Rev Share Reality Check: Why Splitting Profits Is a Game Developer's Nightmare

I won't deny that revshare projects seem very appealing to the majority of people, including myself. I started doing my first rev share projects when I wrote my first books. I didn't have much experience back then, and having another person check your manuscript didn't seem like a bad idea, especially in my case since I'm not a native speaker. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a very experienced co-writer as my partner, and the books we wrote were great, let alone the partnership being smooth. Unfortunately, things don't go that well in most cases, and if you’re thinking of doing revshare in game dev, well, the challenge is on another level.

Most rev share projects I've joined over the years start with a phrase like this: "We're going to split profits evenly," or the person pitching the idea holds ownership of most of what's being produced. As we all understand, starting with the above mentality can never work out. If my kid came and told me about it, I’d say it’s a bad business deal. But when it comes down to making a rational choice yourself, you’ll do exactly what all people do. Let me elaborate.

I've never heard of a revshare project working without a proper plan. I must confess that even though I participated in several revshare projects in the past, I did it knowing that the project would fail down the road. You might be wondering why I participated in these projects despite knowing they would fail. The answer is simple: The concept looked cool, and I wanted to gain more experience. Even if the project failed, I would get the opportunity to expand my skill set and knowledge. Because, let's face it, in most cases, rev share projects are on the same level as free projects in terms of profitability. I participated in jams and free projects only to advance my skill set, and rev share projects don’t differ that much for me.

I must confess; however, that revshare projects have a 99.99% chance of failing. I will summarize why this is the case compared to free projects and why I always preferred doing free projects. The deal is never good enough, and some people will do most of the work while others will slack off. As you can understand, this creates disparity between the members because those who work more want a bigger cut of the pie – and rightfully so. What most people don't realize is that most beginner projects have very little commercial value, and the chances of actually making a profit are negligible. The reality is that your first projects will generate below $500 in gross revenue. Is it worth going through all the trouble? Hell no, but people think their idea will make millions without realizing the actual work that needs to be put into a game dev project. Therefore, when you gather people who care mainly about making something good and advancing their skill set, without caring for profit, the chances of completing a project are way higher, and you don't have to go through the painful process of negotiating revshare.

By all means, I'm not saying that people who want to make revshare projects are bad in nature. It’s they think their amazing idea will generate a lot of revenue.

And if you’re still wondering why revshare worked for my books and why can’t it be replicated to game dev? Well, it's different to have one person discussing the production and marketing of your book, but imagine doing this for a complex project that requires 15 or 20 people working on it. It's pretty obvious that from a production standpoint, this won’t work.

I’m sure that some people out there have found a way to make rev share work with smaller teams, but I’ve never met one. Have you? Or is it simply that because we've heard people say rev share works, it has become an accepted belief?



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