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So, what is the current state of HTML5 gamedev? And what to expect?


Red Spark
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In two years, after the gold rush of 2013 and crash and burn of 2014 the market has drastically changed.

This thread is an 'opinion hub' for everyone interested in where the market is heading and how to stay relevant.

 

Major points:

 

  • Small portals went out of business, only major ones remained: Spil Games, Booster Media, Famobi (Kaiser), KeyGames, ClickJogos, SoftGames.
  • Prices went down (~ 3x since 2013), exclusives became extremely rare.
  • Small simple games are not sellable anymore. Do not waste your time making one.
  • Publishers want native quality, gameplay depth, player progression, unlocks, in-game shops, etc. 
  • Quick cloning of trending games from appstore will make you at least a few sales.
  • To make a good exclusive deal your game should be fun on both desktops and mobiles, and should be wrapped as native mobile app too.
  • Do not count on more than $5,000 for exclusive, even if you have a decent quality game on hands. Even in 2013 $10k was the upper limit.
  • If you have a quality html5 game, you better wrap it in native and find a proper mobile publisher instead (may be through FGL).
  • But mobile games market is already oversaturated, so do not count on anything unless you have buckets of luck.
  • If you have a decent portfolio, you can make a living creating games on contract basis. Generally it's less risky and more profitable.
  • According to hype cycle html5 is past its peak of inflated expectations. But it's still on its way to plateau of productivity.
  • Learn to make sustainable business out of game development to stay afloat in the long term.

 

Feel free to add more in the comments!

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Can't really agree with anything. Except maybe "Small simple games are not sellable anymore. Do not waste your time making one.".

The rest is just blah blah.

IF it's "bla bla" let us know your view.

 

Also, would you mind to point us to a recent game from you getting more than $5,000 as an exclusive?

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IF it's "bla bla" let us know your view.

 

Also, would you mind to point us to a recent game from you getting more than $5,000 as an exclusive?

Not gonna argue with people at "your level".

If you create decent games, f2p, mmo, then you are an idiot for selling it at 5k. Any decent f2p can easily make up to 1 mil/year. Unless you create garbage, then enjoy staying there.

You should at least charge 12 x monthly revenue for an exclusive. You are an idiot if you sell for less.

Heck, I wouldn't even sell non exclusive for just 5k bucks. (Again, this is only for decent games, not the garbage that most people create)

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......

Heck, I wouldn't even sell non exclusive for just 5k bucks. (Again, this is only for decent games, not the garbage that most people create)

 

The problem is that there are currently no html5 publishers willing to buy games for more than 5k. So yeah, technically you can make an awesome html5 game, ask like $30-50k for it, but no publisher will be able to afford it at this price. It's not about what you ask, but about what guys with money are willing to pay.

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Not gonna argue with people at "your level".

If you create decent games, f2p, mmo, then you are an idiot for selling it at 5k. Any decent f2p can easily make up to 1 mil/year. Unless you create garbage, then enjoy staying there.

You should at least charge 12 x monthly revenue for an exclusive. You are an idiot if you sell for less.

Heck, I wouldn't even sell non exclusive for just 5k bucks. (Again, this is only for decent games, not the garbage that most people create)

 

:lol:

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Not gonna argue with people at "your level".

If you create decent games, f2p, mmo, then you are an idiot for selling it at 5k. Any decent f2p can easily make up to 1 mil/year. Unless you create garbage, then enjoy staying there.

You should at least charge 12 x monthly revenue for an exclusive. You are an idiot if you sell for less.

Heck, I wouldn't even sell non exclusive for just 5k bucks. (Again, this is only for decent games, not the garbage that most people create)

 

You made my day...  :D  :D  :D

 

Now show us your decent games so we all can learn from you. Ah, found one: http://js13kgames.com/entries/super-cute-bubble-pets-from-hell

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You made my day...  :D  :D  :D

 

Now show us your decent games so we all can learn from you. Ah, found one: http://js13kgames.com/entries/super-cute-bubble-pets-from-hell

 

This guy speaks from the experience as we see. His game is for sure making millions and he is clearly not an idiot - he wouldn't sell this piece of an art for less than $5K!

 

BTW Sebastian. There is difference between "I wouldn't even sell non exclusive for just 5k bucks." and "I wanted $5K for my game, no one wanted it so I am sitting with multiple games now that made me $0 - but hey, I will keep commenting on what is the key to making big money in html5!"

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Imo, HTML5 gaming suffers most from being far away from its hype "platform agnosticity". As players couldn't care less about base technology behind game as long as they get an acceptable performance.

 

In these terms, hope webGL and canvas performance will be acceptable enough not requiring wrappers. iOS 8, Android L and Windows 10 are promising but it will take time for players to adapt in hardware terms.

 

And for argument above, although I am member of GD.net for a long while I am fairly new here (saw little need to register), primary reason for that was here being so much small casual games oriented, almost in the sense of spiritual successor of small flash games happy to make some quick buck.

 

And for Sebastian, I see your point but any decent F2P making 1 mil/year would need some serious money and time to develop and wouldn't it be in HTML5 without a very good reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Its happenings not only in the html5 world but in the whole "game community".

 

For example for the smartphone market : most developers will earn nothing unless they are willing to shovel a new game every month - 3 months.

 

And for html, Flash is still the king of the hill.

 

My current bet is WebGL but not specifically for games.

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Not yet.  

 

While I have never dealt in Flash games myself, I was under the impression that even 3 years ago you couldn't get any decent licensing prices out of that market anymore? And especially after mochi went down everything was just minimum wage gigs or lower? 

Did I totally miss something?

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While I have never dealt in Flash games myself, I was under the impression that even 3 years ago you couldn't get any decent licensing prices out of that market anymore? And especially after mochi went down everything was just minimum wage gigs or lower? 

Did I totally miss something?

Gamedev is not only about selling licenses, because Flash won't sell doesn't mean it's dead...

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