The distributor also takes their cut (Steam’s is 30%, for example), and the cut the author gets is 25% of what remains. Usually, that works out to a little bit less than $0.90 US.
I should probably also note that it will probably take a few years to hit 20 000 sales, so the author of even a well-received title might only get about 10k or so in their first year of sales, maybe 3-4k afterwards, and 1.5-2k in subsequent years (this generally reflects my experience). Unless an author’s already got residuals to fall back on, that’s far below minimum wage in most developed economies.
I mean…I don’t think we need to jump through hoops and think up wild gimmicks in order to sell our novels. CoG is doing it the only valid way: selling stories that authors worked hard on for hundreds of hours for comparitively low prices of $1-7.
@Cataphrak
Thanks for adding that in, I was about to do some maths (or try to, at least ) and was wondering where ‘the rest’ went.
And @Samuel_H_Young, yeahhh… you’re probably right, although right now I’m too lazy busy to work on my game (right now it’s more of a… concept, haha) in the future I shall work the hard hundreds of hours.
And I think the prices are pretty low! Especially considering we don’t have that stupid ‘lives’ system, as in when you buy the game you actually have the game (although IAP’s too, but ehh)
And no wild gimmicks?
Okay I’ll put away the cowboy costume and buy “39 get 1 free” banners away…
Side note, is it like (supposed to be that) if you release 3 average COG’s a year, that’s like an average/ good yearly salary?
Because that sounds like super hardwork, although also inspiring in a way.
There really is no way to release 3 CoGs a year by one person. Possibly 2, and that is on the leaner side of word count, and this still doesn’t account for the testing phase.
And the sales count @Cataphrak mentioned is probably for those who do really well.
As for the 30% cut by Steam, from what I gather, other storefronts (like Apple) take similar cuts. There is a reason that CoG tries to be on multiple storefronts.
You’re most like right, it’s jsut from memory I remember hearing something like this.
Although maybe they mean making 3 COG games (which all sell okay) the total profits in 1 year where each generates you money would be equal to a good/ average salary?
Plus, once you’ve made 2 COG’s it’ll be a bit easier (also obviously still amazing, anyone who makes sequels or stuff set in the same worlds…) to make another one… I think?
And yeah, especially since the faster you type and more words you have the more errors you’re likely to make, and people are super harsh (in reviews) of grammar/ spelling errors.
How do you manage it then Cata, since you’re living in Vancouver, which contrary to my initial expectations actually seems to be quite expensive, even more so then Amsterdam in some areas?
If the Cog website actually let me easily download a local copy, so I can peek at the code whenever I feel like it I would definitely prefer it over Steam. But it may be a bit much to ask them to replicate the easy functionality the Chrome Apps used to have.
As I really hate Steam’s direct dollar to Euro conversions as if they’re equal, which they’re obviously not and then providing inferior service to boot by only unlocking our pre-order games according to US West-Coast time.
When a game is text driven, then people will be harsher on those errors, as well as bugs which can ruin a game. The same is true of visual novels.
In general, I would agree, especially on the coding side. However, there are a few things to consider. The first is that in general when you are making a series, there will be fewer buyers for sequels than the first game. This is just true of sequels in general. I’m not going to deny that sequels can do better (they can), but usually there is a tapering off effect. By the same token, the people that stuck around for that form a hardcore audience you can count on.
And if you make a new game, there is no guarantee your fans of the first work will like it as well. In some ways, branching off early into other genres is easier than waiting for later. Of course, you may not have that core audience which I mentioned above to help provide you with money.
While there are a lot of works I love, I don’t think any writer here will be able to say they were able to go writing full-time based on what they earned for a CoG/HG.
I also split a rent-stabilised one-bedroom apartment with my wife, have a moderately successful Patreon, don’t own a car, and do other work (like the chapter headers for CoG and my work on Burden of Command).
About the code part, I remember ages ago when I was a complete noob entrepreneur in the land of modding, I realised you could buy the game on Android, plug phone in to laptop and open it like it’s your game (and see the code).
Of course if the Play Store takes a bigger cut than the alternatives it’s a moot point anyway.
And @Lys you’re completely right about that, why/ how the bugs are so immersion breaking, however I’ve honestly seen some amazing games rewarded with 1* due to super simple errors, which can have big effects.
Although tons of people give 1* on COG games for terrible reasons.
And perhaps not full time (ooh, and I understand your point on sequels, and it makes sense why the rewards could diminish) but it could allow you to work less or maybe pay for rent or something a month?
I just feel as if I made a good couple of games, enough to get enough money yearly to pay essential expenditure, I’d be super happy!
See, but those sort of annoying solutions do tend to annoy me as a paying customer. Though this is more an issue I have with Steam and the fact that it has now become a monopoly after Google stepped out of the business then it is an issue I have with CoG or the authors.
Though I wouldn’t object if they found a second outlet, such as GoG for PC players like me sometime in the future.
In addition to play things I bug on the Play store on my computer I’d need to run a third party emulator on top of everything else, again not a necessarily fatal handicap but annoying as hell.
I understand what you mean, and agree about Steam’s increasing presence as a monopoly as it means they can charge/ ask for a bigger % and their competitors might find it hard to actually get people or match prices.
And yeah, although it’s not the best solution until something else is found it’s… okay.
I remember something about being able to have COG games on like newsgrounds and Kongregate, but apparently they ask for like 70% or something, and some changes would have to be made to fit.
Something else to consider is just how markets themselves change. Just in the last couple years, we saw Google ending its Chrome Apps, especially on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.
Steam in general has turned into a mess thanks to Greenlight, and now Steam Direct.
The App store has its own issues I don’t want to touch on at the moment.
When it comes to ratings or costs in general, people can be two-faced at times.
I apologize if it sounded like I was trying to rain on someone’s dream; it wasn’t that. Getting money for any endeavor you work on is nice, and if you do it can help you, even better.
It’s just I’ve seen a lot of people, usually in the visual novel community, that thought they could give up their day job, etc. and the money would roll in…and competition is even bigger than ever.
Ah I getcha, and don’t apologise regardless, if I thought COG was a get-rich-quick schemes it’s better you set me and others, straight, for short term sadness than long term disappointment. That might also contribute to the sheer amount of abandoned WiPs, too.
And with Android you can return after 24 for any, or no, reason.
You could play the game multiple times in that time.
It just doesn’t seem amazingly thought through, too.
And I’m hoping for more people to read online, as I think a sponsorship with an E-book or something company might prove mutually beneficial (similar audience, increased reach?)
Although that doesn’t go for just CoG, Steam is becoming an increasing blight on PC gaming and I wish our august EU commissioners would take a look at market distortions in the PC gaming market sometime.
Yes, but that is consumer protection at work, a far more effective agency. What I want is for our august commissioner of competition to start to look into this. Of course the EU has always been deliberately, dreadfully weak and lax on monopolies preferring to devote its time to anti-cartel measures, which while pricing cartels were a big problem in the 1970’s through 1990’s today monopolies are becoming the greater distorter of the “free” market. Of course they are also bigger sponsors, patrons and lobbyists then some of the older businesses ever were.
Other then the website, which doesn’t really allow me to alter the code, sadly no. Or at least, as described above, none that is in any way convenient.
For non-CoG games I prefer to buy indies on itch.io or directly from their publisher/author whenever possible and I try to use GoG instead of Steam whenever possible as well.
So just out of curiosity, where does the “extra money” go?
Let’s say we’re talking about an AAA title, and the price is $50 USD but like 70 in the EU, right?
Is that realistic? If so, where does the extra money go?
) and was wondering where ‘the rest’ went.
