..I would like to know how this working, for example if you publish your game over Big Fish game or any other game publisher..how you actually receiving your money?? How things working anyway? Can you guys whos did this before explain to me in detailed how things working, and what kind of control over sold number of your game copys you have anyway?? Can you remove fog for me a bit over this topic??
Game Selling
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Game Selling I chime in too... I want to know this. Lets talk distribution also.
For answers try here, it's like a "sensible" blitz forum ;-) for all languages cos mainly it's about games and marketing etc.
http://forums.indiegamer.com/index.php?
http://forums.indiegamer.com/index.php?
..maybe you can share your experiance here Grey..it will be nice to hear how things flowing, from sending your game to publisher, up to receiving your money as well as maybe control over sold copys or whatever..I would really apprechiate if someone who pass this in real, explain all steps/issues in detail...I'm asking becouse 3D platformer Im working on with few friends of mine, will be done within few months, and I dont have exactly bright picture about how to proceed after game is done...
It's 1:45am here and I gotta hit the sack, I'll try to help tomorrow. I'm no expert but I know a bit. Those forums are good too, and also Gameproducer.net blog.
..thanks Grey..this helps a lot...but regarding percentage..I just receive email from Jessica (Big Fish Games), after I show her some screenies and art within 3D platformer we are going to finish soon, and she offer me 70% out of profit if I give exclusive rights just to them...is this usual offer and what should I do?? Or is it better to go with multiple publishers at same time? What you think about that?
70% for exclusive is a very very good deal considering Net Profit for BFG is Approx 95% of Gross.
Bite her hand off! Quick! I doubt very much you will get this deal elsewhere.
Bite her hand off! Quick! I doubt very much you will get this deal elsewhere.
Yeah 70% sounds MENTAL, they must really want it! I've never heard of such a high rate. That's double their usual rate. You can always hit the other portals after the exclusive. Wait how long is it for? 1 month? If too long then you might make more money sooner from going to Real and Reflexive and MSN and Yahoo and AOL etc. you get the picture.
It's 1:45am here and I gotta hit the sack,
Damn, you beat me last night.
Nice thread there grey :)
the night before was bitchin. 3am bedtime after testing levels, then up at 7am for the boys!
..deleted..
Ok, it's hard to make definitive comments with just one email. If there were other emails, what I'm saying here might not be accurate. However, from that email, I would deduce the following :
1) They are not offering you 75%. They are offering you 35% on their own site, plus 75% of 35% ( or whatever the other portals they deal with give them ) on other sites. In other words, because they're dealing with ( for example ) RealArcade for you, instead of you keeping the 40% you might get from Real ( probably less, but it's a mathematically good number for an example ) you'll get 30% because BigFish get 25% of it.
2) No offer has been made. She has simply told you what the terms would be if they made an offer. She clearly says she needs to see the game to see if their customers would want it.
3) Her grammar could use a little work. ( Pot Kettle situation noted )
:/
1) They are not offering you 75%. They are offering you 35% on their own site, plus 75% of 35% ( or whatever the other portals they deal with give them ) on other sites. In other words, because they're dealing with ( for example ) RealArcade for you, instead of you keeping the 40% you might get from Real ( probably less, but it's a mathematically good number for an example ) you'll get 30% because BigFish get 25% of it.
2) No offer has been made. She has simply told you what the terms would be if they made an offer. She clearly says she needs to see the game to see if their customers would want it.
3) Her grammar could use a little work. ( Pot Kettle situation noted )
since it is pretty much out of standard we usually dealing with.
:/
..but what the big deal then between publishing against distributing? Far as I can see from all publisher web sites /Big Fish games, Pop Cap, RealArcade.../ they all selling same titles, what means, those developers actually going for distribution option with all publishers, right?
You're still really mixing your terms. Publishing and distribution are not the same thing at all.
The big deal is that if you let one of them publish your game, you're getting a percentage of a percentage. I don't know any easier way of explaining it. Ok, let's try with an example :
You publish your game with BigFish and they sell it on their site for $20. Every time they sell a copy, you get 35% of that, so you get $7 per copy from a $20 game. But because you published it with them, they also get to distribute your game with lots of other people, right?
So BigFish do a deal with RealArcade ( unlikely, in the present climate, but it's just theoretical. ) Real are now also selling your game for $20. Let's assume BigFish get a deal with Real for 35%, exactly the same as you have with BigFish. Now whenever a copy of your game sells on RealArcade, BigFish ( NOT YOU ) earn 35%, and we already know that's $7. But you get 75% of that. So every time your game sells on RealArcade, you earn $5.25.
If you had deal with RealArcade personally, and got the same offer, you would have been earning $1.75 more per copy sold than you are with BigFish publishing it.
HOWEVER, BigFish may have more clout and bargaining power than you. Maybe you wouldn't have got 35% out of Real. Maybe you would have only got 25% if you had dealt with them personally. Now if that was the case, every time the game sold a copy, you would have earned $5.00 so you actually would have earned $0.25 LESS per copy sold.
This is the difference, and it's this that you have to weigh up when you decide who you want to deal with and what terms you want. That's assuming they want the game and there are terms fot you to want, of course. But apparently the screenshots look great, so let's assume they do and there are.
You need to weigh up what you have, how much involvement you want, how much money you're prepared to give up, how much bargaining power you have if you don't, and decide whether you want an exclusive publisher or a series of non-exclusive distribution agreements.
The big deal is that if you let one of them publish your game, you're getting a percentage of a percentage. I don't know any easier way of explaining it. Ok, let's try with an example :
You publish your game with BigFish and they sell it on their site for $20. Every time they sell a copy, you get 35% of that, so you get $7 per copy from a $20 game. But because you published it with them, they also get to distribute your game with lots of other people, right?
So BigFish do a deal with RealArcade ( unlikely, in the present climate, but it's just theoretical. ) Real are now also selling your game for $20. Let's assume BigFish get a deal with Real for 35%, exactly the same as you have with BigFish. Now whenever a copy of your game sells on RealArcade, BigFish ( NOT YOU ) earn 35%, and we already know that's $7. But you get 75% of that. So every time your game sells on RealArcade, you earn $5.25.
If you had deal with RealArcade personally, and got the same offer, you would have been earning $1.75 more per copy sold than you are with BigFish publishing it.
HOWEVER, BigFish may have more clout and bargaining power than you. Maybe you wouldn't have got 35% out of Real. Maybe you would have only got 25% if you had dealt with them personally. Now if that was the case, every time the game sold a copy, you would have earned $5.00 so you actually would have earned $0.25 LESS per copy sold.
This is the difference, and it's this that you have to weigh up when you decide who you want to deal with and what terms you want. That's assuming they want the game and there are terms fot you to want, of course. But apparently the screenshots look great, so let's assume they do and there are.
You need to weigh up what you have, how much involvement you want, how much money you're prepared to give up, how much bargaining power you have if you don't, and decide whether you want an exclusive publisher or a series of non-exclusive distribution agreements.
..ohh..thanks Gabe...picture is much more brighter now...thank you a lot..
Not trying to rain on anyones parade but it's probably not a wise decision to be posting e-mails from a company that contain relatively private info (especially the contact number) on a public forum.
Any further inquiries or such should probably be handled via e-mail or IM.
Any further inquiries or such should probably be handled via e-mail or IM.
Yeah you probably shouldn't have posted that. Maybe you should edit it and delete it. I guess at this point you haven't signed any NDA contracts with them?
Anyway, I thought that 75% was too good to be true. Gabriel has it right. They will pay you 75% of what they get from other portals and they may only get 40% from other portals. Having said that, I know that Oberon MEdia manages to get much higher %s from portals like Real due to their clout. However, they pay less than 75% for sure.
Anyway, I thought that 75% was too good to be true. Gabriel has it right. They will pay you 75% of what they get from other portals and they may only get 40% from other portals. Having said that, I know that Oberon MEdia manages to get much higher %s from portals like Real due to their clout. However, they pay less than 75% for sure.
..okay, I just delete post..thank you guys for your kind support and help trough this..
good luck with it!