Business, Monetization → Can you make money with Flash games?
It is possible to make really good money from web games that are not shovelware, but it isn’t trivial. First, let’s look at the “usual” revenue streams for a typical Flash game.
- Game licensing can be lucrative, but it’s not perpetual, so for the long haul it’s not a great approach. In fact, I think it can harm your income (see below).
- Ads are certainly not a great approach, either. The earnings are perpetual, though, so ads make a good supplementary income stream. But that’s not going to feed the kids.
For some reason, lots of Flash developers I’ve run into seem to think those are the only ways to make money with web games. *shrugs*
Why would licensing your game harm your income when you an get paid to do it? For one thing, it diminishes your brand’s exposure.
But more importantly, it funnels your players to the wrong place! You want them at your site, not at someone else’s site. Traffic, my friends, is the key to this whole mystery of how to make money. Your traffic is precious. Don’t sell it or give it away.
While getting traffic is pretty easy with Flash because of the decentralized distribution system that evolved, bringing in revenue will always require work and creativity in your products and your business. (I blogged about Flash game distribution in regards to my shift from Flash towards Unity a while back.)
I’m not specifically a Flash supporter. I use the best tech that will allow me to achieve my business goals. For now, that is Flash because it’s got more reach than any other technology. However, if Silverlight or something else overtakes Flash as a web platform in terms of audience, then that’s what I’ll be using. Because getting people to your site is how you make money.
Some people expect to make a game in a couple weeks, slap ads in it, then rake in money. It doesn’t work like that. Ads are supplementary, remember? For some exceptions, yes, you can get rich from ads. For 90% of us, no, you will barely make anything from ads.
Bottom line is that it is possible to make good (or even obscene) money from Flash games. But not from a bubble popping game you made in three days with some Mochi ads in it. Get creative with your game and your business plan.