Games profitability

[Lvfn]

Hi there!

I have some kind of exotic question for developers.
Are the Pocket PC's games profitable itselves? I mean how much copies are sold per month for the non-killer apps?
I was crazy CE-developer four/three years ago and I'm thinking about going back to nature .

Thanks!

[cryo]

I think that, if you want to live from game development, you must focus on quantity. I am not saying that you must produce tons of crap games, but you must release a title every month or so for securing a decent income, instead of working for years on a super-mega-game. The market just is not that big yet.

cryo

[Michael Y]

You shouldn't be in it for the money, though. The market being so small, the main reason to start developing again would be to help bring joy to the other PPC users, and maybe get a few muffins out of it

[Conan]

The market is growing but so is the number of developers. You won't make a proper living wage from PocketPC games just yet but the market is growing. Writing productivity applications would make you more money but that's pretty boring if you are into games.

Selling as shareware you pay out around 20% to have credit card & registration stuff handled automatically. That's a lot better than the royalties from a commercial title & some shareware titles sell pretty well.

I've never been able to write little games myself so I am aiming at one a year until I eventually go full time.

get coding again, it's fun

[Lvfn]

Thanks for replies, guyz!

You know, I pray the God I study MSDN I know a lot about CE stuff so where is my Porsche?

OK, I'm in.

[randall]

Cryo, dunno about you, but I am pretty sure I have made more off Snails in the last 4 months than you have by "releasing a title every month or so". I'm making a proper living, and doing just fine.

LVfn, if you want real insight, then ask someone like Sven Mhyre of Amazing Games. Everyone else is just kind of guessing but he knows where its at.

[Pejo Software - Per]

Is it not all about marketing, how much you sell? Does anyone got any insight in how to market your products the best way.

Making a good living from Pocket PC programs seems hard. If I were to quit my "real" job to develop Pocket PC program I have to sell for about US$80000 to get the same income.

[cryo]

randall,

you are probably right for an individual, but we are a company. How many PPC games generate so much income to pay the salaries of 5 good payed programmers for 2-3 months? I guess not many.

If i were programming games alone, i would start by doing smaller games in a higher frequency.

Besides, not everyone produces games as good as Snails, so i think the average income is significantly lower than yours atm.

Do you know of any company that is not venture capital or otherwise externally funded and that is not run by half-time ppl that is coming up with 100% of their needed revenue just by releasing PPC games?
If you know one we should try to have them giving us some hints and tips.

cryo

[simonjacobs]

Marketing is very important, but also having a quality product is vital.

It IS possible to make a living off writing Pocket PC games full time, if you are good enough.

I would NOT advise you to write one simple game a month, you will go broke that way. Write one very high quality game every few months. Before you start full time be very sure you are good enough.

The sort of quality you need to earn a living as an independent game writer is:

Chopper Alley
Snails

Dont expect a very high quality puzzle game to make you rich.

[Phantom]

I have an interesting case: A quality game (if I may say so, at least the reviews where good), virtually no marketing besides 10 reviews or so: The Nutcracker. I sold less than 200 copies. I strongly believe the games that do earn their authors a living are extremely rare. Chances of success are small. I wouldn't start working on a game with the knowledge I have now if my intention is to earn a living. Too big a risk.
There are other good reasons for writing a good game though.

BTW, keep checking PocketMatrix. I (and the company I work for) am about to solve the cash problem.

[simonjacobs]

Marketing is really vital, that is true.

Obviously it is possible to write a good product and market it well and still fail, but if you get both the product and the marketing right, plus it is a genre of product people are interested in, there is a very good chance of it selling.

I would certainly not advise someone to give up their day job and start writing ppc games full time. Do it part time, then if your game is a massive success you can start full time!

[cryo]

hey Phantom,

we also have plans to solve the cash problem... When will you release yours?

cryo

[Phantom]

[randall]

Wait, Jaccos plan must be in a private forum, because I distincly remember reading it. No wonder it remained on topic.

Nutcracker is a different story. I can see where some of the shortcomings were, and none of them had to do with the game itself.

Jacco has a great reputation, but consider that many people have not heard of him. We make up an almost insignificant portion of the market. Although we may think the project is great, we aren't the people that need to be convinced. Its the other thousands of people out there that have never heard of Jacco or Nutcracker.

Nutcracker still has the potential to be re-awakened. Its not dead, and it is still among the most intersting and fun games for PPC. Possibly, it just needs an alternate plan. Marketing and PR isn't simple, nor is it cut-and-dry. Its alot of research and knowing where your advertising is best spent.

Taking more from that, Jacco stated that "I wouldn't start working on a game with the knowledge I have now if my intention is to earn a living. Too big a risk."

Hindsight is always 20/20, unfortunately. It is always a risk, which is why I threw alot into Snails. A one man team is more risky, if you ask me.

I am earning a living off Snails. I do small freelance jobs once in a while, but I don't have to. My wife has her career as well. So we have little things to fill in any gaps. This month, Snails paid for us to attend the PPC Summit, and spend nearly a week in NY. (me, my wife and daughter)

I think most Devs actually have side jobs to bring in extra money. That is just their nature.

Writing a title every month doesn't allow you to reap the benefits of marketing and advertising. Marketing really is a fulltime job. It takes at least a month to get into gear. Another month to see a return and decide what works and what doesn't. Another month to fine tune and really push it. This is where Snails is right now.

I don't know how Simon did his marketing, but it worked. He maintains a high recognition and that translates to high sales. He is on many top 10 lists, including CNET.

[Lvfn]

I guess that the PocketPC game industry will be more successful if software will come with piece of hardware. I mean something like a ROM-cartridge for the Gameboy or Atari, insertable in the CF slot.