how much are you making if you game got 1 million download in a year

It looks like 1 million download in a year is not bad for a mobile game, but I wonder how much the developer can make from it? Correct me if im wrong

1) 1 million download - lets say 1% players will buy the IAP, so there would 10k player pay the game
2) let's say the average IAP is 1$, so the gross revenue would be 10k $
3) appStore/Google Play would take about 30%, and your publisher would take 30%
4) so the developer would get 40% * 10K = 4K $
5) plus the iADs? let's just say another 4000$

you will get 8000$ a year if your game got 1 million download a year, wow, thats a lot of money!

 

Then taxes hit and you wonder where it all went...

 

$8000.00 a year is a lot of money? OOOOOK! It depends where you live I suppose but that wouldn't even cover the cost of renting a tiny apartment here.

 

Pure IAP (in game upgrades/etc) really only works best on a game with a huge player base and return visits. One million installs for a game is very small, I wouldn't expect to hit those percentages with IAP with small traffic.

Conversely, if you had a million installs for a game that sold for $1, you are going to make much more.

But really it all comes down to the game. If it is free, and sucks, a million downloads could equal $0.

 

I'm being sarcasm

 

Duhh that's why we all should band up and dig into a Cave and make the ultimate Unity Cavern, we will eat, work and sleep there! Make families and raise little Unity babies hahahaah.

 

I live in the South Bay Area, 8k would cover my rent for about 3 months.

 

I live near Hilton Head, South Carolina.

8 grand wouldn't even cover a month of rent (I said I live NEAR) there, not live there.

People have like 100 million dollar mansions with movie theaters an S*** in there house, elevators, etc. And of course every house is in a plantation...

If you wanted like a weekly rental it's like 20 grand a week lol.

 

Crap! Any game studios there hiring?

 

Hahaha, I don't know of any around here.
But of course I've never looked either lol.

 

Obviously you didn't give a rough estimate for the typical daily active users but if you get to 1 million downloads I would think your game isn't at least really bad. Assuming your game is OK and your daily active users is OK the ad revenue you mentioned is too low.

Certainly if you mostly had one and done players it could be that low or lower but it would be hard if not impossible to get to 1 million downloads if your game was that bad.

 

You could be sarcastic as well if you wanted,

@N1warhead

Well I was thinking of a floating castle in the sky made out of Oreo's, bur sure caves are cool in a dark dank sorta way.

 

But regardless, 1 million downloads is still an achievement that will boost your ego.


How many people can say oh yeah I've made a game and gotten 1 million downloads lol.
and have them be legitimate players.

 

hahahahahahaah yeah

 

Problem is what's the point? I know I'm stating the obvious here but I wouldn't get out of bed for that sorta money or even bother putting in the time and effort. Sure we all love the art and creative portion of it, we love games etc.

But games are hard and stupidly time consuming, you could work part time at a bank and spend the rest of your day doing whatever you wanted and you'd get paid a hell of a lot more.

 

Well, I wasn't really talking about Mobile games altogether, I was talking about games in general.
Like lets say your Company/Sole Proprietorship got a name for it's self and you produced amazing games.
Well, if you're charging 20 dollars a game, that's 20 million dollars LOL.
But then of course taxes, but still, that's millions of dollars.

I'm not really doing this for the money either, I just love doing it, but hey if I can get money for it, then of course I will lol..

 

If my games don't have a million installs within the first few weeks, I am updating my LinkedIN profile.

 

Yea... but I really like the way he said it, it suggests a state of being rather than a single event. There are often days where I am being sarcasm.

 

It's going to be more than 8k if your game is good. If you include adverts(which is suggestible if you have enough reach to get that many and have a high replay value) then you're looking at a lot more.

I get more than that from 1 million installs and I don't even have iAP. If you're only getting $8000 from a million installs, you're doing it wrong .

 

Firstly, sarcasm is probably the worst sentiment to portray in text. As I know quite a few game developers that would be happy with 8K a year. Secondly, it's just bad grammar (although I'm not overly pedantic on the subject).

I am the incarnation of sarcasm today, Ii's sarcasm, or even I am sarcasm incarnate all fits.. Not I'm "BEING" sarcasm. I'm sure there are days when you're being sarcastic.

Like it really matters anyway, but if you like it cool.!

 

Your post is much so much better if I picture it being said by Drax from Guardians.

I just liked the way the phrase sounded. I instantly pictured myself at work, stand up from desk, very slowly raising my arms outward and saying "I.... am.... being.... SARCASM!!!!" It amused me, and I may just try it out.

However, I really like "sarcasm incarnate". For the record, I am sarcastic every day. However there are defiantly some days where it is state of being for me. Those are days that my co-workers really enjoy my input. < sarcasm

Coincidently, I am currently re-reading one of my all time favorite series, The Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony. If you are not familiar with it, each book tells the story of the the major incarnations of human existence, (Death, Time, Fate, Nature, War, Evil & Good) personified as a person temporarily holding it as an office. It's a fantastic series. An Incarnation of Sarcasm would be hilarious addition.

 

That sounds disturbing....

 

hahahahaha.

I was waiting for somebody to take it the wrong way LOL.

What I was trying to say is, F the outside world, if we all banded up and joined together we would knock EA off the planet from our amazing games lol.

 

Ahhh. Now that sounds like we are forming a rebellion!

 

I'd select a better off term

"Micro-Nationalism" Well actually "Micro-Gamingism" lol.

(Legally building small micro-nations) lol.
I've studied it for years, I love the idea of it, but you need money and lots of it lol.

 

There are lots of factors which affect the revenue you receive from 1 million downloads:

• Monetisation method (IAP or Selling App)
• Ad Network payment
• Taxes
• Audience
• Country you're in
• Etc.

So nobody can't give you an exact answer :/

 

In Newark, that would cover an apartment for 20 months

 

Hhahahahahhahahaahahhahahahhahahhahahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahaa
Unity babies hahhaahhahahaha

 

lol lol lol lol lol lol

 

LOL lol /lol\

 

You don't really need a publisher...A simple game can reach 50-100 million downloads like traffic racer https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skgames.trafficracer&hl=en
Its a simple game

 

Haha

 

I am planning to get Over 5.5 million downloads in the first 1-2 weeks after my game gets released
It will be a big hit I am sure and I am expecting about 20k $$ a day
It won't be crap

 

Goodluck, that's all I can say lol.
We all have dreams.

 

As an Indie dev, you need to be more frugal. Like me!
My average living expenses only total $6000 per year
And I live in the middle of a relatively large city in America, not some third world hovel.
Not only do the lower expenses mean I don't have to earn as much to get by comfortably, but what I do earn gets taxed less! Ahaha!

 

Thanks

 

I made a s*** game which got downloaded 500,000 times in a month

 

Do you live in a box, eating dirt?!? I can't even find an apartment anywhere in the USA for that cheap.

 

No way, I live in a small independent "apartment" (basically a house that gets the address collectively grouped with my neighbors) right in the middle of town. I can walk to my local super market, so I don't need a car.
$400 a month rent, plus gas and electricity. Water is free.
One bedroom, a kitchen, a tiny bathroom and a giant closet.
My sole living expenses per month are basically $400 rent, $25 Gas, $25 Electric, $40 Internet, $10 Photoshop, food and health insurance are totally covered by Michigan 'cause I'm poor as hell, and toiletries are a negligible expense for a single guy. A couple weeks ago I spent like $60 and literally got a year's supply of dish soap, laundry detergent, razors, and shampoo/soap/conditioner.
$500 per month, $6000 per year.

 

Well thats why you need 100 million downloads. Look at someone like pewdiepie who gets millions of views per video. I guess if you could somehow put out a game that got 1 million down.

The problem is that a game takes too long to do in comparison to say a video.

 

You would not get only $1 from a player who buys IAP. Have a look at this. Once you hook someone into buying an IAP, they are committed, and very likely to buy more IAP, that is assuming you have more available. The difficult part is getting them to make that first purchase. Anyway, assuming the 1% conversion, thats $140,000 pre fees; I wouldn't complain at that

 

Yeah its possible

 

As some ppl here mentioned, if you got 1 mil downloads and made only 8k$ (ofc. hypotetically), it means you do something wrong. From some crappy app, which had ~10 downloads/day, I made 300$ from 30k downloads from ads... So, imagine if I could have 1 mil downloads...
Actually 1 mil/downloads is like a fckng a lot. Nowadays, its almost impossible for indies... I know big devs who put a lot of effort and a lot of money, and they can't even hit half million downloads, with the great high quality games btw...
So yeah, if you got 1 mil downloads, u r lucky.

P.S If you got 1 mil downloads and you make crappy money out of it, call me I'll help you.

 

So somebody mentioned houses. What about a house where all the furniture and chairs were minecraft-blocks made out of plywood and painted to match? Imagine how cool it would be to live in that house.

 

Did I miss something? $300 from 30k downloads. So, 33.333 * 30k would be 1M downloads, which would have yielded $9,999, which isn't that far from his rough $8k estimate. Though, I do agree that 1M downloads should net much more than that - generally speaking.

Gigi

 

That's all assuming though that ad revenue remains equal. Wouldn't a crazy number of downloads like that skyrocket the pay-per-click?

 

Yeah wasnt flappy bird getting $50k a day in ad money for a while

 

Sweet. Same here, around $6000 a year. And I live in a small town in post-commie Central Europe. Much, much better than it may sound.
I live in a detached house where I own the upper level: one gigantic studio room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a gym room with wall-bars and stuff. I share a car with someone else who lives downstairs. I've got rolling hills and forests all around for my morning runs (which I do need to prepare for a day of focused gamedev). Budapest, a cool city with a huge UK/US expat community, is a 15 min drive from here.

Churning out Unity titles may well sustain me for decades if I do it right.

 

What about other essentials like Porsche's, 50" TV's and a library of games n' consoles?

 

OK you're being ironic, but I actually have a 42" Toshiba and a huge library of games in my summer cottage (in the Eastern Alps), plus a Fiat Brava.
As a lifelong indie, I don't and won't care about stuff like Porsches.