Is creating a game for the XBLA profitable?
There was one article in the past that elicited comments on how much it took to develop an XBLA game. Even we were not in the know of how expensive it was, until we read this particular article. In it, GarageGames‘ co-founder Jeff Tunnell (Jeff’s company was the one who created the XBLA game, Marble Blast Ultra ) gives us the costs range and how long a game took to be developed. According to him, it took 6-12 months and $100,000 to $300,000 to develop – and it’s going to inflate rapidly soon.
The maximum today is the minimum of tomorrow. According to him, the 300k mark may become the minimum cost soon as games start to get more expensive to make. Even he would think twice before accepting a 100k game budget. Half of it would just go to the quality assurance testing and development kits alone.
If the game is a hit with the audience, you’ll do well. The XBLA game publisher gets 30 to 75 percent of sales from a given game, same as what the other portals are charging. For example, a game that costs $10.00 would mean a net of $6.50. If 120,000 people bought/downloaded the game, that means the publisher would get around $780,000.
Jeff is hoping that the Xbox 360 will do well, so that their returns would also increase. So far he’s very happy with the current revenue he’s getting. Since XBLA has a low barrier entry, anyone can be a game developer. To the aspiring game developers out there, here’s your chance to be creative and start earning some money.
Via Jeff Tunnel
There was one article in the past that elicited comments on how much it took to develop an XBLA game. Even we were not in the know of how expensive it was, until we read this particular article. In it, GarageGames‘ co-founder Jeff Tunnell (Jeff’s company was the one who created the XBLA game, Marble Blast Ultra ) gives us the costs range and how long a game took to be developed. According to him, it took 6-12 months and $100,000 to $300,000 to develop – and it’s going to inflate rapidly soon.
The maximum today is the minimum of tomorrow. According to him, the 300k mark may become the minimum cost soon as games start to get more expensive to make. Even he would think twice before accepting a 100k game budget. Half of it would just go to the quality assurance testing and development kits alone.
If the game is a hit with the audience, you’ll do well. The XBLA game publisher gets 30 to 75 percent of sales from a given game, same as what the other portals are charging. For example, a game that costs $10.00 would mean a net of $6.50. If 120,000 people bought/downloaded the game, that means the publisher would get around $780,000.
Jeff is hoping that the Xbox 360 will do well, so that their returns would also increase. So far he’s very happy with the current revenue he’s getting. Since XBLA has a low barrier entry, anyone can be a game developer. To the aspiring game developers out there, here’s your chance to be creative and start earning some money.
Via Jeff Tunnel
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