Impulse is the primary publishing tool for Stardock Games, which is probably one of the most successful indie studios ever (If you can even call them that now-a-days). It also gives other developers the opportunity to publish their games..see below: http://www.impulsedriven.com/developers.aspx 70% of gross revenue on each sale doesn't sound half bad. Of course, in the words of Gareth Blackstock "I am stupid with money", and I haven't heard that many other figures. I'm well away from publishing my own games, or even taking part in a development team (Probably, by the time that happens, people will be downloading games directly to their consciousness). Still, I think this deserves to be a point of discussion. Publishing over clients like impulse might a great way to liberate yourself from the chains (And benefits and safety nets) of big publishers. While at the same time providing a decent download server, safe payment, and a good method of patch delivery. What do you think?

I don't quite understand what you want to get out of this conversation.



That may (or may not) be the way a business wants to go. The same can be said for all the other publishing tools.

70% of gross is lower than some download sites, but they offer some good services in exchange. Depending on the software, you may decide the services are worth the money. Or you may decide you don't need those services and should go elsewhere.

They are charging a percentage. If you are charging $20, they charge $6 per sale. If you are charging $5 they charge $1.50 per sale. Compared with publishers that charge a flat rate, or those that charge a flat rate plus a small percent, you may be better off elsewhere.



Choosing publishers and working out agreements with them is a very personal business transaction.

It would be nice if anyone had horror/success stories from games published on Impulse (or any other download service).

Actually, they offer 70% on sales which they found for you, and 85% on customers you found. That's comparable financially with a payment provider like Plimus or BMTMicro, who are giving you much, much less than a distributor, and should not really be compared.

I'd like to know who these "download sites" and "publishers" are who offer you more than 70-85%. I suspect apples are being compared with oranges, because I certainly can't think of any publishers or distributors who offer more than that. In fact, with the casual game portals, it's not uncommon to be offered 35% of the gross, and a lot less when games are sold through clubs and with discounts.

Is it good? Well I think that depends on a number of things. It depends how much these distributors are going to cannibalize your own sales. If they're selling to people who would have bought from you direct, you might be losing money. Particularly if you're selling enough that you can afford your own merchant account and not need to use a payment provider.

More importantly, if you don't have a game that's a perfect fit for the distributor, it'll get rejected. Even if you do, it can be very hard to get Impulse and Steam to notice you. They're not being rude or arrogant, they're just being offered a lot of very good games, and they're snowed under dealing with all that. It's very hard for them to find the time to give every game that they get offered a decent viewing. So the risk of developing a game for these distribution channels would be that you might finish it and find out that no one wants it. So you'd better have a really good backup plan if you're gonna do that.

I think I may have said something wrong?

Quote: I don't quite understand what you want to get out of this conversation.

Quote: I'd like to know who these "download sites" and "publishers" are who offer you more than 70-85%.

Just for the record, I'm not trying to get anything out of it, and I never said I've seen "better" (I actually implied I've seen worse). 70% honestly sounds like a lot, even too much. I'm sorry if I mispronounced myself :).

In all honesty, I just asked this question to find out if there is anything I'm not seeing, some hidden strings, or pitfalls, to using this method rather than self publishing.

It seems, at first glance, that 30% is actually a better deal than maintaining a download server. I was just wondering if it actually is.

Quote: Original post by WazzatMan
I never said I've seen "better" (I actually implied I've seen worse). 70% honestly sounds like a lot, even too much.

I know. I wasn't talking about you. Frob twice said that there are others offering more. Sorry if it wasn't clear I was referring to that.

Quote: In all honesty, I just asked this question to find out if there is anything I'm not seeing, some hidden strings, or pitfalls, to using this method rather than self publishing.

Well hopefully I've covered the two big ones. Being rejected and cannibalizing your sales. I suppose another big pitfall is that your game is building someone else's business. You're not getting a list of your customers. You can't send them newsletters. You can't upsell. Well you can, but only through Impulse. Your website isn't getting more traffic. Your company name isn't getting any more well-known. Or maybe it is, but only slightly. You might be making good money, but when you release your second game, you're in no better position than you were with the first. If you want to sell to all your old customers, you'll have to do it through Impulse again, unless you're prepared to throw it away and start from (almost) scratch. By this time, will Impulse still be offering 70%? Maybe they'll have so many customers locked in that they won't need to offer 70% any more. Maybe they'll offer 50% and you'll be stuck with choosing between giving away 50% and giving away all your old customers. The long term picture is not clear.