Author Archives: Ryan Markel

Money and the App Store

Emeric Thoa of The Game Bakers:

Eighteen months ago, when I left Ubisoft to start an independent game studio and focus on making my own games, I looked online a bit to get an idea of how much income I could expect to make as an indie. At Ubisoft I used to work on big AAA console games, and I had some figures in mind, but I knew they wouldn’t be relevant for my new life: $20M budgets, teams of 200 hundred people, 3 million sales at $70 per unit… I knew being an indie developer would be completely different, but I had very little information about how different it would be.

Angry Birds had taken off, Plants vs. Zombies was already a model, Doodle Jump was a good example of success, and soon after I started my “indie” life, Cut the Rope was selling a million copies a week. But except for what I call the “jackpots,” there were very few public stories or numbers on the web, and this meant we were a bit in the dark when we started SQUIDS. I have been tracking figures since then, and I’m writing this article to share what I’ve learned with my fellow indie dev buddies who might be in the same position I was, a year and a half ago.

In this article, I will present all of the post-mortems and figures I’ve found interesting, and I will also explain how SQUIDS fits into the overall picture. But first, I would like to quickly give my opinion on few of the App Store myths you may believe if you’re not an experienced iOS developer. There are plenty of ways to view the App Store, but my point is that you might be a bit surprised by what the App Store really means in terms of money.

This is a great piece with some sharp analysis of how the App Store economy runs and what’s needed to create and make a living off a hit iOS game. If you’ve ever wondered how the business side of that $5 app you just downloaded runs you should give this a read.

(via Clint Hocking.)

Saints Row The Third: It’s Been Brought

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I haven’t 100%ed a game in a very long time. This one was worth it. Achievement cleanup time.

Genki Bowl VII

I bought the Season Pass for it as soon as it was in my hands, but the first DLC for Saints Row is released next week:

It is known by many names: “The greatest specatacle in sports,” “The most dangerous game,” and “Holy [redacted] I can’t [redacted] believe I [redacted] [redacted].” It is the one, the only, Genkibowl VII!!

As a special surprise, the Professor has allowed his very own Genki Girls to theme the new games after themselves. Sail through the skies with Sad Panda Skyblazing. Fight through dark, shark-infested jungles in Angry Tiger’s Apocalypse Genki. And crush your way to victory in Sexy Kitten Yarngasm. But don’t forget to help Professor Genki maintain his excitement before any public appearances in Super Ethical PR Opportunity.

I am hoping this is exactly the kind of insanity that I think it is going to be.

Skyrim Faces MACHO MADNESS

The only thing I’m sad about here is that this won’t happen on Xbox 360. Whoever came up with this is an amazing human being.

DIG IT

The Co-Op Game Recommendation Thread

I have had a great deal of fun with co-op games in the past few years, with highlights being the Covert Ops stuff in Call of Duty, the Gears of War series in campaign, and most recently with Saints Row: The Third.

When it comes down to it, I find that I would rather play a game that way than just about any other, so my lazyweb request for today:

Recommend to me an Xbox 360 game that has an amazing co-op experience.

Guidelines:

  • Not a Gears, Halo, or CoD title.
  • Not being a first-person shooter makes it better in my eyes but not required.
  • Has to be for Xbox 360.
  • Can’t be 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (already covered and because it’s too awesome for mortal man).

Comment!