Sales Statistics: GL Golf, Over $28,000 Total Sales

[Polycount Productions]

http://www.gameproducer.net/2006/10/16/sales-statistics-gl-golf-over-28000-total-sales/

Nuclear Nova Software (http://www.nuclearnova.com/) has published some sales stats.
Total sales:
$28360 over two and a half years. Average monthly sales - 43 copies of GL Golf or the Combo pack with a total of $945 a month.

I developed GL Golf as a hobby to enter into the uDevGames 2003 contest. It won Editors Choice and received lots of positive feedback. I decided to improve the game and release it as shareware, and I was amazed by the sales. It took about two months to get the sales up to the average rate, but for over two years I have maintained a steady income. This is mostly due to constant updates of the game, at least once a month. I’ve added several new features to every patch, and the version today looks like an entirely different game than the one released in March of 2004.

Read the full story: click here (http://www.gameproducer.net/2006/10/16/sales-statistics-gl-golf-over-28000-total-sales/)

[joe]

Thanks for sharing! Are the updates free for existing users or do they have to pay again if its a bigger update?

[NuclearNova]

Your not kidding PKeod... I keep thinking about it but haven't followed through with it yet. Maybe these sales numbers will get someone to commit to it :)

Joe - All the updates are free, but I'm considering changing that because some people have gotten 11 new courses sense they started! I might change it to only enable the next XXX courses to be released or good for XXX months.

[joe]

Okay thanks. With our application Replay users get updates within the same main-version nummber for free and have to pay for updates for example from 1.x to 2.x (but they get a special price and dont have to pay the full price).

When we maked the last BIG update from 1.4 to 2.0 we had a great month in sales because a lot of "old" customers updated (and we have nearly 2000 Replay customers).

I'm wondering if this works for games as well...

[princec]

Surely OpenGL is a terrible choice for games development?

Cas :)

[20thCenturyBoy]

Surely OpenGL is a terrible choice for games development?

Cas :)
I know, and he actually advertises it in the title! ;)

[Sharpfish]

Surely OpenGL is a terrible choice for games development?

Cas :)

Obviously, not on the MAC (which this game is exclusively for) which no one ever said it was?

[princec]

<fx: Sharpfish looks down and realises he can't see the sarcasm because it's so big he's standing on it ;) >

Cas :)

[Sharpfish]

<edited - deleted tounge in cheek comment in case it offends... sorry>

And yes Cas, Sarcasm was noted but response was for other viewers who don't know the history of your opengl crusade and the lighthearted manner in which it's sometimes discussed. OpenGL is fine for game dev.

[NuclearNova]

Okay thanks. With our application Replay users get updates within the same main-version nummber for free and have to pay for updates for example from 1.x to 2.x (but they get a special price and dont have to pay the full price).

When we maked the last BIG update from 1.4 to 2.0 we had a great month in sales because a lot of "old" customers updated (and we have nearly 2000 Replay customers).

I'm wondering if this works for games as well...

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to implement something like that for sure, with a big customer base I know I could bring in some extra cash like that. Would you mind sharing, either here or in a PM, how many of those 2000 people paid for the upgrade, and the cost of the product/upgrade?

I'm seriously looking into a PC port now, because if the PC version does 10% as well as the mac version thats almost $3000 i'm missing out on!