How much is your game worth?

[moco]

Something happened the other day that left me short for words. Someone asked me how much I would charge to let them use my game (full version, with their company logos thrown in, no exclusivity) on a promotional cd. It made me laugh actually because I'd never thought about how much I'd consider it to be worth in terms like that!

After I thought about it I came to the conclusion that the correct answer is "the maximum amount that you'd be willing to pay, my friend!" - since it's a no-ties version, any sale is a good sale and the free publicity would do me good. The game itself is a roots breakout game with lots of attention paid to the graphics - something like you'd find in a typical casual-type portal for want of a better description (follow the link below for screenshots.) It's taken me the best part of a year working around 4-5 hours per day, to give an indication.

I just wanted to wondered if anyone here has a similar experience, where you've had to "name a price". Is there such a thing as a "going rate" for a game like this?

I'm just curious, s'all!

[Indiepath]

Something happened the other day that left me short of words. Someone asked me how much I would charge to let them use my game (full version, with their company logos thrown in, no exclusivity) on a promotional cd. It made me laugh actually because I'd never thought about how much I'd consider it to be worth in terms like that!

After I thought about it I came to the conclusion that the correct answer is "the maximum amount that you'd be willing to pay, my friend!" - since it's a no-ties version, any sale is a good sale and the free publicity would do me good. The game itself is a roots breakout game with lots of attention paid to the graphics - something like you'd find in a typical casual-type portal for want of a better description (follow the link below for screenshots.)

I just wanted to wondered if anyone here has a similar experience, where you've had to "name a price". Is there such a thing as a "going rate" for a game like this? I'm just curious, that's all :)
I was approached by the worldwide patent holders of GEOMAG, they wanted to do a deal to put a cut-down and rebranded version of GEOM into every box of magnets they sold. They asked for a price, I told them, they came back and suggested I remove a few zeros from the end of the figure. The price they offered would not have covered the re-development time - I declined the deal. I still have lines of communication with the company, and their competitors - when the time is right and I am positive a mutually beneficial deal will be struck.

[DarkShadow]

I usually don't spend less then a year on my games. If someone wants to buy rights to it for $10 - $500 I probably wouldn't accept. I don't just make games, I put my heart into them, I put everything I have into them to make people not only enjoy them, but understand the quality of them. If I had to put a price on my current project at this moment, I wouldn't go lower then $250,000.. and that's my bare minimum. Sound expensive? Sure it is, but if that company wants it that much, I know I did a good job.

[LilGames]

Yeah we've had similar [equally ridiculous] inquiries. We're in the business of SELLING our game, not giving it away for free, and certainly not giving it away for free ot help promote someone else's company!

We would consider it even at a reduced price accounting for volume, but clients making these sorts of inquiries never think that a reasonable cost is actually reasonable. They always think THEY are doing US a favor.

I'd say try to negotiate terms where they get your DEMO on their cd instead, and the demo promotes purchase of the full version. I'd do a deal like that for free.

[Nexic]

I would say go no lower than $1000 no matter what kind of game. After that you've got to judge on lot's of factors. For example, if your game has already made you $30k in direct sales over 6 months, then you should probably expect at least $5k for no royalty, non exclusive publishing. Also take into account the site's traffic.

My advice is to throw out a high figure, then when they come back with a response (most likely no) you will have an idea of their max

[jcottier]

Don't expect to make a fortune but I will say take the money, even if it is small (obviously try to negotiate as much as you can). You will probably not loose any direct sale. You are not even selling it yet anyway.

If you are not interested, give them my link www.ovogame.com. I will do a deal with them ;-) if you don't want to do it yourself.

JC

[NathanR]

I was asked this question a few days ago during a meeting with a corporate game company as well.

"How much for just one of your games?" which I took to mean that they wanted to buy a game from me entirely for their own use.

I look at it like I look at comic books and other stuff. Something is only worth as much as people are willing to pay. I can set a price, of course Im going to charge as much as I spent in time and resources to recoup my own costs, but if nobody pays that... well... one would be in the wrong business if that was the case and lets hope none of us are. :)

So yeah I just quoted how much it cost me to make a single title, added on several grand for profit, and told them. They were amazed at how cheap it was. I guess I should have added on several more grand for profit. lol

[lamsbro]

The finance minded way to do it would be to calculate the present value of all the future money you expect it to bring in. This is how the corporate world calculates the value of things that are expected to bring in future cash. For a more in depth look at how to do this sort of thing google "present value of money." The basic calculations are pretty simple, but you'll have to forecast how much money your game will bring in, and choose a reasonable discount rate.

[Shaz]

Did the original question state that it was a non-exclusive deal? Doesn't that mean you can still get your own income from it as long as you want?

Is it a matter of finding out how many CDs they expect to distribute, calculating how much you COULD make if you sold it to that many people at your regular price, then dropping the price appropriately because they're guaranteeing the number (or they're the ones taking a risk) and you're getting an up-front payment? Then you can still sell it on your own website or through whatever other means you choose.

Also, is it likely the CDs they'll be distributing will be going to people who might otherwise be your potential customers (selling to them at $15 when you could be selling to them at $20)? If not, then ANY money you get from them is a bonus. You'd be relying on your own sales to recover your time and costs anyway, so I don't think it's necessary to set a high enough price to cover your expenses. If it WERE an exclusive deal, that'd be an entirely different story (time and costs PLUS potential profits for the life of the game, thanks very much!)

[moco]

There's some very good comments here. Thanks, guys and gals.

Did the original question state that it was a non-exclusive deal? Doesn't that mean you can still get your own income from it as long as you want?

Yeh., it's non-exclusive.

[Andy]

I like the idea that most of guys who replied stand on the rails of reality.

I'd say as far as proposed amount isn't offending you and this is non-exclusive deal get the money. You should negotiate possible number of copies they are going to give away. But I'd say anything higher than 3000 should be pretty fair for such kind of deal.

PS As for 250K mentioned by DarkShadow... Well. This obviously depends from the game. But I hardly believe you will ever be able to receive something in such limits for the game in the question.

[Yarlen]

I would say that you should try to estimate the costs of making the changes requested and charge that as your base amount. That way you at least break even. After that, negotiate a dollar amount per unit sold (if the game is going to be sold to customers) or get some kind of marketing concession (info in the game to send people back to your site, etc.). As a dollar amount you'd realistically be looking at like 30-50 cents per unit, but it's all extra at that point.

If the deal's exclusive, then ask for more. ;)

[lennard]

I like Brian and LilGames take on things. Brians is kind of an OEM deal where you calculate your time cost and then calculate a cost per CD. LilGames is a no-brainer (and contact me right away if you have a magazine that wants any of my demos!).

The one other thing to consider is technical support. I walked away from cash for Battle Castles in Germany recently because, while it put decent cash in my pocket, there wasnt enough profit to justify both potential technical support issues and my perceived dilution of the brand. I may still want to do a sequel and so I didnt want to muddy the waters with a large distro at a low price point (I suspect they were going to blow it out at somewhere between 4.99 and 9.99).