Hello, This is the first "Announcement" I have posted as of yet, but I hope its worth its weight for some of the developers out here. Under private investment I have been developing the site eGameStand.com, a virtual marketplace for which independent game developers may choose as a viable, much more affordable distribution method, while mainting complete control over IP, and allowing it to integrate completely with registration key generators stored on their own server, amoung other things. There is also an affiliate program in development, availiable at no cost to developers, which will allow people to integrate their games into sites, essentialy creating a grass-roots marketplace similar to amazon.com . We maintain only 20% royalties for exclusive licenses, and 30% for non exclusive licenses, a sharp contrast to the current market leads (realplayer and egames have been known to keep 75%-80% as of last year) This includes all credit card processing fees, what we pay out to affiliates, as well as allowing us to run sales at no harm to you (provided it is within contract for you to allow that) Server integration is done via REST based transmissions (SSL will be availiable when the site goes live). You must set a callback page which will provide our server with information such as a registration key for the user, etc. This method also allows us to communicate information to you that would effect the registration. Essentialy this method will allow you to use any methodology you see fit, including storing it in a database. I will go into more detail on this to developers interested in the program. I am planning on working with developers for the next few weeks to situate this system, and is why I am searching for developers early. The entire project is set to go live within a month. If you are interested in this program, please use the e-mail address webmaster@egamestand.com . If there are any questions that would help the general public I will be answer them over the board. Thanks Richard P. Cesar

Try forums.indiegamer.com since that's where the majority of your target audience post.

I'm not in the business but I don't think they'll pay %20-%30 for this service unless you give them something amazing. Not to offend you, but the reason realplayer and egames CAN demand such royalties is they are like "portal" sites, they get the game to more gamers. They serve a different function than the payment processors.

There are companies like Plimus, BMT Micro, Esellerate, and Regnow which already handle much or all of what I think your service will handle, at much lower rates and no "license" or heavy contracts required. They've been using them for years, why will they switch?

1) This is a portal, and no, it doesent have the market share of RealArcade or such, and doesent reach as many gamers. On the flip side this is invested, $10k actualy, and major advertising is persuint. This is not a "looking for funding" its a "we have funding" scenario. The idea is that with a good many titles, it would become a reasonable e-shop selling strictly indie games. This is VERY similar to the major players, we arnt doing too much different other then we dont wish to purchase contracts (though we are currently paying teams to develop exclusive titles) And no, we arnt going to have as many followers as Real or eGames, BUT we also do not demand exclusive contracts (as mentioned). This is purely a "Shop" and the 20-30% is fair, considering the cost of the titles being generaly around $10-$20, processing being .30+4%, along with hosting, etc.

2) We are not a payment processor, I was going over the means of allowing control back to the developers. Allowing them to maintain their own clientell, as well as be a part of a public marketplace.

3) Those sites you mentioned are not marketplaces, they are registration services. They dont have the funds nor the ability to market your product. You are expected to do that on your own. The cost of getting your product onto shelves (this does not include cd replication, screen printing, boxing) is usualy more then 50%. Its not possiable to get into many stores, including the big named estores, without working through people, thats what im working to disolve.

4) Once again, we have a budget. Its not big, but its over $10,000. We have the funds to advertise and market the site, driving the market towards your games, and a offering a larger profit to the developer.

EDIT:

Also, there will be an optional listing fee should the user not wish to pay any royalties whatsoever. Quite simply put, we want to offer a solution that costs NOTHING, NADA, and ZILCH to fledgeling developers

I guess I'm dumb...I still don't see what makes it different from Plimus or BMT Micro. Both advertise on their sites and both allow affiliates. They aren't portals or geared towards games, but they do have catalogs and searches listing products. I think if this becomes a true gaming portal using the work "Shop" in the title will both confuse indies to think it's a payment processor, while turning away customers who just want to play some games (why go to a "shop" when other portals scream FREE GAME DOWNLOADS ?).

You'll have trouble getting 30% royalties just so they can sell on their own site and other portals. That and 10 grand isn't much these days.

When you say "marketing"... Most indi games are just a download. There are no CD's or boxes. All payment processors have hosting to allow paying customers to download full games. Are you planning to get indie games into Wal-Mart?

When you say "marketplace" what do you mean? Like Amazon or eBay? I think you have to be more descriptive.

Again, I REALLY think you should post at forums.indiegamer.com for some good feedback. Good luck!

Much appreciated, and thanks for your comments.

You may be right about the top 2 sites, I only used regsoft and such before.. anyways...

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You'll have trouble getting 30% royalties just so they can sell on their own site and other portals.
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Its 30% royalties sold on THIS site NONEXCLUSIVELY (they can also sell on their own, and on real, and on anything else for that matter, provided the listing price is the same or lower.). If the sale is processed on the site, we charge a fee. Any other ideas?

Its understood that 10k is not an incrediable amount, but it is enough to take us off the ground reasonably. This is not meant to make millionairs, mearly providing another marketplace for indies to put their games.

How about you instead fund the remainder of a project with that money and I'd certaintly take it more seriously.

I'd rather have 3k thrown into upping the artwork of a title of ours than 10k into marketing.

Alex
InjoyGames.com

Quote:Its 30% royalties sold on THIS site NONEXCLUSIVELY

Ah I see. I was thinking 30% of all sales anywhere for some odd reason.

Nope, this is purely meant as ANOTHER venue for fledgeling game developers to use without having to adhere to the portals of real and such taking such a large percentage. Various other reasons is grouping games together such as this, we will be able to offer developers a free way to get their demos onto cd-roms, etc. This would be more closely related to C-NET ZDNET or some other software portal which is where I failed to see your connection. The things i mentioned were purely bonuses (the only thing required is some method of automatic registration which runs through the site) which would allow the developer an unlimited amount of freedom in registration processes, collect marketing information, as well as making it easier to take your already published title, registration system, etc, and have it run through web portals. It would also help boost their marketing program if they adhered to the affiliate program, which costs them nothing as it comes out of the 30%. The 30% covered EVERYTHING (compared to Real's , who take nearly 80% AFTER costs) And provided the listing price on the site is equal or less then other listings for the same program, there is no problem with selling elsewhere aswell. This may be a non-profitable venture yes, but i believe it definitly provides something to developers that could be considered.