Quote: Original post by I_Smell_Tuna
Everyone: Why are you so pessimistic?

The reason why I'm so negative is that I like to see GDNet people succeed. You are not going to get your game boxes on the shelves of Wal-Mart without going through a publisher.

To re-iterate my previous post, image you are the distributor for Wal-mart. Why would you schedule a meeting with some guy who wants you to stock a single game on their shelves, when you can speak with the representative from a big name publisher who will offer you dozens of titles, and has a proven sales track record to boot?

Or to put it another way, look at Valve. They go to the trouble of setting up Steam in order to sell their games on-line, but when it comes to selling their games in boxes at retail, they go through Activision. If Valve has to use a publisher to sell at retail, with a big smash hit already behind them, then for someone to go without a publisher on their first title just looks foolish, business-wise.

You have to look at why you are wanting to make this video game. Is it because you want to sell squillions of copies? Or it is because you want to see your shiny game box in stores and say to yourself "I made that! There's my game, on the shelves!". If so, then you will need a publisher.

However, is it because you want to make games on your own, without a publisher telling you what to do? Or is it because you want the experience of running everything about your own business, including the publishing and marketing? If so then I suggest selling your own game on-line, or through an indie portal.

Maybe you want a little bit of both? Then you can sell your game through an indie-friendly publisher, like PopCap or GarageGames. You might have to trade-off some of your goals against each other, but that's how business works.

Or maybe your goal is to make truck loads of cash? If so, I recommend a different industry [smile].

Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh, but I honestly think you have no chance of succeeding at selling your own game to the retailers without publisher help. It is far more prudent to either aim towards getting a publisher, or publishing on-line. I'd rather see your game finished in one of those formats then have you fail because you aimed for an impossible target.

Best of luck with your game!

You are rather laughable, you are going to develop a game for $50,000 over 5 years, you expect that game then to be a AAA title so you can get it into Wal Mart, great ambition but learn to wak first man, just looking at your other posts, youve asked about duplication equipment, Jewel of CD cases, credit card transactions, which indictaes you really dont have any idea at all. You say you have the drive to get this done but yet you ask for help and advice and then totally ingore anything you dont want to hear, fine thats your call. So I suggest you just dont bother with the people who's advice you sought and leave your nonsense of this forum until you have something ready or have a little more knowledge :)

The game design has not been left in the dust, however no good business plan is put off until after development. When did I mention only selling one title? I'm wanting to make a video game for all the reasons you stated. I'm trying to make a game that the world can enjoy yet still make me a few briefcases full of cash at the same time. I take it none of you have ever seen The Aviator. And the replies that people make are completely off topic, and not what I'm aiming for, yet they persist even after being informed of it.

Quote: Original post by I_Smell_Tuna
And the replies that people make are completely off topic, and not what I'm aiming for, yet they persist even after being informed of it.

Quote: Original post by I_Smell_Tuna
Does anyone have any experience with this, or thoughts on my plans?

so technically they're not off topic, they're just thoughts on your plans.
Sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

Bojan

Quote: Original post by I_Smell_Tuna
The game design has not been left in the dust, however no good business plan is put off until after development. When did I mention only selling one title? I'm wanting to make a video game for all the reasons you stated. I'm trying to make a game that the world can enjoy yet still make me a few briefcases full of cash at the same time. I take it none of you have ever seen The Aviator. And the replies that people make are completely off topic, and not what I'm aiming for, yet they persist even after being informed of it.

Well it does help if, like Howard Hughes Jr., you have a massive family fortune to help you achieve those dreams [grin].

Assuming you don't though, I'd think about which of those goals matters the most to you. By trying to have it all, it's most likely you'll give up the opportunity to have anything.

If you want someone to reply completely on-topic, then it's unlikely. Nearly no game developers do not have any experience with dealing with retail distribution, because the publisher deals with all of that for them.

Look, I don't like being negative, but you really aren't listening. I know you've got amibition; a lot of people here do. But while it's fine to aim to for the moon, at least realise that you'll have a better chance of making it there if you deal with NASA rather than build a rocket ship yourself [smile].

Quote: Original post by I_Smell_Tuna
I take it none of you have ever seen The Aviator.

This may not have been the best example. Even if you take everything in the movie as absolute truth (a silly thing to do), then Howard Hughes is not exactly the role model you should be aiming for.

First of all, he started of as filthy rich. If you have a billion dollars already, then sure, go ahead and publish your own game. In the business world, money talks.

Second, Hughes had a nervous break down in the movie. I don't know enough about the real life Hughes to know if this actually happened, however.

Third, Hughes' pet project, the super large plane, was essentially a failure. It only flew after the war was over, and it was never used. Additionally, Congress investigated Hughes for wasting their money.

Essentially, the moral of the story of The Aviator as I see it for this situation is that if you start off filthy rich with a wild dream, then you can squandor away most of your money without any solid business plan and you might be able to succeed anyway.

Anon: I was referring to past posts.

I don't have a family fortune, so I'm not filthy rich, however I do have potential investors. So you can start with a little bit of something and turn it in to something huge.

EVeryone in the world has potential investors...that's why they are called "potential". And they will do not respond to pie-in-the-sky ideas like what you are putting down. They respond to one thing and one thing only: a proven track record of past success...no past, no money.

First off, if you don't think that online distribution is the way of the future or the way to make mega-profits, then I question your self imposed "visionary" title as well as your business sense.

Secondly, if you are relying on a Game Development forum for business advice, boy howdy are you in for a bad ride.

Thirdly, your attitude says at lot about you and your chances to pull ANY project off. People here are bending over backwards to help you...your dream (as I see it) isn't to make a retail chain, it's to get a game out. And when people give you realistic alternatives, you more or less call them idiots for not belieiveing in your nightmare (because it doesn't even qualify as a dream).

Look Tuna Breath, the difference between success and failure is the same as the difference between a newbie and a pro...a newbie sticks his fingers in his ears when he hears something he doesn't like and calls everyone stupid for not seeing the world the way they do; a pro will listen to what people are saying and work his ass off to prove or disprove their point.

Listen to these boards and stop acting like a newbie! :)


(PS: ROFLMAO...This explains it all...we were all wrong...I'm sorry to have ever doubted you!!!

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=352282

"all in all it's just a...nother mmog newbie on the wall" )

That's exactly what online distribution is, the wave of the FUTURE. I havn't ruled out online distribution, but it is not the primary path of sales. Note that this thread is in the topic titled "The Business of Game Development". I'm not calling them idiots I'm telling them that I'm not interested, and why. You may not think I'm listening to you but I am, and I am also working my ass off to disprove you.

Ok, so I talked with a friend that works at Walmart (not a store front but in management some place I forgot his title and closed the MSN window, gg me!) anyways, he figures to get on you on the shelf (I said for myself so he would actually listen) in the worst spot in most of their stores (they will only try you in an area near you first btw until you're proven) is about $100,000 for a year. That's one box wide (small box size not the big ones) and about 10 deep. You'll likely get on about 10 store shelves maybe 20 if the area has more stores.

He didnt think you'd need a mareketing plan for this but they won't expand you until the year is up either. Unless you do amazing sales. After about 3 months they review sales figures and decide if you're a go or no go. No go you get your 75k back and shown the door. He said a middle of the line sales (this wasn't on games but for something else, just general stuff) is 5-6 units a day. He figured games would be less like 2-3. That would keep you on for another 3 months. But the volume needs to pick up each quarter.

I'm sure Target and the others are about the same. You might get into EB Games easier, that's my guess.

Back in Canada I have a game demo done up and a millionaire behind us, he knew the owner of FutureShop (now BestBuy) and he laughed us out of his office. He loved the demo, kid loved it but said unless we had a publisher or an established sales history we'd never get into a store. That's just my personal experience. That ended our project as the investor didn't want to go with publishers (lower returns as you stated).

Oh and Walmart keeps all the money from the sales of your game, and would likely price it as they see fit. Now my friend is quitting in 2 weeks time but said he would put in a request for more info if possible.

Hope this helps, and wish you luck.