Monetising HTML5 games

[Jellybomb]

 

I know this is a common topic but it would be great to get a quick update on the state of the market for casual HTML5 games. I'm an experienced developer/designer and would be looking for an outlet for simple, high quality games. I don't really have the time to do my own marketing or chasing leads, so a regular pipeline for exclusive games would be perfect!

Anyone have any contact/recommendations? What's the best way to do it?

What is the state of monetising HTML5 games in 2018? is it really worth doing these days? Are Instant Messenger games making money right now?

Thanks guys! : )

[ACRgames]

Instant Messenger games are making a decent amount of money. The only problem is that it is really difficult to be found. You need a lot of players to rank high, so getting the initial spark of growth is really hard. You have the common portals like Kongregate, y8 etc but CrazyGames also launched a Developer Portal recently, you get decent revenue share and they have more than 10M unique visitors every month + new games are listed on the homepage during the first week. Here is a link  https://developer.crazygames.com/

[wildroseinteractive]

I found out about Crazy Games yesterday from a link an established developer had on there website. It seems like Crazy Games have quite a wide variety of material. That combined with the details in ACRgame's post makes me wonder what the catch is.

[Antriel]

The catch is that to pay you they require exclusivity. If you read the terms, to be paid revenue share your game can't be published on other web portals. Which is quite a catch if you ask me.

[Milton]

Couldn't find that in the terms. And:

Can I still upload my game to other portals?

Yes, absolutely. You can still upload your game to any other portal.

Note that to qualify for revenue share, you can not upload your game to other portals before it is published on CrazyGames.

[Antriel]

Article V of their terms:

Quote

Developer Compensation. Developer shall be entitled to a Compensation payable by
Publisher pursuant to the terms of this article V, provided that the following conditions are
met:
(a) The Game has not been published on any other online platform;
(b) The Game does not contain any form of branding of another online platform; and
(c) The non­original game assets do not represent more than 50% of the Game.

 

[Milton]

14 minutes ago, Antriel said:

(a) The Game has not been published on any other online platform;

That corresponds with: 

Note that to qualify for revenue share, you can not upload your game to other portals before it is published on CrazyGames.

Keyword before.

 

 

[ACRgames]

They ask that you don't publish on another platform before you publish the game with them. I'm sure because I work with them. Also you can delete the game whenever you want, so if you are not happy just delete your games. (What's more, when you upload a game during Okt and Nov you automatically participate in a contest (comparable to Kongregate)).

[Antriel]

Then they should change the wording in the terms. They state conditions to be paid and those conditions need to stay valid to keep getting paid. As they are written now, if I upload to another portal afterwards, I am no longer entitled for compensation. Whatever the FAQ says, the terms are deciding.

1 hour ago, ACRgames said:

Also you can delete the game whenever you want, so if you are not happy just delete your games.

True, but they do reserve 30 days to do so and only if the game wasn't exclusive with them. Also only if the game wasn't provided exclusively, which isn't specifically defined as to what it means. One could argue that if it was uploaded to their portal first, it was provided exclusively. So they have means to not take down the game. Although this wouldn't really fly, as they are only given revocable rights to publish the game.

[ACRgames]

Ok, you have a point. But again, in my experience, this is how it goes in practice. If you want to be sure, drop them an email and I'm sure they will change it in the terms.

The exclusive part, it could be better defined but here in the terms, it says it is for two months. So after these two months, you should be allowed to distribute it wherever you want. 

[Jellybomb]

I'd be very interested to hear of any experiences or working with CrazyGames, there are a few comments on their site regarding revenues, (around 1k per month per game for some) how realistic is this? Obviously quality counts but how many unique plays per month are expected?

[ACRgames]

Wow! 1K is a lot, my guess would be that you would need about 500K plays for that, depending on the value of the ads they run of course! So those will be quality games, they have a scoring system that takes into account many different stats, playtime, retention rate,... But new games get some kind of boost during the first day so that they rank on the home page (which really helps) the quality games remain on the home page. 

When I started using it I thought what the heck, if I don't like it I can still delete the game. 

[James Cat]

Where is the best source of more information on this topic? Has anyone read a book they thought was useful? I know its a rapidly changing landscape but as a newcomer (to mobile/browser games business not to development) a guide would be great

[Nagval333]

On 10/4/2018 at 11:51 AM, ACRgames said:

Ok, you have a point. But again, in my experience, this is how it goes in practice. If you want to be sure, drop them an email and I'm sure they will change it in the terms.

The exclusive part, it could be better defined but here in the terms, it says it is for two months. So after these two months, you should be allowed to distribute it wherever you want. 

There is a bit confusing about CrazyGames portal. I have a few games part of them are published, another still not. And I'm not sure about publishing or not on CrazyGames... One of their prime conditions for monetization is: "(a)The Game has not been published on any other online platform". The other their conditions is: "(c) 30%, if additionally, the game is exclusively available on CrazyGames for 2 months" But these two months is only for additional 30%.... Ok, so it's mean that I can publish my game on their site and day (or even hour etc) later I permitted to publish anywhere and only loose an extra 30%??? Is there any given minimum period... Maybe I have missed something...?

P.S Anyway I have sent them an email...

[ACRgames]

I think those are two separate things. 

1/ eligible for rev share if published first on their website: meaning you can publish it the next day on another. 

2/ exclusivity for two months: you earn 30% extra 

Please share their answer

 

[Nagval333]

So the Alexander from CrazeGames answered to me two hours after my mail (respect?). I have asked him if I can publish my game on the other portals day after it was published and released on CrazyGame? (with accepted monetization) And he responded positively:

"Well, you can upload your games the day after they have been published on the CrazyGames if you didn't opt in for the 2 months exclusive. Please note that it has to be published on CrazyGames. Meaning that it has appeared on CrazyGames.com"

 

[Smrdis]

Quote

 Depending on quality of game and GEO location of popularity, we have devs that make over 4K gross revenue per month per single game.

Bla bla bla.  Real numbers is something about $1-$2 per game. 

[totor]

what kind of games make 4k gross per dev per month - ie 12K gross revenue per month assuming the announced share?

[bestgames]

@totor Yes, exactly! Gamedistribution is not a reliable company! Their monthly revenue is millions euro .. and do not want to pay developers, this is stupid! 

Gamedistribution is Turkish based company. GD owner https://www.linkedin.com/in/eerturk/ and in 2017-2018 was  acquired by Orange Games.

https://tunnl.com/#team

They earn millions euros and they don't want pay a few hundred bucks?? Their business model is based on 33% revenue share with fixed rate = this mean when you will have more, more games as publisher and your games will serve more ads impressions Gamedistribution will earn more money than you. This is classic PONZI scheme where they get 68% Adsence earnings - throught DoubleClick actually Google AdManager. Now their company has investment fund called "Azerion" https://www.azerion.com/, you can understand why they don't want pay or pay after half year. (https://www.zonebourse.com/ADUX-23160243/actualite/AdUX-a-leve-1-5-million-d-euros-Azerion-a-22-4-27642661/)

They just need over €10M -  €50M on investments and developers / publishers are for them only "money makers".

Some example:

Gross revenue €100 = Adsence give them €68, They take €38 as fee and your revenue will be €30 (their system "optimization" system Tunnl calculated your revenue 2x smaller than your real/actual revenue from Google Adx ads) = if it pays you at all HAHAHA @GameDistribution Support, after they have €68 and you nothing...

With more, more ads impressions their system Tunnl started calculated smaller and smaller revenue, 2x smaller, 3x smaller (on 1,000,000 impressions you will earn almost the same revenue as on 4,000,000 impressions, but they get many more money)

[codergautam]

Currently have a game on CrazyGames and it is making decent money. It's really hard to get your game accepted there, a lot of games get rejected instantly with no explanation. In my case they took a lot of time and kept asking me for changes. It took me almost a month to make all the necessary changes and implement their ad sdk. They do let you keep your own ads on your main game site which is nice.

The catch is that you only get 40% revenue share at first, and pressure you to get in an exclusive contract with them for 60% rev share which I declined. Also if your game doesn't perform well it will stop getting recommended and won't make much. I would still recommend since it's good for visibility and getting initial traction for your webgame.

Edited November 3 by codergautam