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Excellent points made here by this developer. No software-based industry has ever benefitted from punishing the small, independent developer. Content drives growth, and great content almost ALWAYS comes from the independent little shops that struggle to stay in business and make a buck. Portals and distrubuters should be doing much more to foster innovation and support the smaller studios. They should be paying more revenue back to the developer, not less. The economy has driven some panicked decisions and fear of losing market share has resulted in some very short-sighted policies. But in bad market conditions, and as markets mature and constrict, it is always the content, the killer app, the out-of-the-box creativity of the independent developer that rises above the fray and wins in the end.
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Hello from SpinTop Games, The approach that has always maximized revenue for devs (in my 7+ years in the casual game business) is to distribute your game as broadly as possible. This broad approach will not only maximize individual game revenue it will also allow you to create a stronger brand (for sequels and other platforms) and build valuable business relationships with the entire market which is important to your organization's long term success. Here are some market facts for one of our top selling SpinTop Hidden Object games over its first 12 months (nov '07 - Oct '08 - so the data is very recent): *** No online channel represented more than 22% of the game's sales. *** The top 6 channels represented 80% of the game's sales. You can see from the above that there is no channel that represents a huge majority - your revenue opportunity is very broad so you should think broad from day one. If you develop a top selling HOG and go broad with distribution you will be rewarded with a significant ROI, plus increase your chances of extending your IP to other platforms. Best regards, Duncan Magee Co-Founder SpinTop Games
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The fact that Big Fish Games makes all games available for $6.99 is what gives them their advantage, in my opinion. Why would anyone pay more? Like many others, I wait for BFG to have a game before I consider buying it.
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(Oh, for those who don't know, SpinTop created both the Mystery P.I. series and Amazing Adventures, so Duncan is definitely speaking from experience--both are hits.)
cnmoore, you asked why anyone would pay more than the Big Fish price for a game...I myself am a member at both Big Fish and Shockwave. But I also buy some games at higher prices from other places, usually directly from the developer. Either because I just can't wait for it to appear, or because, like Diner Dash Hometown Hero Gourmet Edition, I get extra bonus features by buying from the developer's server. I buy Saqpacks directly from Codeminion, because I love that game. So I can occasionally be enticed to pay more, but only on the basis of quality. And Big Fish and Shockwave remain my primary source of games.
I also wanted to say that what keeps me with Big Fish isn't the price--the price per game played is lower at Shockwave. But Big Fish has amazing customer support and I really like the self-developed games.
I've said before, but it's an analogy I like so I'll repeat it, for me Shockwave is more like Walmart and Big Fish is more like Target. It's just more fun to be a Big Fish customer.
So I do think decisions are made based on more than just price. I have friends who play almost all their games at Pogo because they are very social and love team play.
Then there are all the issues of type of system (Vista vs XP, Macs), type of payment (PayPal vs credit card), adware, etc. that may steer a potential customer towards or away from a particular portal.
So I think there are a lot of choices out there, both in games and in places (and reasons!) to buy them.
And game selection is going to be one of those factors. Portals that make it too difficult for developers to do business with them are going to lose some customers on that basis, too.
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as a player,i`ll take bfg anyday..as said,they only charge $6.99 a game.but more importantly..if you have a problem,or a glitch in the game.,they get right back to you.i`ve had the same with iwin,and am totally ignored...as to real,their whole system comes with so many unwanted attachments.now i can`t even download anything from them,same as gamehouse.when i posed this to gamehouse,they told me to delete everthing off my computer and start again!!really...shame,as they seem to be the main ones for little shop games...oh well,i guess i won`t be getting any more of them!
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There is a bad premise to this article, that the distributors are trying to hurt the developers. That's just simply not true. It probably comes from having a limited perception of the issue.
The issue portals/distributors deal with is that they don't make as much money with a game that has been exclusive on one portal as they do with a game that hasn't been exclusive. Since there are plenty of games to choose from, they pick the games that haven't been exclusive instead of the ones that have. They are trying to maximize their income the same way the developer is, they ARE NOT trying to punish the developer. The author is correct in saying punishing the developer doesn't make much sense...it doesn't!
A secondary impact on the developer's perception is having done exclusives through BFG. By doing so, it gives the perception that they are by far the biggest distributor. This comes because there are low sales from the other distributors...which is not due to the size of the distributors, but the fact that the exclusive selling of the game has diminished its value at the other distributors. You are seeing the same thing the distributors, who are refusing to take exclusive games, are seeing in reverse.
Lastly, I agree with SpinTop.
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They are releasing to all channels at the same time and seeing an even split of where the money comes from. Doing so is likely the best way to maximize your revenue as a developer. It's the solution to your complaint and frustration. I'd recommend taking another look at the problem you are pointing out, from a different perspective, and considering the solution of not going exclusive. It seems to solve all your problems and is likely to give you a very different picture of the relative size of the distribution channels in casual games. -
I didn't mean that price is the only consideration. Big Fish has an attractive site, excellent support, trouble free downloads, first rate game player program on PC, very easy payment for trial games. Alawar and iWin (or Gamehouse) have caused me lots of trouble and unsatisfactory support. I'll have to look at Shockwave.
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I see it as the natural maturation of the industry and really just a shift toward the core market. Games with high production values sell better. It's a simple equation that works everywhere else so why wouldn't it make sense in the casual space. Being a casual indie dev is quickly becoming a thing of the past. You're now competing with titles costing upwards and over a million dollars.
Your best bet is to ignore the "squabbling" and develop games under a given publisher. They're not here to make you a bunch of money for schleping together a clip art masterpiece--they want market share. The free and easy days of making a simple game are gone.
In the future casual publishers will likely front a good deal of development cost and work closely with studios. They won't sit around waiting for your masterpiece. Talent will need to gather and work together. Your brand is king and studios will start buying development houses just for your brand.
Large publishers will purchase casual portals as they move away from brick and mortar distribution. The term "casual" game which never made much sense in the first place will fall away as core publishers start to learn more about niche market segments and start offering games other than shooters, racing and sports. Look for a return to edutainment and interactive gameshows.
I guess my point is, don't consider yourself a casual game developer anymore.
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I am posting a link that I found interesting!
http://www.bigfishgames.com/store/retail.html
I am going to quote robin94122 here:
"I've said before, but it's an analogy I like so I'll repeat it, for me
Shockwave is more like Walmart and Big Fish is more like Target. It's
just more fun to be a Big Fish customer."I used to belong to RA, jumped ship in 2006 and joined BF...I also belong to Shockwave, the game library!
In beta testing(not the RA or survey type)with developers, I can somewhat see his point! There is a great deal of work, and I do it for Free, I do get some perks...the game free...my name in the credits etc..etc..etc
If I come across a game that is so good...I will buy it directly from the developer! I send emails to Fish telling them which games I think will be great sellers, 75% of the time they listen.
RA made its own bed, now they will lie in it! When I was a member, the games cost 7.99...now they are 9.99, I posted the price increase on their forum and it was edited out!
iWin has no customer service...WOT(web of trust) gives it a Red...site dangerous...
Shockwave will answer sometimes, but will do nothing for you...after all they are I believe owned by Viacom...the same company that owns Nickalodeon and MTV...
At least Big Fish cares about their customers...they give free games if you have a problem! Big Fish and RA revamped their sites in 2007...RA raised the price and screwed up the site, BF updated their site also, but didn't change the price....now I consider that smart....this makes people buy more games!
Suki
"is it REAL or is it MEMOREX"
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The developer does make some sold points, as does Duncan(Spintop) related to an avg revenue per unit with Yahoo and other sites selling for $20 and sites with clubs offering for less than $10. The avg rev per unit is or may be lower at BFG but they offer so much more marketing and promotion for your game if there is an exclusive, on the other hand if you make an innovative game, or one that is selling the marketing people care about the $ and in the end will drive the promotion and marketing to the games that offer the best ROI or conversion rate for their business. I also have to agree with some of the consumers on the customer service. BFG have the best customer service(based on what we here from our customers directly) and I hope that some of the other portals can start to imitate that level as it will be the best for consumers and developers if there is never a issue in the process.
All in all I still think the smaller publishers need to do more to encourage growth of the developers and the independent companies as it is most likely that this is where the new innovation will come from.
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Letter to the Editor: The Biggest Loser
Report as InappropriatePosted on 01/15/09, 09:44am
Today we published a letter from a game developer who wished to remain anonymous about the challenges developers are facing dealing with the portals that distribute their games:
As a developer we often deal with so many fires and situations that force us to be innovative, cunning and creative. This helps empower us and our team to create a compelling product in this very competitive environment. With all the pleasures of quality, testing and creativity thrust upon us, why oh why are we also forced to deal with the squabbling of our distributors like a bad family during the holidays?
Read the rest of the article here.
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