of your recent projects.
I think this applies to games I’ve made. So, I give a lot of suggestions about theme, price, quantities to print and the like, but rarely do I influence rules or game design.
What is your greatest frustration or pet peeve as a game distribution service?
As a game distribution service for publishers, I don’t know if I would say I have a frustration, but one of the constant conversations I have with folks is them telling me how great their game is and how unique it is. I don’t want to sound like I want to crush anyone’s dreams, but its super hard to be truly unique in the game industry. I always think a game should have a hook, but it is hard not to chuckle to myself when someone says “My game is like Magic: The Gathering, only better.”
How can readers learn more about you or contact you?
Website – http://www.impressionsadv.net
Twitter – @FreeRPGDay
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/user/ImpressionsGDS
Public Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ImpressionsGameDistributionServices/
Email – aldo@impressionsadv.net