How to fill a game nitche in a company's lineup?

This is a tricky subject, because I can't look in the heads of publishers. When submitting, I do think about whether a company might produce the game I designed and am about to submit. It doesn't make sense to submit a heavy gamer's game to a company that produces party games, or to submit a wargame to a mainstream German company. It doesn't make sense, because I'm 99% to get a rejection. So, I look for companies that have published game of a similar weight and category.

However, in the end it's the publishers's call. I have had a game rejected because that company already had a deduction game. I've had a game rejected because it was a 2-player game, and that company was looking for multiplayer games.

I have never had a game rejected because of theme. I do think publishers won't produce a game with a similar theme as one of the games in their current line-up, but themes may be changed.

Bottomline is, if you think there's a change acompany might be interested then give it a shot. If you never shoot you always miss!