20 replies to this topic

[Terrified Virus]

Hi GMC,

I noticed that Big Fish Games, a large gaming portal, allows you to submit PC Games for distribution. They say they offer a flat fee of $200 for your game, along with 40% of profits earned. I was wondering if anyone has ever used it before and found good use from them, or if they just steal your game, along with all potential for fame and profit... Do you think they are legit with this?

Thanks,
Terrified Virus

Edited by Terrified Virus, 22 July 2012 - 04:47 AM.

[Mr.Chubigans]

Hi GMC,

I noticed that Big Fish Games, a large gaming portal, allows you to submit PC Games for distribution. They say they offer a flat fee of $200 for your game, along with 40% of profits earned. I was wondering if anyone has ever used it before and found good use from them, or if they just steal your game, along with all potential for fame and profit... Do you think they are legit with this?

Thanks,
Terrified Virus

They are definitely legit, but that is a terrible revenue cut for the dev. Any distribution portal that doesn't give you more than 60% is not worth going after, imo. Especially since their standard are very high, to the point where if you made a game they would actually want, you'd be smarter to shop it elsewhere.

[Terrified Virus]

Hi GMC,

I noticed that Big Fish Games, a large gaming portal, allows you to submit PC Games for distribution. They say they offer a flat fee of $200 for your game, along with 40% of profits earned. I was wondering if anyone has ever used it before and found good use from them, or if they just steal your game, along with all potential for fame and profit... Do you think they are legit with this?

Thanks,
Terrified Virus

They are definitely legit, but that is a terrible revenue cut for the dev. Any distribution portal that doesn't give you more than 60% is not worth going after, imo. Especially since their standard are very high, to the point where if you made a game they would actually want, you'd be smarter to shop it elsewhere.

Good points, I will probably not try to hard with this. I will submit my game, if it gets rejected, I will not try again there.

[bobhoil]

I actually contacted them on some information once. They are pretty slow to respond so be prepared for that. I contacted them checking to see if they accepted HTML5 based games which I was informed they currently do not.

[Terrified Virus]

That is actually exactly what I asked them, and they still said no. It does take a horribly long time, it took them 22 days to respond!!!

[Dangerous_Dave]

They are definitely legit, but that is a terrible revenue cut for the dev. Any distribution portal that doesn't give you more than 60% is not worth going after, imo. Especially since their standard are very high, to the point where if you made a game they would actually want, you'd be smarter to shop it elsewhere.

Isn't a different market, though? Say you had your game on Steam (or whatever) and you got 1000 sales per week, then you got your game on Big Fish, and you would have 1000 sales per week on Steam and 1000 sales per week (or whatever) on Big Fish? Sure, if you get on enough places, there's going to be some overlap where someone that would have bought it on one store ends up buying it on another, but wouldn't you be better off overall having your game on an extra high-traffic site?

You may not be getting the same cut from the sales, but that's a little bit more money you didn't have before.

[kburkhart84]

They are definitely legit, but that is a terrible revenue cut for the dev. Any distribution portal that doesn't give you more than 60% is not worth going after, imo. Especially since their standard are very high, to the point where if you made a game they would actually want, you'd be smarter to shop it elsewhere.

Isn't a different market, though? Say you had your game on Steam (or whatever) and you got 1000 sales per week, then you got your game on Big Fish, and you would have 1000 sales per week on Steam and 1000 sales per week (or whatever) on Big Fish? Sure, if you get on enough places, there's going to be some overlap where someone that would have bought it on one store ends up buying it on another, but wouldn't you be better off overall having your game on an extra high-traffic site?

You may not be getting the same cut from the sales, but that's a little bit more money you didn't have before.

That's what I'm thinking. When I finally get done with my android game, I intend to release it on Google's Play Store, in the Amazon Kindle Store, and even on my own website, likely via BMTMicro. And on my website, it will list the different places where you can buy it, and though they'll likely be the same price all over, I'll be getting different cuts from each intake. The catch is that hopefully the intake will be much higher, and some people who don't buy one place are willing to buy from another. ie. Some people hate the Google Store, but would be willing to purchase it separately on my website. That is one less sale lost.

[membrain]

I've had a game published through Bigfish in the past.. I've also had one go through GameHouse (use to be RealMedia) These are two of the biggest players in the game portal biz. Here's what I've learned from this:

1. BigFishGames = a LOT more sales... period.

My game that was published through GameHouse hit the top 10 overall and it was in that ranking for almost a month, and it didn't even come close to what I made with bigfish which btw, my game never hit any charts there at all.

2. Residuals through BFG last longer (typically) I was cut paychecks for larger amounts a lot longer than I was with GH.

3. They do take a long time to get back to you at first, but once you're in the door, they are actually very fast in communications with their partners (developers) You are in touch with the inside and get access to people who will answer questions and address concerns rather quickly.

4. Both BFG & GH are very top-notch portals, they are in it for the $$ and thus don't play around, they take this very seriously and you should be glad for this if you ever land a spot in their catalogs.

Now that said... negotiations are always on the table, it never hurts to ask/propose something different. Even if it's in the way of say... guaranteed downloads in a given period.

Edited by membrain, 23 July 2012 - 06:19 PM.

[Terrified Virus]

Do they give a good deal? It seems promising, but is it worth it?

[membrain]

it was worth it for me.
I think if you are a simple little indie like ourselves, it's harder to push for anything big in the way of royalties, and getting guarantees on any kind of numbers really, but I'd say not impossible.

Just don't expect to get rich, not unless you get lucky, or come up with something super awesome that's in a genre that's selling at the moment.

[Terrified Virus]

Ah good info. How much money did you make? If you don't want to tell it's fine

[Mailas]

Ah good info. How much money did you make? If you don't want to tell it's fine

I'm a bit interested myself in his sales.
Though if he doesn't mind sharing that's all right.

[chance]

it was worth it for me.
I think if you are a simple little indie like ourselves, it's harder to push for anything big in the way of royalties...

Seems like sound advice. For beginners / new indies, worrying about a few percentage points difference in royalties doesn't make sense. I imagine the important thing is to get published to gain some recognition -- like how YoYo started with mostly free apps. Then later, you're in a better position to bargain for a better deal.

If I remember you right (membrain) you've been at this for a while now. I've read some of your topics on the indiegame forum. You also made a lengthy topic here (several years ago...) about your interaction with various publishers. It was interesting.

Edited by chance, 24 July 2012 - 12:10 PM.

[membrain]

Ya, I've been around a while. My game dev. career has been off & on as I balanced it with other things.

I'm not going to share what I earned with these game portals simply due to not being sure if there are any bits in the contract preventing me from doing so (I dont quite remember off-hand) but I will say that for me personally it was enough to pay a few bills for some months before I saw sales start to dwindle down.

It took about a solid 6 months before that happened with Bigfish, but only 2 for GameHouse. So that's something to consider.

Links incase anyone is curious about my games:
SPHERICAL
0-G SOKOBAN


As you can see, it doesn't really take anything super fancy to get it published, it does however take a polished idea and theme(s).

Now I will be honest and say I'm a horrible example here due to the fact that unless you are making the next bejeweled, or peggle, or something massively successful (usually backed by a major publisher it's self) then the puzzle genre is a bad one to get into, there isn't much money in it through the mediums I chose. Maybe HTML5 or even apps could suffice better outcomes, but I don't know that either.

[Terrified Virus]

Everything looks good, but what I am concerned about is the amount of polishing required on these websites. It seems like it would take a long time to create all the graphics and effects.

[chance]

..what I am concerned about is the amount of polishing required on these websites. It seems like it would take a long time to create all the graphics and effects.

That shouldn't come as a surprise. You wouldn't expect to sell many games with amateurish looking graphics. Attention to detail and professional polish, adds to the enticement of any game.

[membrain]

it just depends on you really..
I made both games in about a month Each. However, I did have to remake "spherical" 3 times due to life taking a big fat dump on me. So that means it took me a total of 3 months for that title.

A polished game is a requirement if you're going to seek out a 3rd party publisher. Now this doesn't mean you have to come up with the most awesome looking design ever! No way, but you do need to come up with something that looks good, and looks complete.

Take a look at those two examples I posted, the 1st one looks waaaaay "simpler" than the 2nd, and it is! But it still got published by Bigfish because it was complete and polished for what it was.

The 2nd game, if you were to download an example: YoYo Games Link You'd see it was quite a bit more advanced in the graphics department.

It's all in the amount of effort and time you're willing to put into your project to finalize it for distribution.

[Terrified Virus]

Interesting.

Haha I literally just saw a BFG advertisement on the GMC saying "Try new games such as... Spherical... etc..."

Darn cookies know which websites I visit

[ben0]

$200 and a 40% cut sounds pretty awful.

Anyone know their current licensing manager's email? The last licensing manager I spoke to was John, he left a year ago.

Edited by ben0, 10 August 2012 - 06:59 AM.

[membrain]

35-40% is pretty standard actually.