I have recently developed a small board game. It took me about 8 months to bring it to an almost-done state. I was planning to try and sell it through an e-commerce service, but a few days ago a local software company asked me if i am intersted in selling it. I have no ideea how much to ask for (well I have an ideea, but I'd like to make sure I'm not wrong) Of course an exact sum depends on the exact product, but I'm asking you guys for a vague estimate - what I have is a board-like-puzzle-kinda game. thanks [Edited by - hapciu on September 28, 2004 1:31:39 PM]

What you need to do is get a bit of research done on the local company. Work out how much they will make from it and how many locations they have to sell it in. If they'll only have it for sale on their website which doesnt generate much traffic then don't ask for much. If they've got it for sale in wallmart you can ask for a bit.

My advice would be to do rev share, about %40 (ask for this and they'll talk you down to something around %20-%30.). Always ask for a higher price than you actually want, remember they'll always talk you down. Rev. share is the way to go if you don't need the money straight away.

Otherwise a nice upfront sum, i dont think this should be more than $10,000 by the sounds of it. You could also try for both rev share and upfront sum.

Remember before you sign anything get a lawyer to check the contract and make sure you read the contract very closely. Also be sure to know when you will receive payment if you do a rev share, and by which date payment must be made for an upfront (this last one isnt always necessary).

Hope you make yourself some good money for your work =D

Regards,
Scott

Hi!

If you decide for revenue share make clear what's the base for your revenue. If they want to be their profit as the base for revenue share, it could be that you will never see some money or only a small amount. They can tell you "sorry, first we have to cover our production cost, advertising,.... we make no profit now out of your game!". I think it's better to write "xx$ for each sold copy" instead of "xx% of the revenue".

Good luck!

McMc

$10000? What planet are you from?

* long rant *

$10,000 dollars is not un-realistic , but I think the royalities can get out of hand. If the game is to be sold on store-shelves then it will have to be packaged, printed and distributed. This costs MONEY. Which someone else should be offering to fork out. If this is the case your royalties would range anywhere from 10% to 25%. Asking money upfront is OK also. $10,000 is not crazy its actually not even a lot of money 3 months of work in a real full-time job.

Don't go overboard and get an EGO, if it's your first game, take what you can get and move on. Also don't go underboard and sell yoursefl short, make sure you are getting reasonable compensation. Now if the distibutor sells purely online you will wan't to ask for more royalties (40% +) and also you will wan't to know where online they will be adverstising (banner advertising etc.) and what PC-game magazines they will be sending demo copies to. Make sure they provide some sort of website to maintain for your game unless you really have the time to handle it. But really you should focus on patching your game and game programming, not website maintaining.

Hope that help a bit ...