PocketPC Games Projected Revenue

[andyclap]

[Hosed]

[andyclap]

Thanks for the info. It seems like the actual download count varies quite considerably between comparable products. If the ratio of downloads/sales is also quite varied (presumably also affected if the developer site offers the trial version for download or has their own purchasing system), this doesn't give me as much info to go on as I had hoped.
From my estimations, a "bestselling" game can expect to ship about 2-3 thousand units - is this about right, or am I under/overestimating?
As before, any more information from the pros would be highly appreciated.

[brendan]

This is a very intersting area, from experience the 1-10% try/buy ratio is true with most of my titles falling in that range.

I have 3 titles of a very simmillar style, and I can generaly say that the price is not a "huge" factor in changing the try/buy ratio. It seems if they like, they buy. However they only differ by a small amount, and I'm unsure how developers are going that charge $20+

The biggest factor is getting people to try your program, and thus this is where advertising / promotion comes in.

You will have to write a very good program / game to return 50K+ or 1000's of sales.... (since I have not written a winner yet, I woulden't know) lol.

-B

[Dan East]

You have to be very careful how you interpret sales stats from sites like Handango. Each application may vary significantly in its distribution and sales channels. Some applications, like Snails, send all customers to Handango from their website to purchase (the "buy" part). However, they provide the Snails downloads (the "try" part) directly from their own website. Thus they will have an inflated download to purchase ratio. Other products may direct everyone to Handango for downloads and for the purchases. This will result in a lower download to purchase ratio, but it will be accurate. Finally some products may have their own online store using a company like eSellerate (10% fixed commision) to keep a larger share of the profit for sales originating from their own website (as opposed to the product being found on Handango, etc). So in that case the Handango stats will only reflect those that shop and hunt online retailers like Handango for Pocket PC products, which represents an vastly different group or class of Pocket PC consumers.

So in my opinion the download to sales ratio could be very misleading. One would have to combine all sales from all sales avenues, as well as the download totals from all download sources, to get an accurate ratio for a particular product.

One last thing. Sites like Tucows and CNet can result in a very large amount of traffic (PQ was the #1 Tucows PDA download for almost a year, and is at #2 now - a Palm app is now #1. PQ has been downloaded close to 100,000 times from those sites). These sites will host the downloads themselves, so that can represent a very large amount of "tries" that aren't accounted for. Obviously those people end up at Handango or wherever the software producer directs them if they want to purchase.

Dan East

[andyclap]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Having thought about it for a while, I think I'll start with a smaller 'test the water' project in my spare time, rather than going the whole hog of quitting my job, getting a team together and trying to create a blockbuster. If the smaller game sells fairly well, then I'll start thinking on a grander scale.

All the best for the new year!

[Hosed]

[randall]

There really is no point in doing a "test the water" game. It's basically an all or nothing deal. Those developers that have seen the greatest successes have gone all out to push the success of their games.

Do you honestly think "testing the waters" is going to provide valuable feedback? You're mistaken.

Doug Beck, Sven Myhre, Simon Jacobs are just a few that don't pull punches when it comes to developing.

There are numerous developers out there that have 6 or more titles, and they still don't make enough money to thrive. These people just don't get it, and they will argue to the death that their method is absoutely right.

Well then explain how my ONE game can outsell all 6 to 8 of theirs combined. If producing more and getting less return is your goal, then great. For me, I am one lazy bastard and will do the least amount of work to accomplish the same goal.

I'm not saying that you should quit your job. All it requires is competent project management. You can work on the game in your spare time over a long period, that way you still have your day job as income.

The alternative is to just QUIT your day job and have an accelerated schedule that spans about 4 months max. I quit my job and worked on Snails for 4 months, and I STILL don't have a "real" job. I have enough income to tide me over- and keep in mind that I only recieve a small percentage of the overall game revenue.

The basic rule is: If you think small, you'll be small.

Some developers don't want to hire an artist, sound guy or marketing person because it eats into the profits. This is thinking small and it will keep you small. I can name very few people that can perform all those duties with any degree of success.

I'm not declaring that you should gather a 15 person team. That is just idiotic, and an indicator that leading a team is not your strong point.

[Digby]

[sponge]

[James S]

[randall]

Basically, what Digby said is true. There isn't a huge number of devices out there. Nobody is getting rich from making PocketPC software (yet).

Which is the reason why you can't go into this half-assed. The industry isn't big enough for you to dabble in it. Why waste the time? I'd suggest that if you want to go that route, don't even bother. Go find something more lucrative to do.

The freedom that I have to do what I want to do, without some clueless asshole telling me what is best for the industry or how to do my job is far worth it to me. Its a big tradeoff: you can get LOTS of money (like the PC industry or record industry), but then you gotta be someones bitch. I'm not comprimising because this is not a money issue- its a matter of my freedom to create without boundries, restrictions, consent, deadlines or agendas.

[andyclap]

[Guest]

Tip: change your trial period from 30 days to 15days max. This help sales.

[James S]