Su Doku Live Sales Stats - $27,000 Income
October 16th, 2007 by JuusoPosted in Sales Statistics
Su Doku Live by DeadPixelGames has an interesting story. It’s their first game, and it sold around 50 copies directly on the Internet - yet made much more through publishing deal.
Title: Su Doku Live
Website: Deadpixelgames.com
Team size: 1 developer + 1 artist
Development time: 6 months (part time) + about 6 months to produce artwork
Price: $20
Direct sales: 50 (47 Mac, 3 Windows)
Sales income: $2000
Other income: $25,000 (exclusive publishing deal)
Production & contract costs: $14,000
- Blitzmax $80
- Google ads: $1000
- Banner ads at PC game sites: $200
- Dropped game project production costs: roughly $13,000
Profits: Around $13,000 ($27,000 - $14,000)
Developer comments:
“Su Doku Live” was my “plan b”. I had spent a year at another game. The project was dropped (could not get a publisher willing to buy me the license to market a networked “Settlers of catan” game), and it cost WAY over those 13,000 (that I ended up paying along with my two business partners).
I had to finish something, to actually release a game and prove to myself I could do it. So, I picked up a smaller project and saved the “game company”. At least I will have another go at it.
The lesson: making games is a lot of hard work, with loads of room for failure, things can go wrong, games may not get a publisher, etc. If “Su Doku Live” had not got into retail I am *certain* it would fail to pay the development expenses with just direct sales and my “game studio” (dead pixel games) would be dead by now.
Hopefully with the next games we will not end up paying for my lack of experience. I will start coding it soon. This is something I really love doing, so I must follow this dream, no matter the odds.
Very unique story - thanks Deadpixelgames for sharing this experience.
October 17th, 2007 at 3:03 am
[...] came across this post - Su Doku Live Sales Stats - $27000 Income - and thought it was worth sharing. I hope you find it interesting too and take the time to read [...]
October 17th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
[...] EstatÃsticas de venda do jogo indie Su Doku Live Arquivado em: blog, gamedev, notÃcias — kishimoto @ 08:27 Mais uma do gameproducer.net: estatÃsticas do jogo indie Su Doku Live da DeadPixelGames, que atingiu uma receita de US$27.000. [...]
October 17th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
October 18th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
[...] Juuso posted sales stats for Su Doku Live. The guys behind Dead Pixel Games were lucky enough to get $27000 income with $13000 profit. But did they succed in online sales? They sold only 50 copies of Su Doku Live - 47 for Mac, 3 for Windows - and earned $2000. That’s not much for a game that is online for over a year. So where all the money come from? They managed to get publishing deal for $25k that saved their butts. [...]