I was reading an interesting book (throwing rocks at the google bus) and it stated that the bottom 94% of amazon books only sold 100 books. It also said the same thing applied to itunes or app sales. I have been looking into selling my games on steam but the idea of selling 100 copies would be a bit depressing. Obviously it makes a difference whether the games are merely OK or cr@p but I’m guessing that the bottom 94% would include some pretty decent games. Thoughts?
Mike
If you read around you will find that people say its not about the game itself, but rather how well you do marketing for it. You could have the best game in the world, but if people have no way of finding it nobody will buy it.
I just released an app on the google play store and it’s got lots of problems (the art sucks, for one), but it has gotten lots of exposure with no special effort on my part.
I have no blog, did not release press copies, give copies to youtubers, etc. and have had 2,009 people visit the store landing page in about a week.
It’s gotten about 2 downloads per day (it’s a paid app, at $0.99).
So I’m not sure I buy that 94% of apps sell less than 100 copies, my app will probably sell 100 copies in a month or two and I just released it.
I just want to point out that rep also has a big play. Pokemon go was total shit for gameplay, but people were fans of the game. People are still sticking through with their shit, but people want certain features to come back and yadda yadda.
[quote=“mike_bike_kite,post:1,topic:57456”]
If you sell 100 copies, you’re in the most successful 1%.
As you alluded to in your post, this is not specific to game development or software. The “bottom” 99% of artists never make a dime. The bottom 99% of musicians never sell a single song. Most business go out of business, and most actors never get a single role. This is true of everything.
Whether you let the discourage you or not is completely up to you. I will say that if you’re only in it to make money, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
See also: http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/making-games-for-nobody/36735/view.html
I mean, hell yea I would love to make $100 for 100 buys.
You should never be discouraged because its hard to do, but with persistence you can make something people will buy.
Anyways, making games is a privilege imo. The 99% of humanity can’t make games x)
Believe. The best way to sell 1000 copies of a $0.99 game is to spend $5000 marketing
it. Extrapolate.
That’s why you have to work hard to make sure your software stands out in the market. Do something new that isn’t done anywhere else.