Starting a video game company, how to sell a video game you produce, how to?

[newelement]

Hello, I am starting a video game company using UDK as our engine. I have a team ready to go, writers, modelers, programmers, etc.

However, I lack the understanding of the producing side. Once our game is good, using UDK of course...

How do I sell this game to GameStop, or get it out in the marketplace, and get paid?

Any insight would be appreciated. Are there books on this subject? Or any known procedures?

Thanks!

[darthviper107]

If you don't know what you're doing you're going to have issues. Basically you'd have to negotiate it with Gamestop for them to carry your game, besides that you of course have to get some place that will stamp the game discs and make the packaging.

Usually, if your game is good you can get a publisher who handles that stuff for you, but then you lose some of your control, since they can make demands for changes to your game.

Best solution is to release it online, Steam is one option although they still take a percentage of sales.

[newelement]

Thanks

Thanks Steam is great.

Yes I would like to be my own publisher as well. I'd like to be the next Rockstar games, but on a tiny, independent scale.

Does Steam have a game submission process? Or any other retailers you know?

[Crusha K. Rool]

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php

[KingCobra]

Check out Desura too. They're kinda like the Indie only version of Steam run by IndieDB.

[BmB23]

Could also go the "World of Goo" route and sell it for download on your own website. www.2dboy.com

This would be quite hard though since you need to actually have a working webshop that allows redownloads.

[Baructt]

If you use Amazon Web Services, then some of the web page stuff would be easier, but you would still build and run a business site on your own. The upside of having your own online business is that it's dirt cheap (aside from staff). The cost of a website is tiny compared to even Steam (which has fair prices). Publishers and physical stores cost so much that you wouldn't see much profit coming back.

[Spoof]

The flipside to publishing yourself is exposure, and how to raise awareness of your product. Steam takes a cut like any publisher, but that buys you into a community of several million gamers who can purchase your game easily and safely.

[Baructt]

The flipside to publishing yourself is exposure, and how to raise awareness of your product. Steam takes a cut like any publisher, but that buys you into a community of several million gamers who can purchase your game easily and safely.

True, but exposure is best achieved with advertising, which Steam offers little of. Even then, you can still tell your friends on Steam about it. Why does everyone act like Steam is the only way to ever buy a PC game? For example, why all of the drama over EA dropping Steam? It's just one online store.

[Crusha K. Rool]

True, but exposure is best achieved with advertising, which Steam offers little of. Even then, you can still tell your friends on Steam about it. Why does everyone act like Steam is the only way to ever buy a PC game? For example, why all of the drama over EA dropping Steam? It's just one online store.

I very very very rarely buy a game these days when it's not on Steam. Period.

It's the obsession of wanting to have all your games in one place as collection and accessible from everywhere. If EA wants to abandon that ship, I rather chose to not buy ME3 or BF3 than splitting up my collection. And I know from quite a few users that they handled it the same way. I also don't buy Indie Bundles that have their content disproportionately on Desura only and not on Steam.

On a side note is Steam the master of luring gamers into buying more games than they could ever play in their life. I think I have 150 more games in my library than I actually have installed and I will hardly find the time to play them before I retire. Yet it keeps getting me to buy games with deals. It's like the typcial cliché with women and their obsession for shoes.

[SethNemo]

One thing that has been said before and is important, especially if you´re going to publish it yourself, is the advertising/marketing side of things. If you´re going to do this yourself you should learn something about this as well as getting people in your team that have experience in this field. And with learning I mean the boring but sufficient way of buying books and visiting classes. This stuff has a lot to do with math too if you want it to be as effective as possible. Sure, your game could go viral, but that is like playing in the lottery. Also you should grow a little network of important people who share your believe in your game. They can support/do some free advertising for your game were you can´t (afford to). If you are going for a publisher you also might need a lot of patience to find one if you´re not some industry veteran or created the new messiah in gaming history.

[Baructt]

I very very very rarely buy a game these days when it's not on Steam. Period.

It's the obsession of wanting to have all your games in one place as collection and accessible from everywhere. If EA wants to abandon that ship, I rather chose to not buy ME3 or BF3 than splitting up my collection. And I know from quite a few users that they handled it the same way. I also don't buy Indie Bundles that have their content disproportionately on Desura only and not on Steam.

On a side note is Steam the master of luring gamers into buying more games than they could ever play in their life. I think I have 150 more games in my library than I actually have installed and I will hardly find the time to play them before I retire. Yet it keeps getting me to buy games with deals. It's like the typcial cliché with women and their obsession for shoes.

If Steam's way of advertising is to give customers 50%-75% off the game, then how much profit is the dev really getting from that deal, especially if its retail price is cheap? I'd say that's expensive advertising. Since it would be an Indie game, how long would it take for Steam to put it in the discount bin? I'd rather spend a little on my own advertising and sell from my own website.

[BmB23]

I very very very rarely buy a game these days when it's not on Steam. Period.

It's the obsession of wanting to have all your games in one place as collection and accessible from everywhere.

And this is why Steam needs to die. Rabid anticompetitive fanboys, worse than the Firefox brigade. If you don't want to buy a game just because it isn't supporting Valve's monopoly you frankly don't deserve to play it.

[Baructt]

And this is why Steam needs to die. Rabid anticompetitive fanboys, worse than the Firefox brigade.

LMAO! I love that post. I just had to reply.

[ADF86]

If Steam's way of advertising is to give customers 50%-75% off the game, then how much profit is the dev really getting from that deal, especially if its retail price is cheap? I'd say that's expensive advertising. Since it would be an Indie game, how long would it take for Steam to put it in the discount bin? I'd rather spend a little on my own advertising and sell from my own website.

Well actually I'm almost positive you personally get to decide when to put your game on sale which can actually be very advantageous monetarily speaking, as it can place you in front of gamers at just the right time. I'd say the money lost from a well-timed sale could easily be worth the return made. I'd happily take 50% off for a weekend to get a thousand extra people playing my game, and in return a few thousand extra bucks for my team.

And to BmB23, there's nothing wrong with competition, but I don't think Steam needs to die, nor do I think there's a viable competitor at the moment. Steam's system isn't one that's been matched, Origin is pretty frustrating/unappealing, as has been said it's nice to have a majority of games in one location that's easily accessible if reformatting or buying a new PC, etc. Not to mention from an indie standpoint the service it brings in terms of awareness and utilities.. Good luck getting thousands of players on an indie game with an nonexistent marketing budget and setting up that matchmaking server and hosting player logins and stats.