XBLA: In-Depth: Xbox Live Indie Games Sales For 2009, Plus Some Perspective
[In this editorial and analysis, console digital download site GamerBytes' editor Ryan Langley looks at sales for Xbox Live Indie Games in 2009, with real data on how the top games are performing and a conclusion that the Xbox 360 service is becoming a much more promising way to get your hobbyist title out there and seen by console gamers.]
For a good while now, we’ve been talking about the Xbox Live Indie Games scene. It had a bit of a rough beginning but since we’ve seen numerous additions to the service – a ratings system, Avatar support, an entirely new name, and new pricing tiers. Finding the sweet spot for hobbyist and user-submitted indie games has been a long process, but there's definitely been some progress.
Major Nelson may have released the Top 20 XBL Indie games for 2009, but it’s thanks to the participants of the official XNA forums -- including many of the developers -- that we have sales data for their games over the year, and thus a much clearer picture.
The below graph shows the sales of the games, the amount of trial versions of the game that were downloaded, the conversion percentage from trial to sale, the price and the money made by the developer itself. The money made by a developer on any XBLIG game is 70% of its selling price – Microsoft picks up 30% of each sale:
The Win Of ZOMBIES!
It’s not much of a surprise to see James Silva's GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES become the top selling game of the year. It’s an incredibly simple game, but also follows numerous traits of the top tier Indie games – a bizarre style, a weird song and a priced super cheap. All of these points brought the game to the attention of gamers and game blogs everywhere – Kotaku, Joystiq, and many major news sutes mentioned it. And it had a personality, alongside being a pretty decent game.
The Rise Of The Application
One thing that has certainly got a lot of attention on Indie Games is the application. It's not a game, per se, but something akin to iPhone non-game Apps – a simple program that allows you to make use of your system outside of gaming itself.
DrumKit allows you to take control of your Rock Band or Guitar Hero drums without the need of the official game. Aquarium HD and myFishTank turn your Xbox into a habitat for digital fish, and Rumble Massage and A Perfect Massage take control of your Xbox 360 controller to make them go crazy with the controller’s rumble ability.
It may frustrate those who make “real” games to see these applications do so well, but it makes perfect sense, as many people are drawn to simple, alternative Apps you can get cheaply on your system. Realistically they’re cheaper than you would get anywhere else – the Fireplace DVDs cost 10 times as much money. Even the guy who made RC-Airsim has stated that any other simulation of remote control aeroplanes will ask for nearly $100 for it, so asking $2.50 for RC-AirSim is a bargain in comparison.
And ezmuze+, which is a pretty complex audio looping system, made it to the list even at the $10 asking price. People aren't afraid of spending big money on Xbox Indies - but you have to give people a reason to buy it for your asking price.
The Simple Game
Other games that have done well are usually that of the simple but direct variety – Headshot and Headshot 2 are among the top sellers on the system, while Avatar Drop and The Impossible Game, being very simple concepts, have also made it into the Top 20. These are games that are worth the dollar they asked for, and have enticed the player to click that “Buy Now” button at the end of the trial.
Those That Missed Out
Other developers also appeared on the XNA.com forums to discuss their Xbox Live Indie Games sales, revealing their 2009 sales and trial downloads to get a better understanding of the full spectrum of XBLIG creators.
Some games that we’re big fans of, including Solar and Weapon Of Choice, did quite well for themselves. For some perspective, they’ve actually done better than some Xbox Live Arcade games (albeit XBLA games that will never make their development costs back) that we’ve been following in our sales data.
There have been some games that have not sold well, but there is usually some reason for it – poor marketing, dull premise or bad box artwork. There are plenty of reasons out there for games to not sell, but the idea that it’s the fault of the service doesn’t hold as much water as it once did.
A Bit Of Perspective
The Xbox Live Indie Scene has been getting a bit of flack lately regarding games not being huge sellers, but let's put this into a bit of perspective.
Solar, which is one of the coolest Xbox Indie titles out there, has sold around 10,000 copies over its 9 months on the market. The Xbox 360 version of the game took around 4 months of work during the developer’s spare time. For the most part the game was sold at its original $2.50 price point, so overall it made a bit less than $17,500.
$17,500 for 4 months of work is good money. That’s over a grand per week for that game's development. Now, obviously, that wouldn't support a larger team working full time, but even something like Lacrosse 2010 has done well for itself, considering the small coterie who created it.
One of the main criticisms of the XBLIG space is also that people just aren’t looking at it. But the numbers are certainly increasing - 55,000 people downloaded the trial to Little Racers, 26,000 people have trialed Avatar Snowball fight, and NextWar had 30,000 people give it a go. People are looking at games, especially those in the top 20 lists, but it’s up to the developers to convince customers to make the purchase.
Just having them download the demo is a huge step – that means you’ve piqued their interest thanks to your premise, or that your box art made the game look interesting, or that you’ve got some quality marketing skills and had gaming blogs or other websites spread the word. But if you haven’t got a good game underneath it, the game won’t sell. That may be why a game like ZenHack only has a conversion rate of 3.5% and Groov has a rate of 25%, which is far higher than the usual rate you’d see on a trial-to-purchase.
Failure? Not Quite
To call Xbox Live Indie games a failure is probably short sighted, at this point. To expect the same top-line numbers as that of the iPhone’s App Store -- as some critics do -- is also ludicrous. The App Store is a different animal, with top games selling up to 30,000 copies a day, but often at bargain basement prices - and the vast majority of Apps selling tiny amounts of copies.
Other comparison points such as indie PC games on Steam aren't necessarily right either. However, the ecosystem in terms of amount of releases is part way between XBLA and the App Store perhaps -- it's worth noting that, since there's only one or two Xbox Live Arcade games released weekly, you're guaranteed at least a little prominence.
Yet for XBLIG titles, you can get lost in the shuffle quite swiftly after you disappear from the 'New Releases' page. After that can't do much to get back up - or at least, price cuts like tried in the App Store seem to have less of an effect. This leads to situations like a game that sold 21 units in the first month, when the - larger, more professional - developer needs 10,000 to break even, ouch.
Can there still be criticism of XBLIG? Sure, there are several things that Microsoft could be doing to increase awareness of the Indie Games section, as mentioned in a recent article by Boing Boing but they can’t do everything. Developers need to keep the awareness up. I’ll mention again an article I wrote some time ago – send out press releases to weblogs, create trailers, Twitter about it, get on NeoGAF, IndieGames.com and TIGSource and talk about your games. The more people you get to download your demo, the more purchases you ultimately get - simple, but the majority of developers aren't doing that.
And meanwhile, at least for mid and high-level performers, XBLIG is becoming a viable platform for hobbyists and single-man shops to make some cash and get their game seen - and for end users to pick up some genuinely interesting games.
Comments
That chart reminds me of an interesting article on Gamasutra by Adam Atomic (the indie developer). He points out that it's generally a bad idea to price your games at the lowest price point. RC AirSim is proof of that. The logic is that to make money at the lowest price point, you more or less need the top selling game. But, you can make decent money if you just price your game a bit higher (in the Apple store model, you only need to break into the top 100).
Posted by: Superflat | January 25, 2010 6:10 PM
The thread with all the sales numbers in can be found here http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/45585.aspx - if any other indie developers want to post their numbers that would be great
Posted by: The ZMan | January 25, 2010 9:52 PM
Just a note... The second list of games in this article is not from Major Nelson as stated at the bottom of it. This was part of our own list of "honorable mentions". There could be games out there that weren't listed that made more than the ones that were listed. Also, visit The ZMan's link above to see our "full" list. ;)
Posted by: Squimball | January 25, 2010 10:32 PM
Thanks, Squimball, we made sure it now says XNA.com forums (it was a typo before, accidentally put Xbox.com forums) and it links to you - and thanks for all the hard work you guys did compiling that data.
Posted by: simonc | January 25, 2010 10:42 PM
That's what I get for using a Template :)
I'll fix it soon.
Posted by: Ryan Langley | January 25, 2010 11:56 PM
Awesome article, some great info. I do however disagree with "$17,500 for 4 months of work is good money" for a few reasons.
1) That number gets taxed *significantly* higher than income from a regular job would. I believe you should expect about 50% to taxes if you file that as additional income as an individual.
2) That number is smaller than any number that a professional software engineer can expect to make.
Do I think XBLIG is a failure? Not at all. However for me to consider it an actual success it must offer the temptation to quit my day job to develop for.
Just my 2 cents ;)
Posted by: Thomas | January 26, 2010 1:57 AM
Glad to see a healthy and fair perspective here. Something I keep noticing is the lack of platformers and spaceshooters - plenty of good ones on the platform, almost none seem to sell well, strangely.
Posted by: SmallCaveGames | January 26, 2010 2:34 AM
Regarding the 50% tax rate - pretty sure that isn't true. Certainly not in the UK.
The only way you would pay 50% is if you're already earning £150,000 from your job.
Posted by: Scott | January 26, 2010 10:44 AM
While the numbers are a lot higher than I expected, $17,500 is not good money. The lowest salary a skilled junior game programmer should take at an established studio is $50-60k/year; outside of the games industry, a good programmer should expect about 20% more. And you'll need to find your own health insurance and investments like a 401(k).
As Thomas said, that number can also be taxed much higher than regular salary in the US.
Posted by: Joe Wreschnig | January 26, 2010 7:07 PM
I think you need to do some math there Joe; The article says:
"The Xbox 360 version of the game took around 4 months of work during the developer’s spare time. For the most part the game was sold at its original $2.50 price point, so overall it made a bit less than $17,500."
So. Even assuming that the developer put in the equivalent of a "nine to five" job - 8 hours of "spare time" each day during those 4 months, that still $17,500 in 4 months, not 12. Presumably the developer does not expect to live for a year on the proceeds from 4 months of work.
Is it great money? No. Are self employed people usually in it because it's great money? No.
Posted by: Mike Pureka | January 26, 2010 9:24 PM
I don't need to check my math again. Maybe you misunderstood me. Yes, that person is making "$52,500 a year". That's the absolute lowest salary a programmer should expect out of college. Areas with higher living costs will pay more, large companies will pay more, and if you're skilled enough to make a game yourself you should be able to negotiate considerably more - up to twice as much depending on the circumstances.
Additionally, that does not include *any* benefits or employment taxes, both of which will cut that down significantly.
It's certainly a number you can live off of barring health issues. But it's not at all commensurate with what you'd earn using your skills elsewhere, and it's nowhere near what I would describe as "good money".
Posted by: Joe Wreschnig | January 30, 2010 12:59 AM
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Register at gamedevelopersummit dot com
Posted by: Roop Sharma | February 1, 2010 7:12 AM
Interesting discussion. I'm the developer of Solar, and I'd like to add some points.
Firstly Solar is still selling very well. That 4 months of work is still paying off in the thousands every month.
Secondly, sure, I could make $100k+ a year if I got a standard job. But I'd rather be happy with my job and poor rather than unfulfilled and rich.
Like many developers I'm driven by passion, not money. I'm young and I can afford to scrape a living off Solar and my other games, meaning I can be a self-employed developer. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Posted by: Jay | February 1, 2010 8:32 AM
Hi, i am the creator of Zombies 2.0 and i have sold 3,900 copys of that at 3$ a pop. I think i would have sold many more if the creator of "i made a game with zombies in it" didn't fail my game for no reason other than to give his a full week up there uncontended. I am sure that no one would say his game is better and infact ours is also higher quality most review sites say but sadly because of him we have lost $1000's of dollers #microsoft only gave him a warning too...#
Posted by: Daniel Armstrong | February 3, 2010 10:09 AM
karthik Subramaniam is coming this february at India's first and independent annual summit for the game development ecosystem - India Game Developer Summit (gamedevelopersummit dot com) to teach how to become a successful Indie Game Developer. His talk covers all aspects of Indie game development ranging from the choice of gaming platform - PC/Mobile/Console to pros & cons of self publishing and digital distribution.
Posted by: satpal yadav | February 15, 2010 6:47 AM
@Daniel Armstrong - What do you mean the guys at Ska Studios 'failed' your game? As part of the peer review process?
Also I would say his game is better than yours in as much as I like playing IMAGWZ but dislike playing yours.
I see you have added to it though so I'll give it another try, but I don't think that it'll be different enough for me to actually enjoy it.
This partly sounds like boohoohoo from your part as Ska definitely marketed theirs better, thanks largely to the theme song. One extra week as the only new zombie game does not account for a 190,000 difference in sales to date.
Perhaps you'd be better served learning some of what made IMAGWZ a success.
Posted by: StalkerB | March 4, 2010 12:41 PM