I was wondering about what people would be happy with for month revenues, for a good indie game. Would a income of $1000 / $2000 / $5000 be something people would be happy with. Also how would you expect the income to change over 3 months, 6 month. Also how do you see portals affecting this income, and how they change over the life time of the game? I'm asking, as in a couple of months, I will have finished working on the AAA project I have been for the last couple of years, and want a small break, and was looking at developing several small indie game in this time. Thanks Phil
speaking strictly about my own personal sales .. not including portals and retail deals etc.... 0-3k bad 3-5k average 5-10k good 10-15k great
0-3K BAD??? lol! svero, then since you have 4-5 games I should assume that you earn minimum 15k month? and that's a bad result?!? EDIT: maybe I read your post wrongly, you meant income from all your games?
I'd be happy with 2500-3000/month at this point in my life... I figure that $30,000/yr isn't bad yet... 2500 / 30 days = $83/day .... $83 / 17.95 ($19.95 product - 10% transaction fee) = 4.6 sales/day Very achievable.
I'd be happy if all my games did a solid 3k a month and I had a cumulative total of 30k coming in but that's not generally how it works out. There are spikes for new games, and games die out, and some just don't sell etc... The winners end up having to compensate for the losers. A game that's selling really well can do 10-20 sales a day though, and pull in a lot more from portals, and retail deals etc... So yeah, I meant for 1 game. Anyway.. I wouldn't read too much into what I wrote. Those are my measures for success and not necessarily indicative of my income.
Well I'm surprised really that people find those numbers surprising. I mean... Suppose I spend 6 months working on a game. And then it starts pulling in 1000$-3000$ a month. Somehow that has to pay for the artist, my time (and I dont work alone so really 2 people), phone, inernet, server etc... I guess over time several games might add up to an amount that could cover basic expenses, but in reality older game sales fade, and you can only really split up your traffic amongst so many titles. If 100 people visit your site and you have 2 games you don't get as many sales of each game as you would just pushing the one. I guess those kinds of numbers are fine if it's a part time job or a hobby and it's providing some extra income, but if it's your only income it's just not sufficient.
Those numbers might be ok for you that are more than 3-4 years in the business, but for someone just starting out I think 1000$/month is already an exceptional result...
It also depends greatly on where you live. In my corner of the world, $3k a month would be more than enough to sustain an upper middle class lifestyle.
I'd snatch at $3k a month. Heck, that's what I earn now in my first job out of university, before tax. To be working on my own games instead of doing that job (much as I like it, but it is only five days old) would be great. Hopefully in three to five years time.
Well I don't think of it in terms of how long I've been doing it or any of that. I think of it in terms of being worth my time relative to a regular job and whether I can meet my living expenses. At 1-3k income from a game I'm on the edge of having to close up shop and find some other means to support myself. Keep in mind that the money is split with artists, and another fulltime partner.
Or you suppose all your (our at least) games bad Steve? REM: I don't think so really. Just wondering.
Hmm.. probably shouldn't have answered this thread. I forgot how voracious the desire to learn other people's sales is on these boards. I really just wanted to share my perception of what it means for a game to be a success in my eyes. I've never been one to discuss sales figures in public (or at all really except with a choice few people) and I won't start now. I'll just say this.. since it wasn't clear. The figures I gave in my first response are what I'd think of how a game was selling a few months after release. I'd expect those figures to drop with time. So if a game was still pulling in 2-3k a month after a few years I'd be pretty happy with that.
Steve. Just to explain also. The starting statement was too laud To consider 3$ monthly income for one single game - it's a little bit err... OK. At least I see you concern now and can explain why I wasn't able to get it from the very beginning. We haven't experienced that starting burst in sales at our company yet. Because every good selling game was starting OK - but was selling even better with every next month. Just because we are very starting and growing. And no one our single game haven't beaten yet that 3$ monthly sales barrier (from our site I mean). That depends pretty much from preheap you are able to produce before your game starts. Depends from marketing policy of your company - game content (some guys are going survive with one single game as we know) etc. REM: But yeah, I'd be pretty dissapointed if our upcoming INVASION 2 wouldn't produce good sales heap from our current customers at the beginning.