Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
demand. At the same time,
new
games are the key for viral game portals. They need new games
that do not exist on other sites so players will keep coming back.
When you have a new, good-playing, good-looking game, you have the power in your hands. If
you put it on your own site or upload it to a social portal or to Mochiads too quickly, you lose that
advantage. If you think your game has what it takes to make it big, the first thing you might want
to try is getting it licensed or sponsored. However, exposure (any distribution at all) is the death
knell for sponsorships and licenses. Well-paying portals want to know that they have something
special on their hands, and they are willing to pay for that privilege. This means that, to make the
most money, you will want to
disregard
most of what you have read already in this chapter and
focus on the next section. However, if gaining licenses and sponsorships was easy, you would
not need any other methods listed here, and you'd already be rich. In fact, attaining licenses and
sponsorships is an uphill battle that gets harder every day. More and better games are released
daily and all are trying to tap into the same sponsors, so your best chance is to make a great
game that catches the eye of a sponsor.
There are several types of licenses and sponsorships that you can try to obtain.
Exclusive Licenses
Exclusive licenses
refer to the situation when an entity buys the rights to display your game
outright. These licenses can be with or without source code, but the intention is that the game will
show up only on a single portal or web site either indefinitely or for a specified amount of time. In
most cases, this is the most lucrative way for a developer to make money with a Flash game.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships
mean that portals (or other sponsors) will pay you to put an advertisement of their
own in your game (in lieu of Mochiads for instance) and then attempt to get that game placed in
as many places as possible. In some cases, bonuses are given for the number of plays a game
receives. In general, a developer can make almost as much, and maybe even more, from
sponsorship than an exclusive license.
Nonexclusive licenses
Nonexclusive licenses (in general) do not pay as much as exclusive licenses, or sponsorships,
but they offer the developer a lot more freedom.
Nonexclusive
means that a sponsor or licensor
pays the developer to put an ad in the game or display it on their portal with the understanding
that the game can be distributed on other portals with other advertisements as well. This means
that a developer might not make a big sum from one portal or site but can make a good amount
from multiple sites and portals.
API licenses
API licenses
are the usually very easy to obtain but do not pay very much. Some portals will pay
a developers small sum (e.g., $50) to insert high-score or achievement integration into their
games. The code for these APIs is usually fairly easy to integrate, and some quick but limited
money can be made this way.
