This is pretty much the staff my brother used... they are costly! They tinkered with their software product trying to get it marketed for 3 years... VC began to dry up and it didn't end well... and they had a really great software and lots of interest in it... man I hope gaming is better.... One thing I can tell you, don't fail unless you have some assets of your own.
A lead programmer or artist will cost about 120k per year plus benefits... Lead designers are around 90k....and you go down from there. People cost a lot of money....especially good people that you know can get the job done. And casual games have teams of about 7-10 people and premier games are about 20-30 people, and the MMO will be around 70 people. The way we are setting up the company is that we are going to sell directly to the public, I think it limits our chances of failure. We don't need to sell uber units to make money, which means a good solid single and we make returns in the 5 to 1 ratio.....whereas a hit puts us through the startosphere, the difference is that we make money on every product, even if they are marginally received. DD
No, as I explained earlier if you just do the development and not the website you finish the game and have no audience, no money to continue to pay people and a hope that the game sells? You need to plan for it all.....and have enough money to continue to work on other projects as the audience builds, and sales happen -bringing in revenue. Simply doing a project for $2 million (roughly the cost of the first premier project) would leave everyone out of work at the end, and no marketing..... We need more than that....especially to get the good people to come on board and leave their current jobs...... The payoff is the stock at the end of the day...when we sell...and I ALWAYS sell. DD
DaDokata, a few questions. I might have read the thread wrong so correct me if that is the case. Your basic plan is develop a game, release it digitally, allow modders to create their own content which they can sell concurrently? I might be old school, but I always preferred box items over digital releases. I like standing in front of a bunch of games and selecting the coolest one. How do you plan on getting people to your site so they buy a digital distribution of your games? If any of the games become popular, how do you plan on dealing with piracy? If modders are payed money, what is their incentive to work together? If they dont work together, there is the possibility that some designs will function the same. Will modders have to tell you what they are doing? The small games you talk about (like bejewled clones) are available in great variety online for free. You would have to come up with some really clever stuff to get people to your site.
Hi Drew, yes, we plan on doing partnerships with existing publishers for boxed copies, but honestly, the PC industry is getting less and less shelf space and the boxed copy is going the way of the do-do.... Let me ask you an honest question, if you could buy the game online for $40 or in a box for $50, which would you do? As for modders, they are free to work together or seperate, but if they want to sell their versions they will have to submit them to us for quality control checks.......and we will decide if they are good enough for publishing...otherwise they stay in the ether and are not supported on our servers etc.... Bejewled and casual games are not the market we are going for, ours are a little more complex.....than that. As for driving people to our site, we have some great ideas to get people to come every day, which I am not comfortable disclosing as it is one of our most unique features. DD
If you really did....CONGRATULATIONS !!! And if you are serious about wanting to invest or at least look at the plan, we would be happy to talk to you..... DD
Let me give you an honest answer. I would buy the online copy, 10 times out of 10. I would buy the downloaded version if it only saved me a dollar. I'm actually kind of surprised that something like this hasn't been done before. Have you looked into similar ventures?
He lost 5 million of his own money; sold the company at the end to his biggest investor and the rest was a mess. He did recoup some $$$ because he basically sold it all for stock in another company that actually surprised everyone. I don't know what his net loss was though. DD- I would just say don't under-capitalize! That is the kiss of death. Plan to succeed, have a good business plan and line up enough funding to see it through. I think what I learned from my brother was that if you are going to play with the big boys your chances increase if you are a big boy. He had plenty of money when he started his company.
I'd probably lean towards the $40 download, but at only a $10 difference, I could see how people might prefer the $50 box version. Having a box and book (and possibly other goodies) for the game is always pretty nice. Plus, I'm assuming the download version has some sort mechanism for allowing the user to redownload the game, along with other things. If that is a pain, I can see people not minding an extra $10 so they won't have to worry about it. This only really matters if both are offered though. Downloads are the future, and I don't think people would be too upset with being "forced" to go that route (assuming the right system is in place and games end up being cheaper).
This... this Car washes and bake sales idea, man... this is going to work... DaDa, listen to this man... ^ sign him up right now to the board of directors without question!
The problem is that larger publishers dominate the market, and they make 90+ Percent of their profit from boxed sales, so they do not want anything to change. DD
DD I have had a similar conundrum in that the Houston Tech Ctr says to do it in small chunks. Ask for $750,000 to $1,000,000 to start. Prove that you can take your products and sell them. After which, if you can prove that you are successful, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round financing become easier. Then I had a nother friend who tells me that some of these VC's don't even want to look at a proposal uner a whopping $10 million. So who do I believe? If you can write a business plan for $1,000,000 it isn't that hard to ramp it up to $10,000,000. All you have to do is add more people and kickup your sales numbers and research and development budget. This is sooo confusing. On one hand I got one bunch of guys telling me to do it small and another guy saying write it mucho grande!
DaDa--- To answer anyone's curiosity, "No... I didn't really win $37 Million in Powerball, but...." There are other ways to become a "qualified" investor, i.e. start a Panamanian (or other friendly domicile) International Business Corporation (IBC). I know some folks who have done/are doing this and am considering it myself. This elevates one to the "qualified" status to which you are referring. I might even be able to introduce you to some people who might allow you to pitch to some 7-800 such Investors.
Good luck Dada. Concept looks awesome. Sounds like your priorities are in line with those of a VC. And you're wisely steering clear of the OTC sharks. I was tempted by your last venture when you were hyping the stock -- but in the end, my laziness and aversion to the OTC scammolas saved the day (and my wallet). I guess on the plus...if you go that route this time...you'd be the guy skimming the pot and driving the ferrarri!
Well that was my pt. And if you're successful, you'll make a lot of money, your investors will make a lot and everyone wins.
