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Popular 'Monument Valley' Game Earned More Than $5.8M, Saw 1.7M Sales on iOS
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There is still device support that you have to take into account. "Write once" is a fallacy, there's always going to be something that takes time to get working how you want it. 1 month is pretty quick.
It's a problem on pretty much every platform. There's multiple stores on Android too.
Some developers use extra DRM, but it really does nothing to stop people from stripping it out within a few days.
It is really hard creating something new. Upfront they likely iterated and threw out tons of ideas, drawings, and game play tests. Then when they believed they had the idea set coding it, and integrating with design and music takes a long, long time.
It is extremely easy stealing ideas off something that exists, or making something crappy. It is exponentially incredibly difficult making something of quality that is new. And then combine this with no guarantee of success, it could of been created and then flopped, happens all the time.
Knowing all this people still have no issue with just copying it and paying nothing.
The gameplay was fun and had some challenging puzzles. The real beauty is the visual aesthetics, music, and sound. Simply beautiful. 
Well, reading this quickly it seems the company paid about $500k to create the game. Creating the game involves developers and testers. Each Developer probably earns about $60-120k a year depending on a number of factors. Each tester (they could also be doing other things at a small company) might make $40k a year. Since most games require numerous development skills (graphics, logic, engine, etc), there are at least a few people working on this. So let's say we have 3 developers, 1 tester, and 1 Development Manager (probably makes $150k a year)...that would be about $300k for the 3 developers + $40k for the tester + $150k for the Development Manager...grand total of about $490k. Development "costs" could also include bonuses paid out the development team if they finished early and/or sales hit a certain threshold...maybe each person got a $20k bonus.
It's really hard to just slap a dollar amount on a human, slap a # of humans needed to create the game, etc. Simpler games/apps can be done by 1-2 people...maybe "earning" nothing other than the revenue they rake in.
Entitlement
"Monument Valley received some negative attention after the expansion was priced at $1.99 in-app by users who believed that the update should be free..." As a (former) shareware developer who sometimes gave away my software and sometimes charged (very little) for it, I was always amazed by the sense of entitlement some people had. The vast majority of users were great, but there were a surprising number that seemed to think they simply deserved awesome software for free, complained about the free stuff not having more features and were outraged at having to pay for the paid stuff. Tip: you don't have to pay for anything, if you don't think its worth the price, don't buy it. And no, nobody "deserves" free software. Be grateful for the awesome stuff developers do, and ask yourself when was the last time you gave away hundred or thousands of hours of your own labour to people you don't know.
"Monument Valley received some negative attention after the expansion was priced at $1.99 in-app by users who believed that the update should be free..." As a (former) shareware developer who sometimes gave away my software and sometimes charged (very little) for it, I was always amazed by the sense of entitlement some people had.
The vast majority of users were great, but there were a surprising number that seemed to think they simply deserved awesome software for free, complained about the free stuff not having more features and were outraged at having to pay for the paid stuff. Tip: you don't have to pay for anything, if you don't think its worth the price, don't buy it. And no, nobody "deserves" free software. Be grateful for the awesome stuff developers do, and ask yourself when was the last time you gave away hundred or thousands of hours of your own labour to people you don't know.
Many bought it in summer 2014 for the 5 or 5s and then it got installed automatically onto their 6 when they didn't do a clean install. Add in an iPad and there you go. I've bought once and have it currently on my 6 and iPad. If I had bought the game before switching from my 5 to my 6, I would have done a third install.
Still hard to get to a 4 to 1 ratio though. Interesting.
Good for them.. Hats off!
But if it was not for this article i would not have even known there was an in app extention!
I finished the game a couple months ago and was waithing for a Sequel!
Thanks for bringing it to my attentin .
But if it was not for this article i would not have even known there was an in app extention!
I finished the game a couple months ago and was waithing for a Sequel!
Thanks for bringing it to my attentin .
Since a large number of IOS users have multiple devices and IOS has a family share plan the 50% may represent closer to 100% paid installs
"Monument Valley received some negative attention after the expansion was priced at $1.99 in-app by users who believed that the update should be free..." As a (former) shareware developer who sometimes gave away my software and sometimes charged (very little) for it, I was always amazed by the sense of entitlement some people had.
I know the feeling. I'm not a developer but I know to pay for an app when I see it's worth it. Several of my friends flat out refuse to pay for an app. I just don't understand it.
Depends how you look. Last time I checked the figures on Google, <1% are using Android 5.0
Anecdotally, no Android phone owner I know has got it yet.
My sister asked 'What's Lollipop and when will my phone get it?' I had to explain her phone couldn't get it.
Meanwhile, iOS 8 is old news for most iPhone owners, having had it since September.
You release software as soon as it's tested. And expect some defects after release.
It would make sense to choose one platform and test there before testing another. It wouldn't make sense to hold up release of a tested platform.
It would also make sense to release to the most valuable platform first, unless some other platform was significantly less expensive.
A team of a couple of designers, a PM, a couple of developers, a marketer or two, storyboards, music, a few pivots, for several months? It’s easy to run up $500K. I was part of a team that developed an iOS app and it quickly got up to $250K and it wasn’t even a game (though it did have some custom UI work, a backend/API, lots of testing, trial runs, etc.)
It’s a Unity app (I believe somebody already mentioned this...), that a game IDE that uses C#, or Unity Script (a superset of JS), or Boo (a Python-esque language). Very cool, in fact, I’m neck deep in it right now
It is very portable (you can build to native OSX, iOS, even consoles).
People also refresh their devices for various reasons or just delete the game and install it again later. 4 to 1 doesn't seem that strange to me.
Plot twist. This guy is a PI in that lives in your town who also has a side business selling pop-up novels and mini figures. He'll see you at WWDC!
Tell that to EA. I hate playing Simcity without succumbing to the temptation of in-app money.
Which brings me back to the original point: I wish they had broken out the android-specific costs for the game.
So they made $5.8 million as one of the _TOP_ paid games on the app store. That means after taxes (roughly 47% for that kind of income), they made $2.86M. Divide that between the team, and they didn't even become millionaires from being one of the most award winning and top paid apps. Considering the effort and costs, that really isn't a lot of money. That's not the kind of business you want get into just for the money...
Logical Fallacies Abound
No, it does no such thing. A single data point can't be used to prove anything.
Clarification please. OS battle in relation to what? Marketshare? Customer retention? Profits? Depending on which battle you're referencing the answer is either yes or no.
This is only one data point. No proof of anything can be determined from that.
What headache? They made more on iOS. They didn't make nothing on Android. Worst case scenario, the revenue from their Android sales covered the development cost of Forgotten Shores. Business is business. I would wager the money they made on Android is more money than 80-90% of developers made on iOS.
Fragmentation on Android is an issue if a developer is trying to reach much older versions of the OS. Development time is more dependent on what you're developing. Some things take a lot of time and some don't; regardless of OS. Although the dollars may differ, I'd be willing to bet both Android and iOS follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the profit goes to 20% of the community.
Do developers make more on iOS than Android? Statistical analysis say yes, absolutely. Can any meaningful information be extrapolated by analyzing the sales of 1 game? Absolutely not.
No, it does no such thing. A single data point can't be used to prove anything.
Clarification please. OS battle in relation to what? Marketshare? Customer retention? Profits? Depending on which battle you're referencing the answer is either yes or no.
This is only one data point. No proof of anything can be determined from that.
What headache? They made more on iOS. They didn't make nothing on Android. Worst case scenario, the revenue from their Android sales covered the development cost of Forgotten Shores. Business is business. I would wager the money they made on Android is more money than 80-90% of developers made on iOS.
Fragmentation on Android is an issue if a developer is trying to reach much older versions of the OS. Development time is more dependent on what you're developing. Some things take a lot of time and some don't; regardless of OS. Although the dollars may differ, I'd be willing to bet both Android and iOS follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the profit goes to 20% of the community.
Do developers make more on iOS than Android? Statistical analysis say yes, absolutely. Can any meaningful information be extrapolated by analyzing the sales of 1 game? Absolutely not.
Meanwhile, the previous company I was working at made apps for iOS and Android and had ~60% of their revenue from Android.
I guess it depends of the apps
But were you selling software as it is, or selling something (physical good or service) trough software?