[casual_games] "Don't Roll Over" Casuality Slides

[Download Free Games]

I think what we have here is a situation of Russian Roulette when it 
comes to paying royalties.  It's fun for awhile, but all of a sudden, 
its all over.

I don't understand why portals continue to bemoan clones and cry out for 
innovation yet squeeze developers for every last dime.  This makes no 
sense and is a great way of destroying the very supply that keeps us all 
in business.  Unless we want to see content production outsourced to the 
developing world and see quality drop, we need to seriously rethink what 
we are doing.

When Download Free Games transitioned to a distribution model last year, 
one of my main goals was a fair revenue split with developers.  From the 
inception of our new model, we have always paid developers 50% of net 
revenue and in most cases, a $7 floor.  With our volume, we could have 
squeezed down to 40% but I wanted to maintain a "win-win" principle 
throughout every partnership.  I believe 50-50 net aptly reflects the 
equal effort and importance of production and marketing and have been 
happy to pay a higher rate than almost any other site.  Because we are a 
small operation, we only take on select developers but have at times 
included several indies with quality titles.

I would hope more developers put their foot down and refuse to partner 
with portals that don't pay well.  Too many are saying "oh well" and 
accepting lower rates yet complaining about it.  If you don't draw the 
line, nothing will change.

Jim Rosenquist
President
Download Free Games
http://www.download-free-games.com




Brian Robbins wrote:
> As a new and unproven developer there may be times when you need to
> take a lesser deal in order to meet the needs of your business. That's
> okay and expected, but you should have a broad idea of what that
> lesser deal should entail.
>
> This discussion is the first step that I was hoping to accomplish with
> my talk. The reality of today's market is that there is a fair amount
> of room for developers to work with and even the newest players to the
> market have some amount of leverage not to just blindly accept
> whatever has been offered.
>
> Very few people in this space can demand the highest royalties rates,
> and there are valid times when a developer should take a deal that has
> lesser terms. If a developer is truly starving then that is an
> excellent example of a time when they will probably trade royalty
> share in exchange for a development advance.
>
> What should never happen is for any developer to just accept an offer
> without realizing what is in the realm of possibility. If they are
> going to take a lesser deal, they need to actively choose to take a
> lesser deal, rather than think that's the only option available.
>
> As Margaret said, the relationships in this space are all very
> symbiotic, and every deal and negotiation should be approached as if
> you are looking at some sort of partnership. If one side isn't getting
> a positive result from the deal, then it is one that probably
> shouldn't happen.
>
> -- 
> Brian Robbins
> Director of Games, Game Trust
> http://www.gametrust.com/
> Chair, IGDA Casual Games SIG
> http://www.igda.org/casual/
> _______________________________________________
> Casual_Games mailing list
> Casual_Games at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games
>
>
>