I don't have 500k....now what?

#1 In my understanding, until your company makes $500,000/yr or you get a publisher you do not need to get a commercial licence.

I won't claim to have this correct, but I am pretty sure that is the way it is.

#2 So here's a question, just curiosity. Say I develop my first TGE title. It makes 400,000 in revenues...

Then comes TGE title number 2... and IT makes 400,000.

Now my company revenues due in part to TGE are 800,000; commercial license time....

But I've got to get a commercial license now for BOTH games, at 20,000?

It makes sense... but it seems like after I've made some money, I need to get older games away from proprietary technology so they aren't hampering the revenue stream.

If I want to keep selling the first title at gain, it needs to be running on non TGE, so I only have to buy one commercial license, since the first game has already made most of it's money, and shelling out 10,000 makes it seem risky to keep it on the market.

Maybe I'm just being shifty, and at that point, I just need to think like I made 390,000 on the first game?

#3 So many folk are trying to read between the lines on this license, for no real reason. All its really saying, in plain English, is _if_ you begin making a fortune (eg, over $500k) then GG wants a simple $10k. See, if you're small time, chances are real good you are going to publish through GG online. They would then be making a percentage of sales (35% I _think_). If you get bigger than that, or you think another publisher can offer a better deal, thats fine. GG simply wants a 10k fee. In no way does this license "hold you back", it is actually one of the extremely few that allows broke folk like ourselves to make a game without pulling 2nd, 3rd and 4th mortgages out.

#4 I know this, it was just a simple question. If you read the last line of my post, you'll see I did at least indirectly comment on the fact that it would be money well spent.

I'm just making sure if it would even be possible to not have the 10k apply to past games (i.e. i took that game off the market to avoid having to get it a commercial license).

GG guys want to say anything on this? I'm just airing out an idea I had. (And seeing if this is one way I can be frugal in the future if it turns out to be necessary.)

#5 You don't need to know upfront. That is the beauty of our license. Pay us $100 per progammer. Make your game. Sell it. If you go above $500,000 in revenue, then pay us $10,000. That will be small potatoes is you make it that far. For now, enjoy the good deal.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#6 Good enough for me.

#7 Sorry to bump an old thread, but is the $100 per programmer until game busts 500k still valid? Working on a startup and I don't have 10k to pay at the moment, but theres a slim chance that I'll break 500k eventually - I need to know if I will be able to upgrade the license without conflicts. Thanks in advance.

#8 The liscense has not changed.

#9 You only have to pay the $10k if you are making over $500k a year in revenue. I don't imagine that this will ever change, although I Am Not a GG Employee, because GG wants to encourage indie game development with Torque, not make quick bucks right off the bat at the expense of the licensees...

#10 I don't see what the big deal is. 10k is such a small nominal fee if you are making a half million dollars. How greedy can you possible be?

I am curious about one thing though. This half million dollar thing... does this apply 'per fiscal year' or does it apply for the lifetime of any torque products you have. (For example, making an accumulative 500,000 over 10 years doesn't sound like it would be 10k worthy).

#11 It's per year. If you make 250K per year, you never owe the 10 grand.

#12 One interesting "side note" is that according to:
click here
it states:

Quote:
If your company revenues or those of your publisher are above $500,000

So if you are lucky enough to get a big game publisher to take your game seriously and publish it then you would have to pay. Of course if you can get them to do that you should be able to get them to fork over the 10 grand to help you out.

#13 Look in the grand scheme of things 10k is not a lot of money. If your gross is $500k a year then it is a chump change. And note it says nothing about the gross being derived from Torque related sales. It is just plainly states $500k a year. don't make things more complicated than they need to be.

#14 My goodness, I wish I had to pay Garage Games 10k for a commercial license :) The Torque license will likely be the smallest game development problem you will ever have.

#15 My goodness, I wish I had to pay Garage Games 10k for a commercial license

Maybe they can make an exception for you? :)

#16 Yeah, I'm sure that Brian would love it if GG docked $10k out of his salary for a commercial license, without making him earn $500k in a year first :P