As a result, IP ownership should be one of the things at the front of a developer’s mind when negotiating a publishing deal. The common (but not universal) position in indie deals is that developers will retain full IP ownership in the game that is created. Before giving these away, make sure to ask if the publisher actually plans on (and has experience) producing these non-game products. Summary: IP ownership is an important topic and a developer’s default position will often be that they should retain this. If you originally gave up the IP, does this revert back to you in the event of termination?