Sales Statistics: Pharaohs’ Curse Gold, $2000 Yearly Sales
September 20th, 2006 by JuusoPosted in Sales Statistics
Maher Farag a humble developer at Ancient Soft decided to share sales statistics for their fine puzzle game.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Pharaohs’ Curse Gold (Download demo :: Buy)
Developer: Ancient Soft
Release date: 2002
Team size: 1 developer, 1 artist and 1 musician
Time of development: about 4 month part time
Platform: Windows (Mac, Linux versions planned)
SALES:
- Downloads: 1500 monthly
- Direct Sales: 4-15 units monthly
- Affiliate sales: 1-2 units monthly (not regular)
- Price: USD 19.95
SALES BY MONTH
2006 sales stats :
- January: 3 sales
- February: 8 sales
- March: 5 sales
- April: 2 sales
- May: 1 sales
- June: 4 sales
- July: 2 sales
- August: 3 sales
EXPENSES
- Music USD 19
- Graphics USD 350
- Hosting USD 100
- Download.com Ads USD 99 (in 2004)
- Shareware Tracker USD 59
PROMOTION
- Submitting to shareware sites
- Download.com
GAMEPRODUCER.NET COMMENTS
First I would like to thank Maher for doing such a great job making these numbers public. When I asked him about the stats, he was saying “how poor the numbers are” and that’s why he is not interested in sharing them. I said you sell roughly 10 units every month? That’s about 100 units in a year. That’s $2000 per year. $2000 per year is far from being a poor figure!
I really think that indies should be more proud about their achievements. Making a game that sells hundred copies per year is a great achievement. I think this is a great example about a successful indie game: small budget, decent amount of money - and definitely worth sharing.
I wish good luck for Maher and I really recommend every puzzle fan out there to try the game. The game has got great ratings, and is filled with levels. The developers sure have done a big job finishing the game, so they deserve get paid. Skip few beers, and instead - reach out for the wallet and buy their game.
September 20th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
That’s a really nice looking game - I’m surprised the figures aren’t higher! Is it selling through portals? I’m kicking off a download of this now while I go off to watch some tv, so I don’t get sidetracked and forget. If it plays the way it looks, I’ll probably be putting out the cash for it in a few days ;-) Your sales will go up by at least 1 this month.
September 20th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Pharaoh´s Course is a fine game, but it´s only a “comercial remake” from the MSX classic “King´s Valley” from Konami, with the same levels and puzzles…
September 20th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
On the topic of being proud of your smallest achievements: I remember selling my first shareware unit at the young age of 11 - I was so proud of the $10 I earned. My mother photocopied the check and laminated it and put it in a scrapbook for me. Those were the days.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
If the monthly sales numbers listed above are current 2006 numbers, then this is definitely something to be quite proud of - $2000/yr worth of sales for a game that came out 4 years ago, and that took only 4 months of part-time work to develop? That’s great!
It would definitely be interesting to see the number of units sold per month over the lifetime of the product…
September 21st, 2006 at 8:08 am
@Raul: Developer mentioned: It is true it is a based of a Konami game but it has a totally original and different Levels. Music and graphics are also original. The concept/gameplay is only like the Konami game.
September 21st, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I played this about 2-3 years ago and it seems well enough done. It’s great that it’s still selling cool. Wonder what the total income over 4 years is? Time for a sequal?
September 21st, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Here is my 2006 sales stats :
Jan. 3 sales
Feb. 8 sales
March 5 sales
April 2 sales
May 1 sales
June 4 sales
July 2 sales
August 3 sales
Total income for the past 4 years (through my site) is USD 7556
No sequel but I am planning for more levels pack!
By the way, I am very poor in marketing and if anyone can help me or point me where to make ads, promotion or whatever, I will be more than happy and appreciate it.
September 21st, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Thanks Maher for these numbers - I’ve updated the info.
September 26th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
The whole “my sales are poor” comes from the portal mindset where all your sales occur in the first 60 days and you’re told the “average” is in the 1000s of copies a month. What no one mentions is that “average” applies to less than 1% of the people developing indie games.
For everyone else there’s the $2,000 a year model, which isn’t bad if you stop trying to “keep up the the Joneses”. If you look at is as successfully creating a passive income that will extend for years (if not decades) to come- then it’s actually an achievement that you can be proud of.
Plus this type of success increments exponentially with each new release. 2 games on the site doesn’t mean $4,000 a year - it’s more like $6,000 - $8,000 a year. It’s a slow burn to build a successful business this way but in the end you have a business that won’t topple over under market changes so easily.
September 27th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Maher: Thanks for updating the stats, very nice of you.
Knau: Yeah, I agree, the slow build to solid sales is a nice path if you can stick at it.
September 27th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Thanls everyone for the nice words :)