Video game sale and revenue by title and/or genre
by kyle rode · in General Discussion · 08/05/2002 (7:58 pm) · 1 replies
I am trying to price out a video game development cycle. I am having trouble finding information on sales figures and revenue by title and/or genre for the past several years.
I have researched the issue and found that most of the industry reports and databases cost several thousands of $ to get access, even then I am not assured that I will have the correct and relevant information.
Can anyone lead me in the right direction for concrete sale and revenue numbers for some of the titles from the past few years. Genre information is good as well.
Thanks,
Kyle
kyle@kylerode.com
I have researched the issue and found that most of the industry reports and databases cost several thousands of $ to get access, even then I am not assured that I will have the correct and relevant information.
Can anyone lead me in the right direction for concrete sale and revenue numbers for some of the titles from the past few years. Genre information is good as well.
Thanks,
Kyle
kyle@kylerode.com
Torque Owner Jim Drewry
If you're interested in revenues from a public company, check out their SEC filings (such as a 10K). Companies like EA often list crucial info about how their titles faired and how they expect their next wave of titles to do. This can be an excellent resource if you are considering a title that will compete with one that they mention.
Beyond company disclosures, Google for press releases and interviews. Use sales and marketing oriented keywords along with the names of publishers and titles that are competitive. It's a slow processk, but you'd be surprised how much publisher and press divulged info there is.
Next - Is it a AAA title? AA? A? Rank it as honestly as possible against the titles that compete with it and also against the titles that are likely to be released when you launch. Then factor in standard marketing, channel, and support costs for the class of the game. Remember, a boxed game is still primarily a consumer packaged good, and there's reams of standard marketing models out there for moving boxes off of shelves.
Speaking of boxes, don't forget the hard costs of production. The CDs aren't free. You can find the info you need for all of this pricing online.
Once you've got your spend categories add them up and divide it by 40% of the retail price (ie $23.98 for a $59.95 AAA title) of your product (if you're self publishing). That should give you the actual number of units you need to sell to break even.
Beyond the breakeven point, scale the non-development costs by the number of units sold, and watch the margins.
That should give you a respectable estimate with which to approach an investor or publisher.
Of course, the ideal situation would be to have the full set of statistics. While expensive, it might be possible to have multiple teams kick in to purchase a couple of reports together.
Anyway - my $.02