Release schedule

[flyingmice]

Hi again!

What are people's opinions on a proper release schedule for a game? Obviously the core materials come out first, but is it better to lay out a lot of stuff at once, or to release things a bit at a time? What needs to be out initially? What is best allowed to come out later? We are in the unusual position of having a lot of material ready, and we don't want to overwhelm the players. I do appreciate the advice of you who have been through it all before.

clash
Flying Mice LLC

[Misguided]

There is a certain amount of conventional wisdom that says that having multiple products MAY convince people that you intend to support a line and make them more likely to buy in than if they think you won't ever actually produce supplemental material. Don't know how true this really is. I'd avoid overwhelming people with the "I have to buy all of this" syndrome. FInd a balance.

[flyingmice]

Thanks again Lewis! I would have thought the "dribs and drabs" method would be the way to go! I will need to make some decisions as to which are the most important to get out - i.e. settings, adventures, expansions, or tools.

What do people prefer to buy in your experience? I personally prefer to buy tools, expansions, settings, and adventures, in that order, but I am assuming I am atypical. My guess would be the reverse of that! :D

clash bowley
Flying Mice LLC

[Guildofblades]

Depends on your marketing budget. The larger your initial sales the more often you can release supplemental items without flooding your market. As a general rule I would suggest the following:

0-2000 core game sales = 1 new substantial product every 4 months. A substiantial product is a major adventure setting, big adventure or collection of adventures, source book, major GM resource tool, etc. What is not a core product is character sheets, a GM screen, small adventures, and other small accessory products.

2000 - 5000 core game sales = 1 new product every 2 months.
5000 - 25000 core game sales = 1 new product per month.

And generally speaking, only if you have a game with more than 25,000 units sold, perhaps much more, can your market bare more than 1 core product release per month.

Its important to not release more product than your market can bare. If you do consumers will feel overwhelmed by the amount of product "needed (or at least that's what they will think) to buy to just try out some game they likely no nothing about. As such sales of most of those supplemental product won't sell strongly enough on retailer shelves and the next product you release after that may not get on those shelves at all.

Though no matter what your sales are you need one release every 4 months, no more. There are several reasons for this. The first is that many gamers will abandone a system that is recieving no support for the manufacturer. You need to periodically release material to keep their interest. The second reason is an artifical one centered around the distribution of games. When your distributors release information about a forthcoming product to their retailers those retailers will see that information about 2 months prior to release. That reminds them about your core game and may prompt re orders for those stores that sold out of their initial quantity. Then two months later the new product is released and the retailer either has purchased the product or at least sees the product information again. This is another reminder to check those shelves and restock the core rule booklet where sold out. This release schedule gives you the best chance of having your core rule booklet kept in stock a reasonable amount of time.

[flyingmice]

Thank you, Ryan!

The numbers you are talking lead me to believe you are speaking of a paper-published game. The best numbers I have seen bandied about for electronic distribution are nowhere near the numbers you are mentioning. I did not make this clear, but we are releasing a electronically published game.

Hopefully enough interest will be generated to publish in paper, but I doubt it. Given the numbers of interesting new games being released, I doubt our offering will generate anything above the background radiation.

clash bowley
Flying Mice LLC

[Guildofblades]

Hi Clash,

Its a very rare paper game that achieves those numbers as well. A "small press" game is usually doing pretty good to have more than 1,000 in sales. Leading small press companies might reach 2-4k in core game sales after a few years on the market. Mid tier companies tend to see 2-3 times those sales figures and only the larger companies ever really get more than 25,000 unit sales on their core books (with a few, very few, notable exceptions).

[flyingmice]

Thank you again, Ryan! These figures are nice to know, and would probably require a lot of digging to unearth. Good to know I don't need to support myself this way! Do small publishers work together in consortia in this industry? It can really help keep costs down. The problem with small publishers seems to be that the costs are not kept down by economies of scale, and people aren't willing to pay a premium for a "boutique" label. The Publisher/Wriiter/Artist gets squeezed out in the middle. A consortium could help that by negotiating lower costs for member publishers.

Just a thought.

clash bowley
Flying Mice LLC

[Guildofblades]

Hi Clay,

Some smaller publishers do work together toa degree. Check out the Game Publishers' Association at www.thegpa.org
.Its got a ways to go to be a truely effective organization, but they are trying.

I offer print consolidation services on full color printing in print runs of 1,000 to serve this very fuction. In the near future I have plans to launch the Game Publishers' Digest to really focus on this issue.

All that being said, there are ways to keep your cost in line with you retail price so you can maintain strong margins on your product. It generally tends to require a bit of creatively be applied to your business practices and structure as well as your games. And you don't need to sell 25,000+ units to carve a decent living out of publishing in this biz. Though multiple product lines and lot of in print product tend to be needed. That takes time.

[flyingmice]

Whoa! Thanks Ryan! Those were excellent links. I was particularly interested in WoC's market report on the GPA site. Particular points were the vast majority (80%) of RPG gamers played under "House Rules", and a large minority (42%)created their own adventures and (29%) created their own campaign materials. Also the market shift into older players tallies with my own experience, where older players play less frequently but more intensely.

The Small Publishers Co-Op and the Small Publishers Association of NA approach the consortium concept I was talking about, albeit in a limited way. There's a lot of meat there. Thanks again!