Tips for Making Profit from Consoles
Here is some tips:
When you release a new console you want to release about 3 games of the smallest size you can get a 90%+ score with. You want no features except the mandatory that you can get a 90%+ game with. You will take a loss on this set of 3 games, and it might be 5 games. Make them all Exclusive. They will sell few copies because the Platform does not have very many Units Sold or Active Users. Make that Devkit cheap, develop a few engines for the platform, sell them cheap. Have a lot of fans. Fans seem to increase console sales.
Once you push your Units Sold upward that you can make profit on Exclusive games, then make Multiplatform games again. I always have strong consoles because I take advantage of everything.
It might be worth a few Paid Addons for those games you first pumped out on the new platform you made. Once you have enough units sold and active users, a few paid addons might cause a few of those games to get a sales spike that causes them to profit.
My observation – the week your platform hits Hype 100, let that week pass and release it the next week. It might be a placebo effect or something but I feel like I am seeing more success if the week started at 100 Hype. This also ensures you release it at the pop when the week starts and have all that time to sell before that week ends.
Releasing a Platform of a New Tech Level will steal active users from other platforms already on the market. You will pick up the benefits if you are the first to release a platform when the last component is released. The downside is, this will cause you to lose out when the AI platforms come out. Those platforms have a predetermined number of users, it gets a big rush of them up front and the rest over time. Your goal is to use the time when you are the tech leader to rush out those 5-10 loss leader games and drive your Units Sold and Active Users upward of 700k-2m, Nothing wrong with staying on Exclusive Only. You have a limited window to push to your ceiling. That ceiling starts once the first AI Platform of the same Platform Type is released of the same tech level or higher. You can still gain users after this but it will be less.
I usually try to make games on MyConsole and Personal Computer (and Mac if it takes off). I never release on Console platform types because they compete with MyConsole.
Sometimes a platform is bad – if you look at release times you might notice a platform you can make in Summer – during the sales slump but the next AI Platform comes out in November. You can’t win. But – the Gen2 Console might come out in September or October. Or February. Some platforms stay alive longer than others. Some of the Gen2 Platforms are promising prospects because they have a long lifespan and maybe released at a good time (or non-bad time) of the year. I used to avoid Gen2 Platforms. Now, I look at each platform and check the release date of the Gen2 – and the next tech level and I make a decision based on long term goals. I might choose a Gen2 because I don’t have a satisfactory amount of money, or because the release dates of the last part and the next AI Platform of the same type gives a good lifespan.
A tech level Gen1 will last about 2 years before a Gen2 comes out and lasts about 2 years before the next tech level. A Gen1 console can live 4 years and survive the Gen2 but usually the other AI Gen1 Platforms will have killed its sales before the Gen2 comes out and finishes it off. If you have a high Active Users base, you can still mass profit on your own platform.
I also terminate the old console the same week the new one comes out.
If a Console lasts 2-4 years, how many games will you release in those years?
- X number of games will be spent to get your platform up to a point where the remainder can profit on high active user base.
- Y is the number of active users required to profit on a standard 90%+ game.
All of your X games will be losses until you reach Y users, at which all further games will be profit. There are also Z limited number of weeks that your platform has peak sales post release. After this, there is an immediate steep decline in natural sales and remaining sales will involve chain producing 90%+ exclusive games.
So, 2-4 years. If the first 12 weeks in the 1982 platform each get one B size 90%+ game that 12 weeks should be fast to pump out and get me enough Active Users that I can profit on B+ exclusive games. The B+ size being bigger does mean more sales but the first several games don’t have the active users to take advantage of that mechanic. So we use the B size for the first rush.
Then Week 13-20 you want to release as many B+ 90%+ Exclusive Games as possible. 7 weeks. If you were able to get 300k-500k users, this should get you 700k-2m users in 1982. Once you have this, everything you release on your platform will be profit. You can now release a paid update on the first 2-3 B+ games. They were released at a time when active users were low, so they had low sales. Now that our active user base is higher, we can use paid updates to get more sales on these games and either reduce the profit loss or increase the profit and IP value.
You want to really push out the best possible game on the first week of Holiday bonus. Try to get a game out every 2 weeks (work a week, polish a week).
Disclaimer: Building a large workforce (production rooms) early lets you pump out the games. Quality room – release games without its bonuses, or the moment you complete the game even if you only have 2 of them. You still get 90%+. Once you no longer get 90%+, give it all the upgrades. Once your grade can’t get 90, build a Sound or Graphics room. Don’t wait around for all the bonuses. Yes you can still get 100% without them.
I build early Marketing, Research, and Console. Then I focus on Production in 1982. Sometimes I do get the 1976 platform in 1978 and sometimes I also get the handheld platform of the first generation. I build Arcades, usually 5 rooms of 12 desks each. When my 60 technicians are not making platforms, they are making arcade machines and still gaining experience instead of sitting around getting mad about having no work.
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