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Selling a game outright

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nomadsgames
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Hello all,

My question for everyone is about selling a game rather than licensing/royalties. I have looked through all of the old threads and have read nothing on this subject.

Has anyone sold a game out right for one payment.

The reason I ask is, I have an interested publisher that would like buy rather license my game. So, now comes the hard part (How much to I ask for)?

I have left this post wide open so, any Suggestions on this topic would be greatly appreciated

Thanks NoMADS GAMES

zaiga
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Selling a game outright

It's unusual to outright sell (or buy) the rights of a board game, but I don't see why it cannot be done. Whether it is a good idea to do so, is another matter. For both parties involved, it is a matter of calculating the odds, and determining if it's a good bargain.

For a typical board game in the hobby industry, you'll make $1 on a game that retails for $40. Suppose 3000 copies are sold (a typical number for a small publisher), that means you make $3000. Adjust these numbers accordingly (print run, retail price) and you'll get an estimate of what you should ask for selling the rights to the game.

Selling the rights to the game puts the risk solely in the hands of the publisher. If somehow the game never gets published, or if the game flops, the designer still has his money. Conversely, if the game becomes a runaway hit, you'll never get more money than what you received initially.

Personally, I would rather keep the rights to the game and receive a royalty. I believe in my games, and I believe they are good enough to become hits. I would hate it to sell the rights to a game completely and then see it win the Spiel des Jahres and sell a half million copies. On the other hand, if somehow a game flops, I haven't lost anything besides the time invested in it. But that's just my opinion.

nomadsgames
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Selling a game outright

Hello again,

Thanks for the insight zaiga.

I have come to the same conclusion. I believe the fact of the matter is will a game become a run away hit or not. The odds are very slim that will happen. Im trying to think from a business stand point.

Say I do broker an outright sell of the game, I could use the proceeds to further other projects or pruduce a short run of another game and go into business myself.

Another idea I had was to do a combination of outright sell and royalties.

for example:
1. an up front payment and a small royalty (.5 to 1% ) and furture involement in any expansion or spin offs.

or buy out

1. Make payment base on an average yearly print run for 3 to 5 years. I understand that this example is open for many different interpretations.

any input would be appreciated
Thanks NoMADS Games

Jpwoo
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Selling a game outright

You could also stipulate that the rights would come back to you after a certain amount of time.

Give them 10 years, and if the game goes well you will get the rights back just in time for when people are clamouring for a reprint :)

soulbeach
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Selling a game outright

Hey guys,

We are in the process of self-publishing our game( LastShip ) and we're asking ourselves similar questions. In the end , is it worth it?

Zaiga: how did you come with such a number?: 1$. It's very low, is it realistic? Who does games to earn a living if that's the "typical" return?

Right now, our goal is to get the game in local stores and sell copies trough our website. We also plan on getting a simple version on RPGNow.com for a few dollars (this way we get more exposure, even if so little).

Is it worth it to sell the game outright? Maybe: the money gained this way could indeed be used for future projects. But such a sold game would need to not have taken too much time to develop, otherwise, where's the profit?

How many here sold their games? Who licenced one or more games?

soulbeach

boardgamegeezer
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Joined: 12/31/1969
one dollar

Quote
For a typical board game in the hobby industry, you'll make $1 on a game that retails for $40. Suppose 3000 copies are sold (a typical number for a small publisher), that means you make $3000.

Zaiga how do you get that number of one dollar?

Nando
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Joined: 07/22/2008
Selling a game outright

soulbeach wrote:
Who does games to earn a living if that's the "typical" return?
Heh heh. :)

Dralius
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Re: one dollar

boardgamegeezer wrote:
Quote
For a typical board game in the hobby industry, you'll make $1 on a game that retails for $40. Suppose 3000 copies are sold (a typical number for a small publisher), that means you make $3000.

Zaiga how do you get that number of one dollar?

*Wearing my Zaiga Mask*

It is something like this: You get 5% of what they sell it for which is %50 of retail.

$40.00 x .5 x.05 = $1.00.

Each company does their contracts different so percentages, advance payments, etc. may very.

soulbeach wrote:
Who does games to earn a living if that's the "typical" return?

Look at it like this. Most of us don't do it to make a living but those designers who have games that sell 100,000 copys or who have a large number of games in print can make a nice liveing.

soulbeach
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Selling a game outright

Thanks for the precisions.

I understand that this is what you get if the game is licensed. Self-publishing is a different ball game.

zaiga
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Selling a game outright

Dralius has it right. Typically a designer gets 5% of the price the publisher sells it to the distributor, which typically is half of retail. Of course, this is an estimate. Contracts, prices, print runs and percentages will vary from game to game. Also of importance is after how many years or months the right of the game go back to the designer, if the designer has any veto right in the creative process, what happens when the game doesn't get printed before a certain deadline, how many free copies the designer gets of the game, etc, etc.

Yes, this is for licensing the game to a publisher. For self publishing the numbers will be different. You might make more money, but then you also invest more time and you take a financial risk.

There are only a few lucky people in this world that make a living as freelance game designer, without dabbling in self publishing. Alan R. Moon, Wolfgang Kramer, Klaus Teuber and Reiner Knizia are the names I can come up with. Perhaps there are a few more, but the list is very short. Even prolific designers such as Michael Schacht and Bruno Faidutti need a day job to pay the bills.

A few designers make a living of basically one hit game. I'm sure Klaus Jurgen Wrede and Andreas Seyfarth have made some nice money on Carcassonne and Puerto Rico respectively.

Then of course there are in-house designers working for the Hasbro's, Eagle Games and Fantasy Flight Games of this world, but they don't count :P

soulbeach
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Selling a game outright

Thanks Zaiga,

Have you guys read this thread?:
http://www.bgdf.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=32028#32028

Robinventa's experience is very interesting. I'm not there yet, the process is lenghty and very involving, yet quite exciting to get 1 product in the final stages. 5-6 products will take me some time:)

Still, the road less traveled has enormous atraction power, meeting senior executives from major companies must be a great experience. At least in humility and in the strenghtening of one's character.

So, who DID sell a game like NoMAD mentioned?

soulbeach

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Selling a game outright

It is really deceiving to see the low income rate. I am always comparing to the book industry where the author get 10% of the book store price. So for a 20$ book, you would receive 2$. The Book store get 40%. I am not sure if it is the same proportion in the united states since there is an additional middleman.

With 10% you can only make a living if you write a lot or write a best seller. But it can become a good side line. I think it is worth the effort. But at 2.5% of the final price, considering that you generally sell more copies of a book than a game, I sincerely think that the companies abuse from their freelancers. I don't know why the book industry can offer better rates. Since we are speaking percentage here, even if a game is more complex( or expansive) to build, it won't influence proportion.

This is why I have decided that the only best solution would be the PDF distribution. You get in contact with the distributor which get in contact with the client. You generally get around 75%-85% of the final price but the sales and the prices are lower. But considering that a board game sales are already low, I think it worth it.

lewpuls
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Royalties

Corrections about royalties:

Book royalties are, I believe, 10% only for hardcover; 6% for mass market paperback, but I believe that's of the retail price. My information here is years out of date, so conditions may have changed. (Textbook royalties are often 15%, by the way.)

About games I am much more certain, having had several published: 5% of publisher's revenue (possibly minus shipping costs) is typical, and typically they sell for 40% of retail to distributors. Distributors take 10%, retailers the other 50%. (Which is why online game sellers can offer such large discounts and still make some money.) Retailers deal with distributors, rarely direct with publishers. Of course, if your publisher sells mostly direct, they make 100% rather than 40%.

And if you're someone like Alan Moon, I think you can get more than 5%.

Lew Pulsipher

Lumiere
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Re: Royalties

lewpuls wrote:
Distributors take 10%, retailers the other 50%. (Which is why online game sellers can offer such large discounts and still make some money.) Retailers deal with distributors, rarely direct with publishers. Of course, if your publisher sells mostly direct, they make 100% rather than 40%.

I'm rather new in board games designing, but its my wish since high school to publish one. I plan to begin playtesting in 1 month or so for the piece I'm working on right now through these forums.

But when you said online games sell better, do you mean ordered online, or computerized boardgame sort of thing... Just to be sure, do you mean the former?

soulbeach
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Selling a game outright

I think what Larienna meant was PDF versions of a game. The game is playable. The consumer simply buys the documents from a website and prints everything himself. Cuts the different components, and "builds" the game to a playable state: glues the board parts, tokens, cuts cards etc.

On RPGnow.com, you can put your games up for sale. The average price is 5-10$, they keep 25%, i believe. Whichis WAY better than the 1$ return on investment. Sure you don't sell many copies, but you get your game out there and thats always good: we have to show what we can do. With recognition, you get fidelity from buyers and word of mought is the best way to get your products sold. Solid clients will always sell for you and that with passion when they love your creation!

Apart from your own website and RPGnow, does anyone knows of other sites to sell a pdf version from?

soulbeach

larienna
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Selling a game outright

Quote:
Apart from your own website and RPGnow, does anyone knows of other sites to sell a pdf version from?

There is "cheap ass games", there is "war games download".

Quote:
Book royalties are, I believe, 10% only for hardcover; 6% for mass market paperback, but I believe that's of the retail price.

I am currently studiying as a documentation technician and I am working in a book warehouse and I can assure you that the author get 10%. But like I said, this is in canada. Not sure for US, and the concept of "mass market" distribution does not exist here, only pocket version is the cheapest version available.

For online distribution, I was talking about PDF distribution, but some games can be bought online directly from the publisher. They build the game for you and ship it. Of course, it might be a bit more expensive since they build it and must pay shipping.

soulbeach
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Selling a game outright

Thanks Larienna!

I'll take a look into those!

soulbeach

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