Developing VR games: Where does the money come from? Where are the flowers?
In the recent discussion of the gaming industry, the topics were mainly focused on funds received from companies such as Oculus, and the resulting exclusive agreements. There are many people who say that vr product development is so expensive and that developers are thirsty for money.
However, no one really analyzed the cost of making VR games. Many people cannot disclose this information because of confidentiality agreements and legal restrictions, or they are worried about the uproar caused by this. Fortunately, I can talk about these funds and the cost of doing a VR game. Here, I will talk about the cost of the company's first game, "Light Repair Team #4". .
Here are a few things that we have to say before we start.
Before we analyze these, I need to talk a little bit about the development background of "Light Maintenance Team 4" (hereafter referred to as: LRT4). First, in the beginning of 2016, I have spent more than 14 weeks completing most of LRT4 (95%). Includes programming, graphics, and design. I got a good friend and was also the co-founder of Eerie Bear Games. Noah Rojahn was responsible for a lot of tricky programming. He was also the only programmer for our new game, John Dyke and Ed Harrison created some music for our trailer video and game background music.
Secondly, this game is the first game of htc vive, so it is mentioned in many news articles and recommended by the column. In addition, we have been mentioned in several articles many times, but they are only mentioned.
This is a game created entirely by my own power. In other words, all the expenses of this game and everything related to this game are handled by me, relying on my own savings. This means that I am responsible for my own time, I pay for my own work. This may sound strange, I just want to explain that it is important to understand and measure the cost of developing a game. Because you pay for yourself, whether you work for yourself or work for someone else, you must pay wages or accept someone else's salary.
How to calculate the cost of game development?
I will analyze the development cost of the game in two ways. First, let's first analyze if I pay my own hourly wages. Of course this is not the way you calculate the game budget, because I am a freelancer, so I have to learn.
Second, I will use a suitable way to analyze the cost of game development, as if I was selling my game to Valve or Oculus for financing. According to my understanding, I think this is a promotion method that everyone should or accept.
1. In hours (this is a wrong way to mention)
Let's see how much it costs to make a game if I pay a very low salary for myself and Noah.
14 weeks development time x 40 hours / week x 40 USD / hour = 22400 US dollars (including prototype creation, design, image) Noah work 5 hours x 40 USD / hour = 200 US dollars to establish the company's cost + legal affairs = 3500 Dollar server costs $10/month x 3 months (we use Digital Ocean) = $30 for two outsourced music costs $30,000
Total cost: $29,130
In an unsuitable way, it costs $27,000 to develop a game with only 70 minutes of content. As I told you, don't calculate your game costs this way. This method is difficult to manage and game development is difficult to predict in hours. We may need a month to do one thing, but how many hours do we calculate how much we spend this month? It's hard to say, so you You should not calculate your game cost this way.
There are other things to consider here, even if a contractor costs $40 an hour, they actually get up to $30 because freelancers in the US need to pay a 25% tax on income. So as a game developer, never calculate your game cost this way.
2. An acceptable budget method (the right way to start)
Let me see what people actually do and say one more thing. We assume this because of some controversy. Assume that 5 hours of free labor is provided.
About 4 months x $10,000 per developer/month = $40,000 to establish the company's cost + legal affairs = $3,500 server cost $10/month x 3 months) = $30 for two outsourced music costs≈ 30,000 US dollars
Total cost: $46530
This is closer to the real game budget, it covers almost all the necessary things (including taxes, insurance) while leaving some room.
Wait, I really want to forget some big things! It is to set up the office and its maintenance costs. After all, not everyone is working at home. (These are rough estimates):
The average cost of studio VR game development is $1,500 Vive or Rift cost (if you don't have a development kit) = $600-800 office rent (mostly depending on location) = $500 to $5,000/month (good Network cost = $1,100 to $180/month for each developer's desk and chair = $1,000 for general office supplies $150/month for other office equipment ≈ $250/month
This does not include licensing fees for software like Unity Pro, Maya. If I and Noah are not working from home, then the total cost of building an office from scratch is, let's say we have a free development kit:
2 computers = $3,000 1 year office rental fee = 6000-60000 USD 1 year network cost = $1322 to $2160 Office furniture = $2,000 office supplies = $150 (minimum value) Other equipment that can be used for 3 months≈ Around $750
Total cost dollar
So, how many games do we have to sell to get back to the book? We subtract 60% of the total revenue by subtracting taxes and fees from Unreal Engine and Valve. So every time we sell a game worth $7.99, we can make a profit of $5.2. Based on the "wrong" budget, we have to sell 5,602 copies, and based on the "correct" budget, we have to sell 8,949 copies. Because our games are on sale on Steam and all platforms, this number may be higher. At the same time, it will also be affected by whether we use our own computer at home.
fact
After all, how much did LRT4 earn for us?
"LRT4" probably sold 2,300 copies, bringing about $14,000 in revenue to the company (not including taxes and other fees we need to pay.) Even if you use the cheapest way to calculate (this way you will always Don't use it, it still doesn't make money. In addition, since the game was released on Vive in April, we have updated it in the next few months, and there are more expenses here, but I did not calculate it.
Of course, this is just the way we calculate the game. Other games will have different calculation methods and budgets, but I am sure they will not return. Although Survios claimed that they earned more than $1 million in a few months, I am still curious as to whether they really earned it.
I am taking risks, in fact, every VR developer is taking risks. For us, the game didn't return. For other developers, I'm pretty sure they didn't return. From a merchant's perspective, VR developers are stubborn, stupid, and reckless. But VR is really good, you need 100% investment. If developers are not reckless, if companies like Oculus or Intel no longer provide funding to developers, VR will not last long.
Next time, when you see a developer who will monopolize a platform, or they get financing from a company, they want to promote their products in the game, and other things. Keep this in mind: they don't want to hurt consumers, they just want to make themselves more important in the VR world.
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