Hi guys, I've been looking for an answer to a, seemingly, unanswered internet question (google tells me):

How do I sell a game as a download on an e commerce site?

I know how to on the e-commerce set-up side of things, I just need to as to how I would go about paying royalties and, for that matter, to who? (I'd immagine the game developers right?)

I hope you guys can help! Nobody else seems to be able to - the other downloadable-games sellers aren't replying to my emails.

Thanks, I've bookmarked this page and will reply in a matter of seconds!

Thanks again,

Adam

I just need to as to how I would go about paying royalties and, for that matter, to who? (I'd immagine the game developers right?)

You would pay them by cheque or bank transfer (or some other method as agreed)
To whomever you negotiate a deal with that requires you to pay royalties.

I have answered the questions you asked but I am guessing those aren't really the answers you wanted. If you can be clearer with your questions and explain what your plan is in more detail we should be able to give you a proper answer. Are you funding these games, if not who is, are you selling them exclusively or not... etc.

1. How do I sell a game as a download on an e commerce site?
2. how I would go about paying royalties and, for that matter, to who?
3. (I'd immagine the game developers right?)

1. And you are playing what role exactly? You're a middleman, taking somebody's game and getting it put up on another party's site? Or you're the site owner? Your question is unclear, sir.
2. Good question. Who are YOU exactly? (Same question as above.)
3. So then you are not the developer yourself? What gives you the right to go putting somebody else's game online somewhere, if not the developer, and why would a developer give you the right to do that without asking for royalties?

I'm sorry for any confusion, I'm working on a niche downloadable games site that will offer people to pay for downloadable games in a certain niche games market, such as Call Of Duty 4, Plants Vs. Zombies, Borderlands etc. I am the only person working on this project which will be hosted on my server with my domain.
I'm not the middleman nor the game developer. I want to sell the games directly from the game developers, but I have no experience in selling any type of downloadable product so I was hoping you guys might be able to point me in the right direction. Is that enough detail?
Thanks, and again sorry for any inconvenience.

Then contact the developers and/or publishers (whichever party owns the IP you want to handle) and negotiate with them. They'll tell you how much royalty they require before you will be permitted to do the thing.
But the fact that you have to ask this question is troubling. (To say the least.)

Then contact the developers and/or publishers (whichever party owns the IP you want to handle) and negotiate with them. They'll tell you how much royalty they require before you will be permitted to do the thing.
But the fact that you have to ask this question is troubling. (To say the least.)

I wanted to know how they handle the downloads, is it an affiliate-style set-up? will they host the games on their server? I just wanted to get some information on how it works before consulting them, how is that troubling? I'd prefer to know exactly how it works before jumping in head first.

[color="#1C2837"]I wanted to know how they handle the downloads, is it an affiliate-style set-up? will they host the games on their server? I just wanted to get some information on how it works before consulting them, how is that troubling? I'd prefer to know exactly how it works before jumping in head first. [/quote]
[color="#1C2837"]The troubling part is that you have no right to do those things, and you don't seem to have an understanding of what you are asking.

[color="#1C2837"]You are talking about engaging in financial transactions that you are seemingly unprepared for, for products you do not own and are not licensed to work with, on a part of business that is regulated by commercial law that you clearly don't understand.



[color="#1C2837"]It reads like you want to create a software distribution business or a retail outlet, that you don't understand the difference, and that you have no idea what is involved for the business side for either one. Is that correct?

From what you wrote, it would appear you want to/have created a site that basically sells downloadable games in a similar fashion to Steamworks (albeit without a client?). In that case, you should contact game developers and see if they are even willing to sell their games on your site (doubtful, unless you can generate good traffic) and be prepared to state your terms (what royalties are we talking about, how much, how fast are your servers, etc.)
Also, Call of Duty 4, Plants Vs. Zombies, Borderlands etc. aren't what most people would call a "niche" market. Each of those games has sold LOADS of copies and are very well protected financially - the question then becomes why would they allow an unknown outlet to sell their game when they already have a presence at the biggest of them all (Steam)?
See, what you are offering isn't unique and for it to be even somewhat attractive you have to offer something that no one other than you offers. Better royalties, insane amounts of traffic, a niche market etc.
As for how it works. Well. That's easy enough on the surface. You sell the game, take the money, pay the royalties to whatever account I specify and everyone's fat and happy. See what I did there? I left out about a thousand tiny details that are very very important to anyone willing to sell their hard-earned game. When do I get the money? Quarterly? Monthly? Yearly? How do I know how well the game is selling? What happens if your company goes bust? Do I still get my money? Etc. etc. etc.

With something a bit more established, I can find out all these things and thus protect myself. You, on the other hand, is an unknown - until you are "known" these things won't really change. But the better you know your stuff the easier all of these details will be. GOG is an excellent example of a niche market - old games resold at low, affordable prices. They offer things no other service has (no DRM, cheap, good and old games). So yeah, start a case study and see where this idea is really leading you (because you will need a good amount of servers, a strong business idea and a hell of a lot of contacts and will to get something like this started for real).

Good luck!

Are you looking to be a direct digital distributor of PC games or an affiliate site? I believe there are a few companies that distribute through affiliate networks (Digital River, Big Fish), but the direct digital distribution market is pretty crowded with Steam, Impulse, GamersGate, GOG...so you would have to build a platform that is reliable, draws eyeballs and is competitve with the market leaders. The rev splits on direct distribution sites varies widely from 40-70% going to the publishers, but that is by no means standard (it could be more or less). I don't know rev splits on affiliate sites, but I am sure you don't get as much if you are not supplying backend, payment processing, bandwidth etc. However you are not incurring sunk costs in building those backend feature beyond marketing costs needed to build a customer base.

The reality is you probably need to determine who is your customer and how to best get them the games they want.

I wanted to know how they handle the downloads, is it an affiliate-style set-up? will they host the games on their server? I just wanted to get some information on how it works before consulting them, how is that troubling? I'd prefer to know exactly how it works before jumping in head first.

Just so you don't think that people are wacking on you the core of the issue here is that you are asking questions that only you can answer (or should have been able to before spending a penny on developing a site).
How are downloads handled... well that depends on how you intend to handle them. There are many options and its up to you to decide.
Is it an affiliate set-up? We don't know. Is that what you want or are you thinking of something else? - Put simply there are multiple options and you should decide which one you want to pursue because it's your business. There is no single solution for selling downloadable games so we can't tell you how "it" works unless you tell us exactly which it you plan to do.

If you say "I want to do a platform like steam" what are the issues; we could probably answer.
"I want to set up a business like Big Fish" we could answer.
"I want to do an affiliate site" we can answer.

I want to do downloadable games... we can't answer. There are simply too many permutations. You need to explain exactly what you want (and if you don't know then that should really be ringing alarm bells).