Jason Hill's Screenplay Blog has a blog entry on a recent achieivement by Tantalus in securing a publisher for Trickstar, a original futuristic racer for the Game Boy Advance. Tantalus CEO, Tom Crago, explains to Screenplay how difficult it is to get a publisher on board for Trickstar, a game that has been self funded by Tantalus which isn't linked to any existing franchise..
"It really is very close to impossible. The GBA business, more than perhaps any other platform, has been driven by licenses," says Crago...."It has been a really hard slog getting Trick Star across the line. We had a number of offers to re-brand it to fit with an existing license, but ultimately wanted to stay true to our original concept."
Tom also explains how original IP is important for the industry, even though making games for existing licenses is lucrative and publishers are much less willing to go with original games.