Comments on: More on game profitability

By: Jon Trainer

Jon Trainer — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:24:31 +0000

I guess that makes sense. It really depends on who your target audience is.

Are you targeting a casual gamer that is going to browse the portals, but never really search out any games? Or are you going to target an audience with players that regularly search out new games (RPG and Strategy War Game players for example)?

It’s probably possible to design a game that would appeal to both audiences, but very unlikely.

By: Phil Steinmeyer

Phil Steinmeyer — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:35:13 +0000

I think you really have to pick one and target - the middle is sort of dead ground.

Stuff that works best on a developer’s website are niche titles - things that people will seek out and find you for, or that a developer can find a way to reach the customer for and draw that customer to their web site. But portals want mass market titles, with a limited range of gameplay styles. Niche titles do poorly on portals.

By: Jon Trainer

Jon Trainer — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:47:15 +0000

It seems like there are two different, but valid approaches to publishing an indie game.

1. Portal - Make a majority of your money in a short period of time while your game is still prominantly listed.

vs.

2. Developer’s Website - Slow organic growth of sales over many years.

My question is why can’t both approaches be used together? Does going the Portal approach preclude option #2? It seems like using both approaches together would net the best results over time.

By: Allen Varney

Allen Varney — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 18:43:01 +0000

Eighteen months to breakeven is a pretty good rate for a shareware indie game! A successful shareware game follows a different sales curve from retail or portal titles: a long, slow buildup over years, sometimes five or ten years, with frequent iteration and expansion all the way along. Thomas Warfield made, like, $100 in his first year of Pretty Good Solitaire. You have to plan for the long haul.