Hidden Money Traps In Game Publishing
Posted by Michael Mindes on January 23, 2012
Even after having published games for several years now, there are some expenses associated with game publishing that continue to surprise me. I thought you might like to know of them if you are considering becoming a publisher yourself...
- Shipping Costs (Air Freight, Delivery, Replacement Parts, Ocean Freight)
- Extortion Costs (Drayage at Conventions)
- Money Services Costs (Wire fees, credit card processing)
Shipping Costs In Game Publishing
Every time I turn around it seems like I have to pay more and more money for shipping. It might be that the ocean freight is more money that I was expecting, a delay in production requiring air freight, or a constant stream of replacement parts to ship out.
The bottom line is that when pricing a game, you will need to factor in the transportation costs associated with full and final delivery. At this point in time, I budget in a full dollar of cost for big box games for ocean freight. Depending on the time of year, oil costs, and such I have been surprised at the cost over 1 dollar.
Extortion Costs
I consider this any cost that is charged at exorbitantly high prices because the "service" provider has you by the short hairs. The only example of this that occurred in 2011 for me was drayage associated with moving my product at GenCon. It cost almost as much money to have my product delivered at the show as it cost to ship it via air freight!
Money Service Costs
It is surprising how quickly the charges associated with wire fees and credit card processing add up. There are a part of the oct of business, but still a cost that I would love to pay less for!
