Sales in your first month

[Emmanuel]

Hello guys,

I'm interested in some data -- what your first month sales were, especially of your first title.. Just what title it is, where I can find the free demo, and how many copies you sold. (and how much it was priced for, if you changed it since then)

Garden War's sales could be better. I'm not looking for an excuse to sit back and relax thinking "oh okay, everybody just sold 10 copies in the first month, so I needn't worry", more like "this guy had these really good incentives and sold X copies, I get it"

Garden War is in a category that's little to no competition from your games so you're safe :)

I'll post my data after a month at any rate.

Thanks !
Emmanuel

[Tertsi]

There are already some quite new threads with this data. Search for some older posts and you'll find them. :)

[Nexic]

My first year of sales for my first game resulted in ONE sale. I don't think you can do much worse than that.

However my latest game was something like 50 in the first month, not including portal sales.

[Emmanuel]

My first year of sales for my first game resulted in ONE sale. I don't think you can do much worse than that.

However my latest game was something like 50 in the first month, not including portal sales.

Well you learned from previous experience :) What did you do different for your latest game?

- Market research?
- Stick to a popular genre? (shooter, etc.)
- More polish?
- Ad spending?

Just curious :)

Emmanuel

[stan]

Oh, I should feel happy about my two sales in 4 months then :).

[Nexic]

Well you learned from previous experience :) What did you do different for your latest game?

- Market research?
- Stick to a popular genre? (shooter, etc.)
- More polish?
- Ad spending?

Just curious :)

Emmanuel

Improved all of those things hugely.

Astral Phantom:

No market research
Had no solid genre, was a failed attempts at originality
Zero Polish
Zero Ad spending

Xeno Assault 2

A few days of research,
Stuck to a standard genre,
A decent amount of polish
A few $100 in ad spending

[Surrealix]

My first year of sales for my first game resulted in ONE sale. I don't think you can do much worse than that.

However my latest game was something like 50 in the first month, not including portal sales.

I can equal that.

But I am planning to do some more promotion soon, when I find the time.

[Evak]

ok, Aerial Antics sold one copy the first month.

One thing I learnt was that it can take 6 - 12 weeks to get your game listed on the bigger download sites. So try and get your demo out ASAP and start marketing earlier to get some interest in the game before its done.

I think we sold 2 copies the second month. Got a few more when Garage games finaly published the game on their site. Still not selling a lot of copies despite getting a lot of demo downloads.

AERIAL ANTICS DEMO
http://www.leadfootproductions.com/AA.htm

Our second game actually did worse, no surprise with a name like Market Value lol. I thin kit's only sold 2 copies to date, but then when I was submitting the file to download sites, I noticed it had about 300+ other games to compete with in the same category. No marketing means it got lost in the crowd.

MARKET VALUE DEMO
http://www.leadfootproductions.com/MV.htm

Basicaly learnt that a game has to be outstanding to sell itself without any marketing, and to date we havent really done either thing. My excuse being I don't like the games enough to spend money I don't have on promoting them , particularly when I wouldn't buy or play them myself. If I don't play them I really shouldn't expect anyone else to either.

Hopefully the next one will do better, and I like it enough to consider promoting it some more, if it lives up to current expectations and gets finished :)

[lakibuk]

My first month of sales:
Sep.11.2003 - Oct.11.2003 - 39 sales

[BongPig]

We shifted over 150 copies of Tripper in the first month, but that was early 2001. Things are somewhat different now.

[edifreak]

My first month of sales:
Sep.11.2003 - Oct.11.2003 - 39 sales
You have a supercute site, user-friendly look...and simple games! good job ;)

I'm still trying to sell my first one, released a month ago :o
Game: Gold Seeker (http://generationstars.com/index2.php?game=15)
No publishers, no nothing.. just posted on a few (~10) good sites. Not a dime spent (couse a ain't got any yet) :(

[tentons]

We shifted over 150 copies of Tripper in the first month, but that was early 2001. Things are somewhat different now.
Would you mind to elaborate on the differences you've personally noticed? If you released the game this month instead, why wouldn't sales be equivalent?

[BongPig]

When we released Tripper, there were still a shitload of big popular gaming sites. These guys had traffic by the ton, and would happily post up info on just about any game. Now we have... ummmm .... gamespot. And, some others. But these guys would never answer a mail, let alone post up info on our games. So essentially, we've lost access to the mainstream, hardcore FPS types who are the ones that seem to like our games most.

Nowadays, they are impossible to reach, even though there are millions of them. The saying water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink comes to mind!

[Emmanuel]

Thanks guys!

My sales aren't picking up yet, but I'm working on it :)

[patrox]

We shifted over 150 copies of Tripper in the first month, but that was early 2001. Things are somewhat different now.

That's interesting to see that an openGL game could sell nicely in 2001... :rolleyes:

pat.

[BongPig]

good point pat.

but, as we suspected, its mainstream/FPS fans who do seem to like our games... and we all know what that lot are like when it comes to graphics cards and drivers!

[Jack Norton]

Well in 2001 there was a certain Neverwinter Nights who sold 1 MILLION of copies and required OpenGL 1.4 to play... ;)

[tentons]

Yeah, I don't see drivers, or technology in general, as a deterrent to sales. If your game is good enough, they'll buy. Look at how many people are compelled to upgrade hardware for certain games. I don't see why it wouldn't happen on a smaller scale if someone wanted to play an indie game badly enough.

Too many people let vague barriers stop them before they try.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

Garden War is in a category that's little to no competition from your games so you're safe :)

Actually, your game and my game are very, very similar. =)

That being said, I'd give you sales stats if I had them, but my game (my first) won't be up for sale until June 1.

Best of luck to you!

-Hiro_Antagonist

[Emmanuel]

Actually, your game and my game are very, very similar. =)

That being said, I'd give you sales stats if I had them, but my game (my first) won't be up for sale until June 1.

Best of luck to you!

-Hiro_Antagonist

Actually I did check out your site a month or two ago and I thought that looked like something I want to buy. I hope I don't get distracted between now and june 1st :)

Best of luck!

Emmanuel