next »

[Kyzrati]

SteamSpy is pretty awesome. Not precise data, but great for ballparking.

The cool thing about not being on Steam is that I can share my own data since there aren't any contractual restrictions, so I've done just that today here. Cogmind's gross revenue for year 1 comes to US$ 62k (2,119 players). Data and graphs on the blog.

[Xonatron]

Kyzrati, very well done. Congratulations.

[Kyzrati]

Thanks, just took a couple years of working on the engine and similar (free) games, then a couple more years working on the pre-alpha... Very not worth it when you count out the hours, but it's more fulfilling than doing jobs for others

Would have been rather disappointing if it couldn't eventually sustain itself, though, because it'll be nice to keep doing this! (Assuming I'm right in assuming enough people will buy when the price is lower, so that I'm no longer in debt )

[Xonatron]

Kyzrati, just keep in mind the growth and development phase (of yourself) never counts to being worthy in the math early on. It continuously adds to your career though. Your success puts you in group that very few game developers ever join. Feel proud. Some games make millions, some are profitable, some break-even, but most fail financially (95%), and all of that is just 5% of the true total as most games do not get finished (95%), and then who knows how many games never even exist from people who wish they could make them but never start. Those numbers are just approximations I have read, but likely they tell a close to true story.

[Kyzrati]

Yup, I've heard the same truths. This is why I'm already plenty happy with where things stand. It's not a bad start for someone playing to win here (not like a million dollars win, but a basic rent and food win )

Too bad this thread doesn't really get much love anymore. Would be interesting to see how other TIGS games are doing these days, though I guess most are Steam-based and can't share the data. Anyway, that's why I dropped by to post mine--anyone else out there???

[Xonatron]

I didn't realize Steam makes you sign into an NDA on sales.

[Grhyll]

Kyzrati, interesting to read Personally I'm not sure I even saw this topic before, this forum section is imo quiet enough to make a new topic for each new post-mortems! (As long as there's some value in the post-mortem, of course.)

[Kyzrati]

I didn't realize Steam makes you sign into an NDA on sales.

Yep, they do, which is why you never see devs giving specific numbers from there. At most what some do is give "composite" figures when they're selling across multiple storefronts, so technically they aren't giving out Steam-specific data (sort of a way around the NDA), but even then you still don't normally see actual money values.

Kyzrati, interesting to read Personally I'm not sure I even saw this topic before, this forum section is imo quiet enough to make a new topic for each new post-mortems! (As long as there's some value in the post-mortem, of course.)

Heh, good point . I also threw the full post up in my dev log thread, and there's more traffic over there, anyway. Don't want to spam it *everywhere* (but I always remember this sticky in the business section, which was especially interesting before the arrival of SteamSpy)

[Grhyll]

Well I'll still post my own post-mortem here, despite what I said, because I don't feel it really deserve its own thread :D It probably won't be very interesting for people already seriously invested in game dev, but maybe for aspiring and beginners, if any come by here
http://3-50.net/post-mortem-red-skies/

[Christian Knudsen]

One thing to remember about SteamSpy and kickstarted games is that the number of kickstarter backers should be deducted from the SteamSpy figures if you want a more accurate sales number.

[Kyzrati]

Well I'll still post my own post-mortem here, despite what I said, because I don't feel it really deserve its own thread :D It probably won't be very interesting for people already seriously invested in game dev, but maybe for aspiring and beginners, if any come by here
http://3-50.net/post-mortem-red-skies/

Mobile is brutal xD. Good read, though! Good luck on the road to that Big Project

One thing to remember about SteamSpy and kickstarted games is that the number of kickstarter backers should be deducted from the SteamSpy figures if you want a more accurate sales number.

Absolutely, that and the fact that some games distribute in extremely cheap bundles, which inflates their numbers and might not represent interest in the game itself (and often not much revenue, either).

[Major_Minion]

Amazing blog, Kyzrati! Made me want to try your game. What nice work, and so much interesting content!

[Kyzrati]

Thanks. Well, I did just drop the price a couple months ago after that post . (But seriously, it's still just for diehard fans.) That brought a temporary surge of new players--revenue up to $68k.

[spesknight]

Thanks. Well, I did just drop the price a couple months ago after that post . (But seriously, it's still just for diehard fans.) That brought a temporary surge of new players--revenue up to $68k.

$68k or $68? It is quite a difference...

[io3 creations]

One thing to remember about SteamSpy and kickstarted games is that the number of kickstarter backers should be deducted from the SteamSpy figures if you want a more accurate sales number.

Are you saying that people on Kickstarter get the games for free?   They also pay for the game so that number won't make much of a difference.  In fact, Steam gives out keys for free and if the developers send those keys to players then Steam doesn't take it's cut from that portion.

[mctb32]

Book of Demons - hack & slash early access on Steam, Humble + direct sales - almost 7500 copies in 2 months.

Here is the full early access launch postmortem detailing our marketing efforts since start: https://thingtrunk.com/bod-early-access-launch-postmortem/ Have a nice read

Gameplay trailer:


Steam page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/449960/

[ryansumo]

SteamSpy is pretty awesome. Not precise data, but great for ballparking.

The cool thing about not being on Steam is that I can share my own data since there aren't any contractual restrictions, so I've done just that today here. Cogmind's gross revenue for year 1 comes to US$ 62k (2,119 players). Data and graphs on the blog.

Well done!  That's kind of a feat considering you didn't list on Steam.  Was that a conscious choice or was there no interest from them?

[Kyzrati]

I'm sure there would be plenty of interest over there. Even GOG contacted me last year, something they don't seem to do too often for relatively obscure games... But in any case, if you've already built a fan base outside Steam, why release there first and give up so much of that revenue for nothing? I'll definitely put it there later, but it doesn't make much business sense to do it early on if it isn't necessary.

[NightwareGames]

SteamSpy is pretty awesome. Not precise data, but great for ballparking.

The cool thing about not being on Steam is that I can share my own data since there aren't any contractual restrictions, so I've done just that today here. Cogmind's gross revenue for year 1 comes to US$ 62k (2,119 players). Data and graphs on the blog.

Didn't know about that, thank you :O

[ryansumo]

Hi, I wrote a blog showing our sales stats so far here:
http://www.squeakywheel.ph/blog/2017/1/18/political-animals-sales-statistics

tl:dr version:


We needed to sell about 10000 units to break even, but sold less than 3000 so far.


91% of our sales came from Steam.


Chinese localization of your game might surprise you at how well it boosts your sales.


88% of our sales came from Windows, 11% Mac, 1% Linux


We have a huge discrepancy between people that have wishlisted the game and actually bought it. leading us to believe they're waiting for a much lower price.


Our relatively uninteresting sales graph!