Defining the success of Charles Haunted Mansion A 2D Survival Horror Game

 

 

Charles Haunted Mansion is an experimental horror game, which is $0.99, launched on Steam on 15th September, 2023. The price is now raised to $3.99 to test something new.

I. LONG TERM GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic. My goals can be further divided into four categories.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest money in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget. The strategic discounting can be an incredible way to increase sales and revenue.

b) Bundles: I have found bundles to be very fascinating! What I tried is that I gave deeper discount for bundles while keeping the individual game discounts to 40-60% and has been doing great ever since! Most of my sales occur through bundles.

Why are you charging such $3.99? Is it profitable?

First off, I started with $0.99 to sell more copies at $0.99 and to receive early feedback and organic reviews. It did manage to receive only 1 review which isn't enough. Now, I raised the price to $3.99 so I guess I will test the price point as well along with the bundle strategy. It seems to work better than giving deeper discounts.

According to my experience it is easier to sell more copies using bundles strategy than selling it individually. The trick is that the price must be around $3.99 or higher for increasing profit when sold through bundles.

It is profitable.

 

II. Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

 

Defining Success of Shelley's Haunted House Game A Horror Game

 

 

Shelley's Haunted House was launched on 5th May, 2023 at $4.99. It did not reach in the hands of required number of users. That's not what I wanted. In order to reach more users and get feedback I have decided to lower the price to $0.99! This will be a whole new thing for me now that I lost the initial launch traffic. This will be very challenging to reach the targets. This might be a good example of how turning failure into a success.

Then, I thought I was devaluing my game so I raised the price again to $3.99. Why Higher Price is better? Read the article here.

I. How to market:

I am not sure! I have no marketing budget but I know how to sell games if you know what I mean. It seems people love to buy cheap games on Steam. $3.99 is not so cheap but a good price point suggested by my publisher. Refunds happen from time to time but not everyone asks for refund. So, with every sale I make, I earn a bit more money than what I usually earn at lower price point. Also, consider the Steam platform fee, taxes etc. I have learned a lesson this year. It seems that I make more money when I set higher price.

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at this price point. Developers might say that you need to price higher. Trust me, it will only work if you have higher marketing budget and skills.

Setting small goals is much more preferable for me.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

 

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

I share a few sales data from time to time and share if I have reached my goals. I will do this for $0.99 games only because it is hard to reach with higher price points unless it's a 3D game or something. 

 

Defining the success of Ayakos Mission game - a solo developed project

 

In 2023, it has been pretty hard to stand out of the crowd when it comes to releasing games on Steam. Ayako's Mission is an experimental shoot'em up project which I released on Steam at $0.99. There has been almost 50% down in sales even at 40% discount compared to the last year August $0.99 game launch. It was a bit shock for me realizing how things have changed for indies within just a year. It may be possible that the recent changes(increment) in regional prices might be the cause for less sales. It is unfair to compare apple with orange because two of the titles are of different genres. It was a horror title which according to Chris Zukowski, is doing well on Steam while this one is a Shoot'em up game which usually falls under "low selling titles" bracket in most of the cases.

First lesson for me here is to not make a game on impulse. I know how much you want to create platformers or shoot'em ups but they don't work. 

 

As per his advice, I have to get at least 10 reviews to start receiving traffic. I do have a horror game which have managed to get 19 user reviews and gets more traffic and sales during discounting sessions. So, I know it works when you have more reviews on games. It is extremely hard to accomplish at higher price point with $0 marketing budget.  

So, for Ayako's Mission, I have managed to sell around 70-ish copies during the launch month and got 1 user review. It really does not matter if I get positive or negative reviews. I just have to get 10 reviews for the titles.

I. What I have done so far?

1. Nothing special. I've set $0.99 price tag because I am pretty good at selling more copies at this price point. It works even if you have a half-decent game.

2. I've set 40% launch discount because in the past having 20% discount reduces sales numbers. Here, I want to get as many sales as possible which increases the chance of getting more user reviews.

II. Next steps:

I am not sure! I have no marketing budget but I know how to sell games if you know what I mean. Weird, isn't it?

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at this price point. Developers might say that you need to price higher. Trust me, it will only work if you have higher marketing budget and skills.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

I share a few sales data from time to time and share if I have reached my goals. I will do this for $0.99 games only because it is hard to reach with higher price points unless it's a 3D game or something.