Post
by BIGZIPZ » Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:29 am
Not so long ago, I purchased a shareware game, that had the "activation" code sent to me by email. At the header of the email was a piece of text which really got me thinking. The text said:
Order #893
The company I bought the game from, had only been formed last December, and their first game was only released in February of this year. It was retailing for £9.99.
At first I thought, wow that's alot of money x alot of orders, it worked out at about £9000. Then I thought to myself, wow this guy must be making a lot of money. After viewing the credits for this game, thoughts of a rich author, soon went away. Although the team responsible was only 4 people, it got me thinking, hang onnnnnnnn £9000 by 4 people works out at about £2250 each, and thats before you take off the esellers fee, and income tax.
Suddenly £9000 for this game was not very much at all, for a game that had probably taken this team of people several months to complete.
Most small shareware companies are having a rough time, the market is oversaturated, piracy is huge, and every customer is essential.
Support independent software developers. They have bills to pay too!