[casual_games] Sales, Exposure and Profitability

[Gorm Lai]

Hi Ben,

I actually meant 4 to 5 man months, by which I mean the equivalent of 1 man
for 5 months (more like 3 and half for programmers, and the rest for
artist). In my experience, this is approximately what was needed for a
polished friendly game on the OpenTV platform two to three years ago.

I am therefore surprised to hear that you think a 7+ man team is needed for
a polished and fun modern game.

As for the costs in Denmark, I suspect they are the same as in the US.
However, I was assuming living standards for people in a start-up willing to
live on not so much. Otherwise, as a computer scientist my normal income
expectations would range $6000 to $12000 depending on experience and job
description.

Cheers,
Gorm
--------------
IGDA Denmark Chapter Committee Member
Core Engine Programmer @ Deadline Games
 

-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Ben Lewis
Sent: 25 June 2007 22:10
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Sales, Exposure and Profitability

Hi Gorm,

Let's look at your model again -- at $4,000 per month for 5 months, that's
$20,000 *per person*, not total. Let's also assume you have two programmers
and two artists on the project, all salaries being equal in this example.
That's $80,000 in salaries, assuming you can make a really polished, fun
game in 5 months with a 4-man team. Then add your overhead, any legal fees,
post-development, weeks/months spent negotiating contracts and waiting to
launch on the portals.

These days, you're more likely to spend 6-12 months with a team of 7+ if
you're making a polished title with a chance to land in the Top 10 lists.
Your costs in Denmark may be far less than a US-based studio, though.

The numbers look absolutely dismal at first, but if you've got a great game
with wide distribution and front-page promo, hundreds of thousands of people
will download. And if you're on portals that offer in-game advertising in
downloads, even better!


Ben Lewis
Yatec Games
Marketing and Sales
(225)274-1550  Ext. 149
www.yatecgames.com 


________________________________________
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Gorm Lai
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 2:53 PM
To: casual_games at igda.org
Subject: [casual_games] Sales, Exposure and Profitability

Hi,

I have been doing some serious calculations that I would like to run through
you guys.

First, having worked in casual games before (for set top boxes), I did an
estimate that a good polished casual game can be completed in 4 to 5 man
month, including programmer and artist hours.
At a low starting income of around $4000 dollars a month, expenses totals to
approx $20.000.

Selling a game at $20, with 30% going to the developer this means an income
of 6$ pr. sold unit. Thus, selling _just_ 3500 units will give a surplus. At
this realization, my eyes gleamed with a golden tint!

However, assuming a conversion rate of just 1 to 2%, selling 3500 units will
require 175,000 to 350,000 downloads.
This seems like larger numbers. If portals take on new games each day, it
must be close to impossible to gather the necessary exposure required to get
the required amount of downloads, not just talking about getting on the
portal in the first place..

What do you guys say? Are my assumptions correct?
Thanks for your time.

Cheers,
Gorm
--------------
IGDA Denmark Chapter Committee Member
Core Engine Programmer @ Deadline Games
 

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