DISQUS

Make It Big In Games: What Is My Game’s Sales Potential?

  • David Marsh · 11 months ago
    I could not agree more about deciding what kind of game you want to make, and then figuring out how to make it happen. I have worked at so many companies where the sales potential is the driving force behind everything, and the game is almost an afterthought. It certainly quickly evaporates any passion you had for the project when you realize that it's really nobody's game.
  • Jeff Tunnell · 11 months ago
    Game always need a champion. Even in huge corporately driven license products, one or two people have to have a vision and passion for a game, or it will not succeed.
  • jgostylo · 11 months ago
    Holy crap this is insightful! And I mean that statement to NOT be taken sarcastically.

    Having broached the idea of "I will just publish and distribute my own damn game" I have always run into the reality that even coming close to being effective takes more money than I am interested in putting into it. You almost have to use some sort of established portal. Your 'big hit' will always do substantially worse in your hands than a portal that really knows what they are doing unless you are a hard working savant.

    The other thing I like is Jeff's discussion on averages. It is the same for every product. The number one product in the field will command the lion's share of the return. Sports is like that on crack. Think of all the people that love to play football. What percentage of them play in the NFL? I would say 99% of people that love to play football pay someone for the chance to play on an organized team let alone get payed to do it. Hell, even in the NFL the pay difference between the star receiver and the backup tight end is very significant. You have to be the best at the niche you are filling and the only way to even start that is to be passionate about it.

    So I agree with Jeff that the answer is you have to ignore game ideas you are not passionate about and go with ones you are. This passion actually becomes more important after the game is complete because whether it is very different or looks the same as a host of other games, you are really going to have to sell people on it and demand it gets the coverage it needs to succeed.
  • Jeff Tunnell · 11 months ago
    Thanks, jg. It is nice to finally be on the same side of an argument :)
  • timaste · 11 months ago
    Great advice!
  • joshuadallman · 11 months ago
    Some of the biggest indie games of the past year didn't give a shit about how much they would make. They were labors of love and it shows through in the quality of the final product. World of Goo, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cave Story... any indie would kill to get the kind of publicity and sales these games have enjoyed. And yet the sales of these games could never be guessed at prior to their release. Make what you love and love what you make. There's no better recipe for success than that.

    P.S. On the "a lot more options" front I just wanted to add a few: Flash-based Virtual Worlds like Webkinz, scratch-card POS publishers like Cherry Credits, free-to-play microtransaction publishers like juggernaut Nexon, and finally web-based 3D games like InstantAction, all of which are emerging platforms for 2008-2009.
  • Jeff Tunnell · 11 months ago
    Nice additions to the revenue partner list.
  • Ferran · 11 months ago
    I'm agree with the article but when you're making a game that you want to make, what do you do to make your buseness plan? How can fit your game in a business plan? Always thinking that you are trying to start from scratch and you haven't got enough cash to take too much risks.
    I'm asking this because I'm evaluating if it's possible to start my own business without dying in the attempt.
  • jgostylo · 11 months ago
    I believe the answer to this is the same as investing. You are making one game. That is a very high risk business plan. It is not something I would ever put money into unless I had total control or really loved and believed in the person. No diversification, all your eggs are in one basket. Possible payout lies between losing everything and total market saturation with odds pointing towards losing everything. The risk is mitigated by the passion you have for the project and your experience. You will do everything you can to make sure your baby flies. If you are not willing to do everything then your chance of failure skyrockets.

    A real business plan for games would include playing the averages but if you want to claim that then you need to have enough games to statistically justify using an average. I think that is what being a publisher is all about.
  • Jeff Tunnell · 11 months ago
    I have written some posts about that. Here is the one that best describes an answer:

    http://makeitbigingames.com/2006/02/five-founda...

    Basically, you right size your life to lower expenses, you don't quit your day job, you find partners to help you, and you build a portfolio of products that eventually allows you to quit your day job.
  • Ferran · 11 months ago
    Thanks Jeff and jg!
  • Ferran · 11 months ago
    Thanks Jeff and jg!
  • Colm · 11 months ago
    Nice post. I have to agree with 'make something you are passionate about' - especially for a small indie game it's the only thing that will a) get it done and b) make it any good!

    As for the money there's no harm in researching how much the hits and flops have made in your market. For casual flash games at least there's quite a lot of small developers who have shared this info - gives you a bit of a ballpark idea of what you are getting into.
  • Jeff Tunnell · 11 months ago
    I absolutely agree that doing as much research about how much money an Indie game can make should be on your list. You will find a few anecdotal snips of how much a game can make. I have even thought of making some sort of site feature that can track these snippets of info. My answer to the question is that based on my experience and all of those snippets you can get "there" from "here", but trying to make a business model for it won't work.
  • joshuadallman · 11 months ago
    To add to the anecdotal snips comment, it's important when you're reading such pieces to recognize the difference between a "case study" and a "break-out game." NPR, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, mainstream gaming press (GameSpot etc) are all likely to feature break-out games, but written in a way to give the impression that they're average case studies. When a flash game gets fought over by publishers for the right to take it to XBLA / PSN / WiiWare, that is definitely a break-out game. When a middle-of-the-pack game / developer talks about their game, sales, and the experience of releasing it, that's a case study. Oftentimes people read a piece - like how much some of those first iPhone games made - and think they're case studies of average games, instead of the break-out games that they are (and I don't mean Arkanoid!).
  • Jeremy Alessi · 11 months ago
  • Harold · 11 months ago
    I can't wait to listen carefully to the numbers breakdown of World of Goo at the GDC (how about the sales directly from the website?). I hope 2Dboy are gonna delivered like they did with their game :)

    Anyway, thanks Jeff.
  • Juuso · 10 months ago
    Very niec article Jeff

    here's some sales statistics to get some info what's selling:
    http://www.gameproducer.net/category/sales-stat...