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In an effort to increase our sales numbers we are looking into all the different places that we can sell our game, Triangle Man. Before starting this research I had no idea that there were so many different online distribution channels for PC games. It has been really difficult to gather this info – there wasn’t a nice central location where I could find it all (though this blog post was amazingly helpful, and inspired mine).
So, I thought it would be a pretty good idea to share this info and save you all some time. This is for Windows PC games only, since that is what Triangle Man is. I didn’t cover sites like Kongregate or other browser based games sites. Someone did point me towards a site called Gumroad which lets people sell their products without a store. All they need to do is share a link with users. If we ever decide to sell from our website, then this is something we’d probably utilise.
If you are able to fill in any of the “unknown” sections in this, it would be greatly appreciated. Please also let me know if you know of any more pros or cons for any of the sites.
Also, the “daily visitors” numbers were taken from this site: http://www.statscrop.com. The numbers I received were obviously incorrect, however they do seem to be proportionally incorrect, if that makes sense. So, what I’m going to do is use those numbers and compare each site to Steam. So I will list a percentage for each site – for example, if the percentage is 30% that means the site gets 30% of the number of visitors that Steam does (please excuse my terrible grammar).
Someone also pointed out that most sites either pay quarterly or monthly – for those sites where I’ve written “no idea”, it’s probably a safe bet that they pay quarterly or monthly.
I had a few comments telling me that I should be charging for this info! That doesn’t really sit right with me. However, please feel free to purchase our game if you feel the need to show your appreciation. I might be biased, but I think it’s pretty good. If you’re poor you can even download the demo for free!
Approval method: Submit via web form, after registering. OR create game profile on IndieDB and/or ModDB and hit the "publish" button.
Monetisation: Outright sale
Payment details: Via PayPal, every 30 days, only if you make $500 or more (Update: Apparently you can ask the admins to pay you even if you didn't meet the $500 requirement)
Pros:
Indie Friendly
WIP games accepted (under alpha funding)
Quality control
Developers have control over price
Admins are in our time zone (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Admins are really patient (trust us, we tested!)
Developers have control over all marketing materials + news articles
Updates usually approved quickly (< 1 week)
Cons
Gamers must have Desura client installed (Update: apparently developers can decide to sell straight from Desura's site with no need to go through the client)
Approval method: Register to the site and submit game (via webform, I assume). The game must be approved by a moderator. (Update - seems the only way is actually via the generic "Contact Us" webform.
Monetisation: Outright sale
Game requirements: None
Marketing requirements:
YouTube video
Game Logo (not sure on size)
Cover image (not sure on size)
Payment details: Via PayPal, almost immediate.
Pros:
You keep all the profits
No additional client for gamers to download
WIP games accepted.
Cons:
It seems like the games (and updates) take a long, long time to be approved. There also seems to be little communication between the moderator(s) and the developers. There are some developers who have just written: "DON'T DOWNLOAD MY GAME FROM HERE" all over their pages since their updates are never approved :/
Approval method: Create an account and then follow the info on the submissions page. However I could not create an account because I kept getting the error "Invalid CAPTCHA attempt" despite the fact there is no Captcha on the account creation page. Apparently the submission process works similar to Valve's previous one - you can send them incomplete games as long as they are in late beta. They will review them and decide whether to publish the finished product.
Monetisation: outright sale and a monthly subscription for access to all the games. The players don't technically "own" them, they must log in to GameHouse each time in order to play.
Game requirements: Long list incoming, sorry
game must not self-update or self-check (I guess if you have your own “drm”)
all dependencies must be included in the installer
must be 32 bit windows executable with .exe extension
must be uncompressed
.NET is not technically supported, but they say they do occasionally make exceptions
no built-in demo, they will handle that
default to full-screen
path names must be less than 80 characters
icon for vista games explorer must be included
game must run on vista “limited user” account
thumbs.db removed after installation
the .exe must be in the root folder for the game
game must not require additional software (ie direct x 10, MS c++ redistributable) - ok, this sounds insane, it would automatically rule out a crapload of games, there must be something here that I don’t understand
you need to be able to show a variety of their distribution logos (in game), so:
logos should be pulled from a branding folder ([game root]\branding\splash1.jpg)
game needs to be flexible in the number of logos to display
Minimum requirements Pentium III, Windows XP, 256MB RAM, 32 MB VRAM, DirectX 7.
Max HD space to take up: 300MB
Game needs to recover from sleep/hibernate, ctrl+alt+delete, alt+tab, restore using windows key, windows+L
Game needs to handle F4
needs to launch under vista with user accounts control turned off
audio must cease to play if game is minimised
must not change desktop resolution in windowed mode
all clickable options in the game need mouse over highlights and sound effects
Marketing requirements:
Master Art file (.psd) which includes
game logo, 300 dpi
main characters
key background elements
minimum of 6 screenshots
jpg max quality
800 x 600
naming convention screenshot_800x600_1.jpg
no “drop shadow” on screenshots
Licensing/DRM: Obviously available for users with a site subscription, not sure how it works for outright purchases since they don't seem to have a client.
Payment details: No idea.
Pros:
They really do their best to promote your game
Possible options for physical distribution too
Looks like users don't have to have a client if they just want to buy the game outright.
Good social network integration
Cons:
Caters to a casual audience, though apparently they are expanding to include others
Approval method: Fill in their web form to begin discussions
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box shot
Banner image
Screenshots
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client (but they can if they want to)
Quality control
Very active forums
Few games to compete against
Indie friendly
Cons:
I've no idea how their licensing works (I've never purchased a game from GOG). I imagine you'd still need to at least activate a game before playing it for the first time?
Approval method: Fill in their web form to begin discussions
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Background image
YouTube video
Company logo
Game icon
Small, rectangular game logo
Large promo banner for main site
Square promo advertisement for main site
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client
Few games to compete against
Indie friendly - in fact, only indie games allowed
This site looks promising - it is apparently only 6 months old, so it will grow. It looks professional - perhaps it might be an idea to get on the platform now before it really takes off
EDIT:
Turns out the GOG numbers are a tad high because I was accidentally including free GOG code redemptions. It's still high and worth considering, though.
Another to add to your list:
Kongregate, if you can get your game to run in a browser. If you can target Flash, HTML5, or Unity, this is available to you.
Kong has a *huge* audience and a built-in microtransaction engine that can be quite lucrative. It looks like Triangle Man runs in XNA, so you might consider talking to MagicalTimeBean about the system they used to port EscapeGoat to HTML5 (originally an XNA game):
http://www.playescapegoat.com/
They've currently got their other game, SoulCaster, running on Newgrounds, though they're just using it to drive traffic to their other games rather than direct sales of SoulCaster.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/606067
Portals like Kong and NG are as close as it gets to a meritocracy when it comes to discoverability.
Here's some info on the success we were able to find by leveraging flash portals to drive traffic and sales:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/168303/defenders_quest_by_the_numbers.php
I'll also weigh in with some data about Steam/GOG/Desura/Impulse, etc. I can't break NDA (so I can't talk about revenue share %'s), but I can say this:
This is huge. When your game releases on Steam it tends to suck oxygen away from other storefronts - way more people would buy the game on Desura, Impulse, and GOG if it wasn't available on Steam, for instance. So the fact that GOG holds up this well under direct competition with Steam is astounding. GOG is a rising contender, folks.
EDIT: One caveat- we got more promotion on GOG than Steam during that period, so it's not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison.
It's harder to compare Kongregate to that because we released on there much earlier, at a different price, and weren't featured at the same time as we were on Steam, but I can say 95% of our revenues for the 8 months prior to launching on Steam were traced back to Kongregate (either through traffic to our site, or sales made directly on Kong). Here's more numbers:
Revenue from source as % of total final revenue:
Direct sales (most of this was kongregate traffic) - 38.85%
Steam sales - 35.12%
Kongregate sales (using kong kreds) - 13.42%
Desura sales - 0.14%
Impulse sales - 0.18%
GOG sales - 13.30%
How did you redirect Kongregate traffic to your site? Did you just have a link on the page or a screen in game that could be clicked on that took visitors to your site?
I'm thinking of putting a web demo of our game on Kongregate then putting up a buy the full game screen somewhere. I'm not sure if this is allowed though?
@Greg: We did just that with Race The Sun on Kongregate. They featured the game on their front page so I don't think they had an issue with it :)
We haven't seen a *ton* of conversions, but we also have an in-game mailing list signup, and Kongregate lets you send messages to active/inactive players, so if you find success there you can get a pretty decent audience. Highly recommend trying it at least once.
For the first month, we had a demo up-sell screen at the end of the game with a "Get the full game!" button that directed traffic back to our site to a special landing page (www.defendersquest.com/demo_buy_kong.html) that originally had an embedded coupon code for $1 off. Here's the game page so you can see how it works: http://www.kongregate.com/games/LevelUpLabs/defenders-quest-prelude
We later switched that around so the buy button just opened the kong mtx. interface.
We did the exact same thing on newgrounds.
It is allowed as long as the game isn't a complete rip-off without any content, so Kong/NG shouldn't have a problem with demos as a rule.
Keep in mind that the real challenge is that you risk the wrath of players who hate demos. Newgrounds players were way more tolerate of the demo-upsell format, our score didn't really suffer, butsales overall were lower from NG (but still a lot of them!)
Kongregate players were more polarized - we got a LOT more sales from Kong, but there was a huge vocal minority opposed to the idea of a demo, so our score suffered a bit. The demo-upsell strategy requires you to thread a careful needle - you don't want to come across as dishonest, so you don't want to surprise people with an upsell screen, because that triggers the 1-star hate ratings. On the other hand, if you advertise "DEMO" up front some people will rate you down sight-unseen. We eventually chose to bite the bullet and just advertise it was a demo. We tried to call it a "prelude" before and other cutesy things, but players saw right through that and were really angry/disappointed.
The best approach I've ever seen done though, is offer what feels like a complete experience in itself, and then advertise an even better one for sale when the game is complete, like Creeper World did. This way you get the upsell format without the down-vote hate. Don't try this unless you really know what you're doing, though. Expectations change everything.
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/web/play.php
I think what is best is creating a version that can be unlocked for Kong Credits.
I also feel this is fair on Kongregate as a platform, and an ethical approach to business.
excellent info and i would just add that in terms of GoG, there is no end user activation of the game, you simply download it DRM free then run the installer, which can be done in internet isolation (e.g. as i do, download on one PC than install it on my internet isolated 'game' pc). I was one of those GoG customers sending them emails and posting on their forums about how they would make a perfect platform for Indie devs, and really it is by far and away the best DD service i've tried, for the gamer and for the dev.
(I don't work for them! But i get most of my DD games from them)
According to Steam stats there are way more steam visitors a day than 178, 500 (100%).
I mean if I go into steam to play a game I will check at least the front page for sales.
I got my numbers from:
http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
For example today's peak was about 180 000 players in dota 2 ONLY. They do have to start steam in order to play the game. And this is valid for all the games listed in there.
More than this the logged-in players is around 4.5 mil a day. A lot of guys just open steam and don't play anything i guess.
I found them on a site called Statscrop: http://www.statscrop.com/
They aren't at all accurate, but they seem to be proportionally inaccurate - just go by the percentage instead. So each place is listed as a percentage of Steam's site views (if that makes sense)
Turns out the GOG numbers are a tad high because I was accidentally including free GOG code redemptions. It's still high and worth considering, though.
Another to add to your list:
Kongregate, if you can get your game to run in a browser. If you can target Flash, HTML5, or Unity, this is available to you.
Kong has a *huge* audience and a built-in microtransaction engine that can be quite lucrative. It looks like Triangle Man runs in XNA, so you might consider talking to MagicalTimeBean about the system they used to port EscapeGoat to HTML5 (originally an XNA game):
http://www.playescapegoat.com/
They've currently got their other game, SoulCaster, running on Newgrounds, though they're just using it to drive traffic to their other games rather than direct sales of SoulCaster.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/606067
Portals like Kong and NG are as close as it gets to a meritocracy when it comes to discoverability.
Here's some info on the success we were able to find by leveraging flash portals to drive traffic and sales:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/168303/defenders_quest_by_the_numbers.php
I'll also weigh in with some data about Steam/GOG/Desura/Impulse, etc. I can't break NDA (so I can't talk about revenue share %'s), but I can say this:
Revenue from source compared to steam's revenue:
Steam - 100% (obviously)
Desura - 0.41%
Impulse - 0.51%
GOG* - 37.8% <------------WHOA!
This is huge. When your game releases on Steam it tends to suck oxygen away from other storefronts - way more people would buy the game on Desura, Impulse, and GOG if it wasn't available on Steam, for instance. So the fact that GOG holds up this well under direct competition with Steam is astounding. GOG is a rising contender, folks.
EDIT: One caveat- we got more promotion on GOG than Steam during that period, so it's not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison.
It's harder to compare Kongregate to that because we released on there much earlier, at a different price, and weren't featured at the same time as we were on Steam, but I can say 95% of our revenues for the 8 months prior to launching on Steam were traced back to Kongregate (either through traffic to our site, or sales made directly on Kong). Here's more numbers:
Revenue from source as % of total final revenue:
Direct sales (most of this was kongregate traffic) - 38.85%
Steam sales - 35.12%
Kongregate sales (using kong kreds) - 13.42%
Desura sales - 0.14%
Impulse sales - 0.18%
GOG sales - 13.30%
How did you redirect Kongregate traffic to your site? Did you just have a link on the page or a screen in game that could be clicked on that took visitors to your site?
I'm thinking of putting a web demo of our game on Kongregate then putting up a buy the full game screen somewhere. I'm not sure if this is allowed though?
We haven't seen a *ton* of conversions, but we also have an in-game mailing list signup, and Kongregate lets you send messages to active/inactive players, so if you find success there you can get a pretty decent audience. Highly recommend trying it at least once.
For the first month, we had a demo up-sell screen at the end of the game with a "Get the full game!" button that directed traffic back to our site to a special landing page (www.defendersquest.com/demo_buy_kong.html) that originally had an embedded coupon code for $1 off. Here's the game page so you can see how it works: http://www.kongregate.com/games/LevelUpLabs/defenders-quest-prelude
We later switched that around so the buy button just opened the kong mtx. interface.
We did the exact same thing on newgrounds.
It is allowed as long as the game isn't a complete rip-off without any content, so Kong/NG shouldn't have a problem with demos as a rule.
Keep in mind that the real challenge is that you risk the wrath of players who hate demos. Newgrounds players were way more tolerate of the demo-upsell format, our score didn't really suffer, butsales overall were lower from NG (but still a lot of them!)
Kongregate players were more polarized - we got a LOT more sales from Kong, but there was a huge vocal minority opposed to the idea of a demo, so our score suffered a bit. The demo-upsell strategy requires you to thread a careful needle - you don't want to come across as dishonest, so you don't want to surprise people with an upsell screen, because that triggers the 1-star hate ratings. On the other hand, if you advertise "DEMO" up front some people will rate you down sight-unseen. We eventually chose to bite the bullet and just advertise it was a demo. We tried to call it a "prelude" before and other cutesy things, but players saw right through that and were really angry/disappointed.
The best approach I've ever seen done though, is offer what feels like a complete experience in itself, and then advertise an even better one for sale when the game is complete, like Creeper World did. This way you get the upsell format without the down-vote hate. Don't try this unless you really know what you're doing, though. Expectations change everything.
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/web/play.php
I think what is best is creating a version that can be unlocked for Kong Credits.
I also feel this is fair on Kongregate as a platform, and an ethical approach to business.
Thanks again for the tips!
We're releasing our upcoming Monster Truck Racing title in the next few weeks and will be submitting it to many of these.
excellent info and i would just add that in terms of GoG, there is no end user activation of the game, you simply download it DRM free then run the installer, which can be done in internet isolation (e.g. as i do, download on one PC than install it on my internet isolated 'game' pc). I was one of those GoG customers sending them emails and posting on their forums about how they would make a perfect platform for Indie devs, and really it is by far and away the best DD service i've tried, for the gamer and for the dev.
(I don't work for them! But i get most of my DD games from them)
I mean if I go into steam to play a game I will check at least the front page for sales.
I got my numbers from:
http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
For example today's peak was about 180 000 players in dota 2 ONLY. They do have to start steam in order to play the game. And this is valid for all the games listed in there.
More than this the logged-in players is around 4.5 mil a day. A lot of guys just open steam and don't play anything i guess.
So how did you get that number?
They aren't at all accurate, but they seem to be proportionally inaccurate - just go by the percentage instead. So each place is listed as a percentage of Steam's site views (if that makes sense)