Be careful when judging these numbers as "good" or "bad"! Just because you're getting a median or average deal, doesn't mean that's good! IMO, I see a median 50% rev share on advance as bad! I wish it were 30%, Especially with a median advance of 300k! (More on this next post) - ThreadSky

fortebass.bsky.social • 20 hours ago

Be careful when judging these numbers as "good" or "bad"! Just because you're getting a median or average deal, doesn't mean that's good! IMO, I see a median 50% rev share on advance as bad! I wish it were 30%, Especially with a median advance of 300k! (More on this next post)

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fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Because the data kinda tucks away and doesn't elaborate on this: The average contract is still 100% during recoup! And the 48.4% that aren't, the data doesn't specify how much. Could be 10%, could be $10. Make sure you're fighting for something to survive on!

fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

The advance sizes information not that interesting, imo. You should get enough money to fund your development, regardless of trends. Outliers could have different terms, but "outlier" depends on relative risk. 20k to a VC, they should just hand you that money. $2M to a tiny pub is huge.

fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

But both of those examples are silly. I imagine whoever got a 90% rev share deal either needed very little money or was very friendly with the pub. (offsetting the risk of delivery, quality, etc) An outlier amongst outliers.

fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Before looking any closer, I assume it takes $1M dollars to fund 10 US-based people for 12 months. If I see anything significantly outside that, like 20 people asking for 100k or 1 person asking for $1M, then (very personal imo) alarms raise.

fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

This sorts faiiiirly well with their results. The folks have been signing much smaller games. There's still some teams coming through with larger asks and past experience to back that budget, but I'd say average team of 7 (approx 5-10) working for about a year. Median throws me for a loop a bit.

fortebass.bsky.social•20 hours ago

The only defense for publishers than I can draw from this is that the datasheet doesn't mention licensing deals, equity deals or other large, but less common deals.
If Disney pays you $6M to make a Star Wars game, you can BET that they're gonna keep the game IP and NOT pay huge rev share.

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