According to statistics, Russians annually spend several million dollars on computer games. Both adults and children spend hours in front of the monitor. The gaming industry is becoming more and more popular every year.
This trend makes many entrepreneurs think about how to make money on games. There are many options for such entrepreneurial activity. We will consider one of the most profitable, but difficult - the production of computer games.
A bit of history
The pioneer of the computer games industry was Alex Pajitnov, an employee of the computer center. It all started with the fact that he had to come up with a variety of programs to test new equipment. He made them in the form of games. In 1985, they invented the well-known and popular Tetris.
In 1990, another interesting game was born - Perestroika. Its founder was Nikita Skripkin. According to him, no one made money on it, but thanks to this toy all of Europe found out about them.
Around the same years, game consoles began to be released, which turned the head of all young people. Starting from the two thousandths, more and more computers began to appear in the homes of Russians, and behind them were PC games. So, many people began to almost live in a virtual world.
How to make money on games: business challenges
Each business has its own nuances. So, for example, in order for your computer gaming business not to go under water right after launching a project, it is necessary that it be competitive. And this factor largely depends on the quality of the games and on how much they can interest users.
Competition is growing every day. Over a day, more than a hundred new games are born all over the world, on each of which someone wants to get rich. But only a few of them are gaining real popularity and, accordingly, bring their creators good profit.
The second problem that may be faced by those who still do not know how to make money on creating games is the variability of fashion. It takes about a year or two to develop one toy. And during this time, the interests of users can change in any direction. Many creators admit that sometimes it’s easier to stop the project than to continue financing it, because until the next game is ready for release, it may already be irrelevant.
Issue price
Before you understand how to make money on computer games, you need to find out how much it costs to start such a business. In this matter, much depends on the scale of the project that you are going to promote. On average, a game that is not very difficult can take about $ 500,000. This is about Russia. In the West, such projects will cost a little more - 4-5 million dollars.
Almost 60% of this money will be spent on the salaries of hired specialists. Everything else will go to utility bills, taxes, rent of premises and other expenses.
For example, the salary of a good programmer is estimated at 500-1000 dollars. Therefore, if, say, ten specialists work on the project, then, accordingly, at least $ 5,000-10000 will be required.
How is the profit shared between the developer and the publisher?
This issue should be discussed in advance so that no further misunderstandings arise. According to the rules, the earnings of the publisher and developer must be the same. In foreign countries, at least so.But for Russia, a different trend is characteristic - the publisher takes the bulk of the profit.
And it's not that he works anymore. It’s just that he takes care of all the cash costs. In other words, he risks his capital. After all, if the project proves to be a failure, then it will lose it. The developer does not risk anything, if only his time spent on creating the game.
But if he finances the whole process of the birth of a new project, then the share of profit is already changing significantly. Sometimes it can pass in the direction of the developer and make up to 80%.
How much can you earn by creating games?
Well, this question is almost in the first place for all entrepreneurs who want to start this business. It will be very difficult to answer, but let's try.
It takes about 30 cents to print a single disc. Here we add good printing and colorful packaging (box) - plus another 20 cents. The price for one disc is about $ 24. It should be borne in mind that this is not retail, but wholesale. From one disc, the creator has no more than a dollar.
Of course, this is not great money, but if the circulation is considerable, then the profit will also increase. On average, a good project can bring from 200 to 300 thousand dollars per game. And this is only for sale in Russia. Although it also happens that from the CIS countries you can get the same profit as from the rest of the world. Here the factor of the untwisted game can influence.
At the same time, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the business on online games could bring completely different money, if not for pirated sales. For example, more than 500,000 pieces of legal disks of the popular game "Truckers" were sold. This brought the developers nearly 750,000 dollars. And if not for pirate fakes, then this number could double.
Staff recruitment
How to make money on computer games more - as a team? No matter how strictly it sounds, but in order for a newcomer-lone game business to be able to enter the relevant market and stay at least a little there, it will take a lot of effort and money. The times when, after creating the game, almost anyone could become rich and famous, sunk into the water. Now they are working on similar projects with teams. But even with a well-coordinated team, it’s very difficult to enter the global market for computer games.
The selection of personnel must be approached with all seriousness, because the production of computer games cannot be entrusted to anyone. Many take in their team only those specialists who have at least 4 courses of university education. A prerequisite that developers must have is knowledge of computer science, engineering, and applied mathematics. But such geniuses are very, very few.
The problem of the lack of qualified specialists is also that in Russia, unlike the West, there is not a single educational institution that would train masters of the computer industry. Therefore, you will probably have to create special training classes in which it will be possible to enhance the knowledge of young specialists in one or another field. And this is also a cost, and considerable.
Which is more profitable?
Many start-up entrepreneurs do not know what is still more profitable - to develop games, publish them or engage in distribution? According to computer experts, the most profitable and reliable business will be to complete all these tasks simultaneously. Those. one company should be engaged in the development of a project. In this case, it is very convenient to control the entire technological process - from the beginning of the creation of the game to its release on store shelves. But only large companies can afford such a process.
How to make money on games: the process
Often, the profitability of the project depends on the correctness of the work plan.At the first stage, the producer or manager carries out a marketing analysis of the market, during which the demand for certain products after a certain time is determined. As a rule, this is 1-2 years - this is how long it takes to develop one medium-sized project.
After the idea for a computer game was invented, the second stage begins - the preparation of a business plan. It considers the entire project as a whole - analysis of competitors, calculation of approximate costs and profits, etc.
The third stage is the most massive. It brings together concept artists and designers. They should paint at the smallest steps all the tasks and levels of the game, the number of heroes, animations and more. This stage, the so-called pre-production, takes about 4 months. During this time, a plan should be created for all further work.
And the last stage is production, in other words, production. Absolutely all personnel take part in it - animators, artists, programmers, designers. This stage is the longest, after which a trial version of the game (alpha version) is born.
Basically, it still contains a bunch of errors that will be eliminated within a couple of months. After fixing the bugs, a beta version is released, in which the game is honed under the final version. And only after all these numerous works is a product released that is ready to conquer the heights of the game world.
What's faster?
Many developers claim that it is very beneficial to create games for tablets. Why? It just takes less time to create such a toy - about 4 months. Yes, and money to start a business in this area will not need so much - up to $ 100,000.
While the development of games for computers takes, as mentioned above, from a year to two years. And the required budget is at least $ 150,000-200,000. But the most difficult and long is the process of creating games for consoles. It takes them at least two years.
Copyright
How to make money on games and protect yourself from software piracy? So that your copyrights are not infringed, you can contact special firms. They track the sale of pirated discs and copies of games on the Internet. If such a violation has occurred, the company will report this to the necessary authorities, which will take the necessary measures. For such reliable protection you need to pay a lot of money. But, as practice shows, it is worth it.
