Puttin in a Box?
by Dreamer · in Torque Game Engine · 11/26/2005 (1:06 am) · 3 replies
I've been thinking about the whole commercial gaming process a lot lately.
And I've been trying to do some estimations.
From the time a game is complete playable and ready to master or download.
Until the time the first box rolls off the assembly line, what is the actual cost and time frame?
I don't imagine it's very cheap. From the time I was 16 until I turned 18, I worked for the various publishing firms around the valley.
I've done nearly everything from running the CD presses (back when Nimbus was around and we were shipping mostly Windows 95, fascinating process itself ask me about it sometime), to sticking the CD's, docs and boxes together and palletizing them (mostly for RR Donnely who later became Modus Media).
I never thought much about it at the time, but lately I've been thinking through alot of "what ifs".
Mostly along the lines of, assuming I could raise funds to bankroll the creation of a real downloadable game.
How much more would I need to raise to get that game onto CD's into packaging ala real retail style boxes and dead tree docs.
This cost would of course not include getting it onto store shelves, since that would be too variable.
But if I were to raise funds for a boxed game similar to what Tribes and Tribes2 has or had (saw Tribes2 at walmart last night for $9.95 btw). How much would I need for I guess you could call it publishing costs?
Anyone who actually participated in a boxed game care to hit me with a clue stick here?
And I've been trying to do some estimations.
From the time a game is complete playable and ready to master or download.
Until the time the first box rolls off the assembly line, what is the actual cost and time frame?
I don't imagine it's very cheap. From the time I was 16 until I turned 18, I worked for the various publishing firms around the valley.
I've done nearly everything from running the CD presses (back when Nimbus was around and we were shipping mostly Windows 95, fascinating process itself ask me about it sometime), to sticking the CD's, docs and boxes together and palletizing them (mostly for RR Donnely who later became Modus Media).
I never thought much about it at the time, but lately I've been thinking through alot of "what ifs".
Mostly along the lines of, assuming I could raise funds to bankroll the creation of a real downloadable game.
How much more would I need to raise to get that game onto CD's into packaging ala real retail style boxes and dead tree docs.
This cost would of course not include getting it onto store shelves, since that would be too variable.
But if I were to raise funds for a boxed game similar to what Tribes and Tribes2 has or had (saw Tribes2 at walmart last night for $9.95 btw). How much would I need for I guess you could call it publishing costs?
Anyone who actually participated in a boxed game care to hit me with a clue stick here?
#2
I'm asking what the cost of getting it into a box would be. After that the rest is a different story.
I do realize that traditionally it takes a whole lot of money to get a game from concept to your local walmart.
I also realize that getting it distributed takes either oodles of cash, excellent word of mouth, and possibly both.
What I'm trying to find out, is for a small production run lets say 2,000 units, what the costs typically have been. (If anyone has even tried this before).
Think about it this way.
What better way to get folks to remember your game than to show up at something like IGC, with 2,000 boxed copies to give away. (See small production runs have a benefit).
This would work especially well if you were doing a subscription game and made sure the first 30 days or something were free, and then charged a small monthly fee.
For instance if I gave away 2,000 copies of my game and suffered even the massive worst case attrition rate of 50% my first month. Given the lengths that I have typically played games for which is about 6 months.
At $10.00 for each user thats $10,000 the first month, $5,000 the second $2,500 the third, $1250 the fourth. so on and so forth works out to a total profit of roughly $20,000.
But at what initial cost?
$20,000 is WAY more than it takes to get a CD pressed in a small run lot of 2,000 around here.
In fact for lots of 1,000 and above I know of a place where the rate is $0.25 per CD or roughly 500.
Sadly, and yet obviously that does not include silkscreening or boxes. Or dead trees.
So my question boils down to, if I were to raise enough money (assuming art work was done before hand), to get my hypothetical game into say 2,000 boxes. How much would I be looking at in terms of a cash outlay.
Thoughts?
11/26/2005 (1:51 am)
@Joe you're missing my point here.I'm asking what the cost of getting it into a box would be. After that the rest is a different story.
I do realize that traditionally it takes a whole lot of money to get a game from concept to your local walmart.
I also realize that getting it distributed takes either oodles of cash, excellent word of mouth, and possibly both.
What I'm trying to find out, is for a small production run lets say 2,000 units, what the costs typically have been. (If anyone has even tried this before).
Think about it this way.
What better way to get folks to remember your game than to show up at something like IGC, with 2,000 boxed copies to give away. (See small production runs have a benefit).
This would work especially well if you were doing a subscription game and made sure the first 30 days or something were free, and then charged a small monthly fee.
For instance if I gave away 2,000 copies of my game and suffered even the massive worst case attrition rate of 50% my first month. Given the lengths that I have typically played games for which is about 6 months.
At $10.00 for each user thats $10,000 the first month, $5,000 the second $2,500 the third, $1250 the fourth. so on and so forth works out to a total profit of roughly $20,000.
But at what initial cost?
$20,000 is WAY more than it takes to get a CD pressed in a small run lot of 2,000 around here.
In fact for lots of 1,000 and above I know of a place where the rate is $0.25 per CD or roughly 500.
Sadly, and yet obviously that does not include silkscreening or boxes. Or dead trees.
So my question boils down to, if I were to raise enough money (assuming art work was done before hand), to get my hypothetical game into say 2,000 boxes. How much would I be looking at in terms of a cash outlay.
Thoughts?
#3
11/26/2005 (2:16 pm)
Yeah, I misunderstood your intentions. :) 
Torque Owner Joe Melton
Fails At Making Games
On a brighter note, getting published through GarageGames might provide a much nicer experience than using another publisher. ;)