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A giant list of places to sell downloadable indie PC games. Filled with stats, links, and other useful info. This was done for my own research but I figured I might as well share it!
In an effort to increase our sales numbers we are looking into all the different places that we can sell our game, Triangle Man. Before starting this research I had no idea that there were so many different online distribution channels for PC games. It has been really difficult to gather this info – there wasn’t a nice central location where I could find it all (though this blog post was amazingly helpful, and inspired mine).
So, I thought it would be a pretty good idea to share this info and save you all some time. This is for Windows PC games only, since that is what Triangle Man is. I didn’t cover sites like Kongregate or other browser based games sites. Someone did point me towards a site called Gumroad which lets people sell their products without a store. All they need to do is share a link with users. If we ever decide to sell from our website, then this is something we’d probably utilise.
If you are able to fill in any of the “unknown” sections in this, it would be greatly appreciated. Please also let me know if you know of any more pros or cons for any of the sites.
Also, the “daily visitors” numbers were taken from this site: http://www.statscrop.com. The numbers I received were obviously incorrect, however they do seem to be proportionally incorrect, if that makes sense. So, what I’m going to do is use those numbers and compare each site to Steam. So I will list a percentage for each site – for example, if the percentage is 30% that means the site gets 30% of the number of visitors that Steam does (please excuse my terrible grammar).
Someone also pointed out that most sites either pay quarterly or monthly – for those sites where I’ve written “no idea”, it’s probably a safe bet that they pay quarterly or monthly.
I had a few comments telling me that I should be charging for this info! That doesn’t really sit right with me. However, please feel free to purchase our game if you feel the need to show your appreciation. I might be biased, but I think it’s pretty good. If you’re poor you can even download the demo for free!
Enjoy 
Daily Visitors: 178, 500 (100%)
Number of games available: 5726
Revenue Split: Variable, guestimated to be around 60/40.
Approval method: Via Greenlight for new developers
Monetisation methods: Outright sale +DLC. I don't think IAP are supported (Update: apparently IAP are supported - my bad)
Payment details: I've no idea. Quarterly?
Pros:
HUGE platform! Minimum of 2.5 million online users at any time.
Indie friendly
Quality control
Developers have control over price
Games periodically promoted in client, on website.
Cons:
WIP games not accepted
Gamers must have Steam client installed
Difficult and time-consuming to get onto platform.
Daily visitors: 13,440 (7.5%)
Number of games available: 957
Revenue split: 70/30
Approval method: Submit via web form, after registering. OR create game profile on IndieDB and/or ModDB and hit the "publish" button.
Monetisation: Outright sale
Payment details: Via PayPal, every 30 days, only if you make $500 or more (Update: Apparently you can ask the admins to pay you even if you didn't meet the $500 requirement)
Pros:
Indie Friendly
WIP games accepted (under alpha funding)
Quality control
Developers have control over price
Admins are in our time zone (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Admins are really patient (trust us, we tested!)
Developers have control over all marketing materials + news articles
Updates usually approved quickly (< 1 week)
Cons
Gamers must have Desura client installed (Update: apparently developers can decide to sell straight from Desura's site with no need to go through the client)
Not as many users
Daily visitors: 1029 (0.6%)
Number of available games: 344
Revenue split: 75/25 or 85/15 if you use incorporate their SDK into your game
Approval Method: Peer approved to make sure games are functional (and that they're games)
Monetisation: Outright sale
Game requirements:
Listed here, though I'll explain them a little:
Provide .exe and component data
Component data must be < 1gb in size
Need to indicate dependencies (which makes me think they will handle them)
If you provide a demo, it must not have links external to IndieCity
Marketing requirements:
game logo/cover - 253 x 118 (png or jpg)
5 screenshots - 960 x 720 or 960 x 540
Installer image - 164 x 314 (bmp)
banner image - 150 x 57 (bmp)
at least one YouTube video
Payment details: Via paypal, paid per purchase with a 14 day delay.
Pros:
Low barrier to entry for getting your game on the platform
WIP games permitted
can set your own domain (ie. triangleman.indiecity.com)
Cons
Low site traffic
Gamers must have IndieCity client installed
They have the ability to reduce the price of your game by 10% without your consent (for sales purposes)
No quality control - as long as a game doesn't break, it will be accepted
You need to implement your own copy protection - though using their SDK
Daily visitors: 1218 (0.7%)
Number of available games: 511
Revenue Split: 100/0
Approval method: Register to the site and submit game (via webform, I assume). The game must be approved by a moderator. (Update - seems the only way is actually via the generic "Contact Us" webform.
Monetisation: Outright sale
Game requirements: None
Marketing requirements:
YouTube video
Game Logo (not sure on size)
Cover image (not sure on size)
Payment details: Via PayPal, almost immediate.
Pros:
You keep all the profits
No additional client for gamers to download
WIP games accepted.
Cons:
It seems like the games (and updates) take a long, long time to be approved. There also seems to be little communication between the moderator(s) and the developers. There are some developers who have just written: "DON'T DOWNLOAD MY GAME FROM HERE" all over their pages since their updates are never approved :/
Developers are responsible for refunds
No copy protection
Poor site traffic
No quality control
Daily visitors: 95 (0.05%)
Number of games available: 32
Revenue Split: 80/20
Approval method: Email game details to site admin.
Monetisation: Outright sale
Game requirements:
Unsure about any requirements
Marketing requirements:
Game logo/cover (not sure about size)
Payment details: No info on this.
Pros:
WIP games accepted
Udated frequently which means the admins must be diligent
Cons:
Gamers must download the LittleIndie client
Very low site traffic
Daily visitors: 18,900 (10.1%)
Number of available games: 4,252
Revenue split: 70/30
Approval method: Email them your game info - the games are approved by the site admins.
Monetisation: Outright sale (everywhere), free to play with ad support (US, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark ONLY so far).
Game Requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box art
Screenshots
Trailer
Large promo image for game page (no idea about sizes for any of these)
Payment details: no idea.
Pros:
Quality control
High traffic
Sells indie games
No client for the users to download
Supports WIP games
Cons:
I believe they might not be as friendly to "new/unproven" developers, however that's just a guess based on the available games.
Other notes: Once a user owns a game they can download and install it on as many machines as they like. I'm not exactly sure how this works.
Daily Visitors: 378 (0.2%)
Number of games available: 165
Revenue split: no idea
Approval method: Send an email to initiate discussions.
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: no idea
Marketing requirements:
Box art
Trailer
Payment details: no idea
Pros:
based in Germany, so you're hitting a different market
Users do not have to download the full game if they don't want to - games can be streamed.
Cloud saves
Cons:
Low traffic
Users must download the Awomo client
Your game needs to be in German and English
Doesn't support WIP games
Not much info available
Daily visitors: 9,240 (5%)
Number of games available: 1,871
Revenue split: 70/30
Approval method: Sign up to the website, then add your company and game. I imagine these need to be approved by their QA team.
Monetisation: Looks like outright sale + dlc
Game requirements: I'm unsure
Marketing requirements:
Screenshots
Cover Image
Game Icon
Payment details: no idea
Pros:
Looks like they have some quality control
Site admins are very active
Fair amount of site traffic
Indie games welcome
Owned by GameStop, so possible cross-promotion via their physical stores
Cons:
Looks like most games need players to download their client
Doesn't support WIP games
Daily visitors: No information available
Number of games available: approx 500
Revenue split: Not specified
Approval method: Email them to begin negotiations
Monetisation: Outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Screenshots
Large background image
Game cover
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Price is developer set - including sales
Release dates fully controlled by the developer
Very active forums
Cons:
Gamers must download their client to get the game
Not much information before contacting them..
Daily visitors: No information available
Number of games available: 1,953
Revenue split: 70/30 for 3rd party developers
Approval method: Create an account and then follow the info on the submissions page. However I could not create an account because I kept getting the error "Invalid CAPTCHA attempt" despite the fact there is no Captcha on the account creation page. Apparently the submission process works similar to Valve's previous one - you can send them incomplete games as long as they are in late beta. They will review them and decide whether to publish the finished product.
Monetisation: outright sale and a monthly subscription for access to all the games. The players don't technically "own" them, they must log in to GameHouse each time in order to play.
Game requirements: Long list incoming, sorry
game must not self-update or self-check (I guess if you have your own “drm”)
all dependencies must be included in the installer
must be 32 bit windows executable with .exe extension
must be uncompressed
.NET is not technically supported, but they say they do occasionally make exceptions
no built-in demo, they will handle that
default to full-screen
path names must be less than 80 characters
icon for vista games explorer must be included
game must run on vista “limited user” account
thumbs.db removed after installation
the .exe must be in the root folder for the game
game must not require additional software (ie direct x 10, MS c++ redistributable) - ok, this sounds insane, it would automatically rule out a crapload of games, there must be something here that I don’t understand
you need to be able to show a variety of their distribution logos (in game), so:
logos should be pulled from a branding folder ([game root]\branding\splash1.jpg)
game needs to be flexible in the number of logos to display
SOOO much localisation stuff, I am just going to link the file: https://partners.gamehouse.com/media/files/RealGames_LocalizationReqs_v2.0.pdf
Minimum requirements Pentium III, Windows XP, 256MB RAM, 32 MB VRAM, DirectX 7.
Max HD space to take up: 300MB
Game needs to recover from sleep/hibernate, ctrl+alt+delete, alt+tab, restore using windows key, windows+L
Game needs to handle F4
needs to launch under vista with user accounts control turned off
audio must cease to play if game is minimised
must not change desktop resolution in windowed mode
all clickable options in the game need mouse over highlights and sound effects
Marketing requirements:
Master Art file (.psd) which includes
game logo, 300 dpi
main characters
key background elements
minimum of 6 screenshots
jpg max quality
800 x 600
naming convention screenshot_800x600_1.jpg
no “drop shadow” on screenshots
Licensing/DRM: Obviously available for users with a site subscription, not sure how it works for outright purchases since they don't seem to have a client.
Payment details: No idea.
Pros:
They really do their best to promote your game
Possible options for physical distribution too
Looks like users don't have to have a client if they just want to buy the game outright.
Good social network integration
Cons:
Caters to a casual audience, though apparently they are expanding to include others
Lots of restrictive game requirements
Daily visitors: 3402 (1.9%)
Number of games available: 1,102
Revenue split: No idea.
Approval method: Send an email to the site admin for further communication.
Monetisation: Outright sales, DLC and bundles. It also seems that they sell games that require Steam accounts.
Game requirements: No idea.
Marketing requirements:
Small game cover
Screenshots
Larger background image
Various other images that can be used on banners around the main site.
Payment details: No idea.
Pros:
Indie-friendly (including non-major indie games)
Very active user forums
Cons:
Very slow loading times while I was browsing their website
No WIP games accepted.
Not much information available.
Requires download of their client.
Other notes: Gamers are able to trade in their games - which suggests that Green Man will handle licensing in some way.
Daily visitors: 21,840 (12%)
Number of games available: Roughly 2,000
Revenue split: No idea
Approval method: Send them an email with an executable for your game as well as the things listed below in Marketing Requirements
Monetisation: outright sale, rental or ad supported, In-game purchases
Game requirements:
Game must run on Windows XP
Games must launch full screen
Games can have dependencies - let them know and include them in the submission if possible.
Games must not contain links to external sites
Marketing requirements:
Main background image - minimum 1600 wide
Main character assets
Box shot - minimum 1600 wide
6 screenshots at the maximum resolution that you support
Game logo
Icon (optional) - 16x16, 32x32, 48x48 or 256x256
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Wider market - lots of casual games, but also a few "hardcore" games.
Support a number of different game formats
Has dedicated store fronts for different countries
Ability to suggest price
Cons:
Gamers must download their client to be able to play
No WIP games accepted.
Daily visitors: 23,940 (13.4%)
Number of games available: 477
Revenue split: No solid idea - reportedly less than 70/30 (somewhat unreliable source)
Approval method: Fill in their web form to begin discussions
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box shot
Banner image
Screenshots
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client (but they can if they want to)
Quality control
Very active forums
Few games to compete against
Indie friendly
Cons:
I've no idea how their licensing works (I've never purchased a game from GOG). I imagine you'd still need to at least activate a game before playing it for the first time?
No WIP games accepted.
Other notes: Games MUST be DRM free
Daily visitors: 210 (0.1%)
Number of games available: 15
Revenue split: No idea - listed as "competetive"
Approval method: Fill in their web form to begin discussions
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Background image
YouTube video
Company logo
Game icon
Small, rectangular game logo
Large promo banner for main site
Square promo advertisement for main site
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client
Few games to compete against
Indie friendly - in fact, only indie games allowed
This site looks promising - it is apparently only 6 months old, so it will grow. It looks professional - perhaps it might be an idea to get on the platform now before it really takes off
Cons:
Not much info available without contacting them
Currently - low site views
No WIP games accepted.
Daily visitors: 2,184 (1%)
Number of games available: 630
Revenue split: No idea (Update - I was contacted by Get Games Go who inform me that the revenue split is usually 70/30)
Approval method: I can only find their normal "contact us" web form. No specific developer contact form.
Monetisation: outright sale
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box shot
Screenshots
YouTube Trailer
Large-ish game icon
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client
Indie friendly
Developers DO control the price
Cons:
Not much info available without contacting them
No WIP games accepted.
Daily site visits: No information.
Number of games available: 1,173
Revenue split: No idea.
Approval method: Email their licensing VP - details at the bottom of this site.
Monetisation: outright sale, "Unlimited play" which involves gamers subscribing to the site.
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box shot
Screenshots
Banner
Large-ish game icon
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Gamers do not need to download a client
Quality control
Cons:
There don't seem to be many games from lesser known indies
No WIP games accepted.
Other notes: Gamers can download and install the games as many times as they like (they do need to activate each one via Gametap)
Daily site visits: No information
Number of games available: Over 2,700
Revenue split: 85/25 as of 2009 (source)
Approval method: Fill in their online form.
Monetisation: outright sale, DLC
Game requirements: No idea
Marketing requirements:
Box shot
Screenshots
Small rectangular image for store front
Payment details: No idea
Pros:
Indie friendly
Active forums
Cons:
Gamers must use their client in order to download games
No WIP games accepted (I think)
Not much quality control
(This entire post taken from my personal blog)
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