If you were a dev... you happier with game sales or amount of time played

[BayonettasBuddy]

You want your game to sell so that you can eat/pay staff/make more games.

But reviews make a big difference emotionally. Seeing anything under a 6/10 feels like a massive sucker punch.

 

[Glio]

I need to eat so, sales.

 

[Issen]

If you think about what would make me happier, neither of these. Instead I would want to know how many people played my game and enjoyed their time with it enough to remember the game fondly in the future. Regardless of whether they played it for many hours or not.

If you're thinking "in a real world scenario", I would be looking for sales as a measure of success even if the money from the sales goes to "the company" instead of me directly, because the company pays my salary, y'know.

 

[Giga Man]

I want to enjoy my own game before I expect others to enjoy it.

So, getting paid is more important.

 

[senj]

edit: let me clarify ... I mean the dev working on games not the company's. Of course the company wants money mostly but I'm thinking about that dev working 12 hours a day on a game .

Click to shrink...

It's not just companies who care about sales; I care that my company is making money because that's what keeps me from getting laid off. I can't pay my rent with popularity.

(that said, companies get paid to participate in GP etc so it's not like that's hurting devs. but I've seen the argument in the past that devs should be happy w/ piracy because it increase exposure to their work and, like, No).

 

[TolerLive]

A little of both really. Echoing what others have said; finances obviously matter, but knowing people are actually playing your game is an encouraging piece of it all. It really is similar to any type of art. Whether its music, paintings, or game environments, I get a lot of joy out of knowing other people are experiencing something I poured myself into. So on a personal level, yes, knowing people are playing matters.

 

[Kaim Argonar]

Whatever ended with me and my family having more money. I'd rather have that money be a result of massive sales, but if my game had few sales yet had a lot of revenue by abusing whales through microtransactions and that revenue reverted in me, that I'd be happy with too.

 

[LumberPanda]

Which option puts a roof over my family's heads?

 

[Wispmetas]

Sales, and if I did a work of art, maybe a youtube video essay would make me happy.

 

[Azerth]

I think it would depend on what level the dev is. Devs higher up probably care more about money since they have to worry about payroll and all that but devs lower then them may not care that there game sold 1mill units in a day aslong as the people that bought are enjoying it

 

[Efejota]

Nothing in this business is so simple and black and white. Everything is in between. But ultimately what matters more is money. Especially if you are a struggling indie studio or a small to mid studio that relies on constant funding to get by. Bigger studios may be able to afford burning money to deliver on certain promises they've made, even if they are not getting any monetary value back. But even then things are not so clear, as often that burned money is seen as a potential investment to get back sentiment or community engagement for future projects.

In the end, a game that everyone buys, but nobody plays, will still have your business survive and maybe even thrive. A game that no-one buys, but everyone plays, can often cost you a lot of money for support and services, money that maybe would have better spent funding other projects and initiatives. When it comes to making the business survive, you cannot pay your employees with amount of hours players played. 😛

EDIT: It will be very interesting to see the impact that subscription services have on this particular topic. If you can get funding to keep your studio alive by selling your game to a subscription service, and the barrier of entry being reduced so much for the people that are part of that subscription service, it may be possible that this whole concept gets a bit more balanced in the middle. :)

Click to shrink...

I have found myself more likely to start games under a subscription service, actually, due to the knowledge that I might loose access to them later. But the feeling that you'll be able to play x game whenever you want, even if it takes you yeara, is good.

 

[ToddBonzalez]

Devs get bonuses based on sales. So, sales.

And if sales are poor, they might find themselves out of a job.