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Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

monogame.net

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Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#71

Post by firefax »

juujian wrote: post #2

I don't want to assume, but I don't recollect any contributions of that magnitude from large studios (spare Valve). This indy developer (is that label fair?) is putting AAA studios to shame.

>I don't want to assume, but I don't recollect any contributions of that magnitude from large studios (spare Valve). This indy developer (is that label fair?) is putting AAA studios to shame.

Despite all the talk from libertarians about how private donations are the solution to the world's ills, open source software very rarely gets substantial donations.

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#72

Post by mminer237 »

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #36
juujian wrote: post #2

I don't want to assume, but I don't recollect any contributions of that magnitude from large studios (spare Valve). This indy developer (is that label fair?) is putting AAA studios to shame.

Epic Games has a program called MegaGrants where they give a bunch of money to various projects. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/megagrants For example they gave $250k to the Godot game engine project in 2020. https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epi...

Also notably $1.2 million to the Blender Foundation.

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#73

Post by vunderba »

tracker1 wrote: post #53
giancarlostoro wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not claiming it's every indie game I'm saying its not quite as rare as you suggest, I look at new releases on Steam all the time, there's less indie games than you think being released. More than there probably should be, but its not like tens of thousands a day or week or even in a month. Its about 800 a month. That's rare if anything, not "incredibly rare"

And out of the 800 new indie games a month, how many are breakout successes and sell even 10k copies? That's what is rare, not that indie games are rare, but having a success (like winning the lottery) is relatively rare. At 10k new indie games a year, maybe a dozen gross over a million. A larger studio can't afford those kind of odds. That said, they should be able to make more games with a better focus on gameplay…

This. And honestly, 10k sales is the bare minimum. Even if you’re a solo dev with no team and you handle everything yourself (programming, sound, music, art, marketing) to keep costs down, you’re still looking at around 6–12 months of work.

Most indie games don’t sell for more than $10 USD, but let’s be generous and say you manage to convince your audience to pay $20.

  Total: 200,000 USD
  After Steam Cut: 140,000 USD
And now you need to get lightning to strike every year to maintain your annual income so you can retire before you're Methuselah.

Could you work on the game part-time while holding down a full-time job? Sure, but you've got to have some iron stamina to want to sit in front of a computer for another 4 hours after a full day of work. Furthermore, not being able to focus on the game means dev might take significantly longer.

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#74

Post by closingreunion »

mjg2 wrote: post #54
QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic Games has a program called MegaGrants where they give a bunch of money to various projects. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/megagrants For example they gave $250k to the Godot game engine project in 2020. https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epi...

I wouldn't call anything Epic Games does charity: it's all empire expansion for them.

How does the Godot donation expand their empire? Other than get more people into game development?

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#75

Post by MrZander »

bhaney wrote: post #8
selfawareMammal wrote: post #3

How much money does he have in order to make such a big donation? Has stardew valley made that much?

https://steam-revenue-calculator.com/app/413150/stardew-vall...

69 million dollars in refunds!? That's 12% of the gross, seems crazy high. Is this pulling from actual Steam numbers?

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#76

Post by chamomeal »

ehnto wrote: post #34
benoau wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH the profit margin on this game is probably closer to 100% than 10%, it was a solo-dev game so never much overhead, I think one guy was hired to work on it.

All the game markets take huge cuts. Steam is 30% if I recall correctly.

Damn I didn’t realize. 30% is pretty hefty

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#77

Post by philistine »

throwaway638637 wrote: post #70
jasongill wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stardew Valley is in the top 5 selling indie games of all time, with 50 million units sold. It's owned and run entirely by one person (the donor in OP's link) - he ended his relationship with a (small) games publisher a few years ago, and runs everything himself.

Does this mean he does the mobile games himself now? I remember he had outsourced those for a while.

Think of it this way; he subcontracts, but he deals with the subcontractors himself.

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#79

Post by pepperball »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #22
MattRix wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it put them to shame? It’s an incredibly rare situation and most AAA devs would be super happy for him.

Is it incredibly rare? We've seen time and time again in the last few years, really basic indie games overtake AAA games in sales on Steam. Schedule One is another one which had 450 thousand concurrent players not very long after its launch. It seems AAA game studios are missing what gamers want at every turn. There's an uptick in indie devs that have broken through the barriers with good gameplay despite the graphic…

> It seems AAA game studios are missing what gamers want at every turn.

I’m really not sure what it is. Usually, when a company begins to abandon/shaft their user base like that, it’s because they found a more lucrative market to chase instead.

Re: Stardew Valley developer made a $125k donation to the FOSS C# framework MonoGame

#80

Post by rvnx »

vasco wrote: post #41
rvnx wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond love, what you prefer ? Pay 100K USD, or put at risk your 500M USD project ? Edit: if the engine is not maintained, there can be compatibility issues, it can go abandoned and lack new features, etc. It's the technical pillar of the product, like Unity.

Is it so hard to accept someone else might give away money for a charitable reason rather than because of fear?

When you give money to help a pet shelter, or to feed kids in some far-away location, this is a donation. You give something, and you don't get anything back in return. Even a tax benefit, it doesn't change anything (as at the end you have to pay the same amount of money).

But now, what if you "donate" to a public park across the street from your house: Is it charity? Yes, you are giving money to the city/trust that you don't have to give. Do you benefit? Yes directly, your property value goes up and you have a nice place to walk. Does that make it "not a donation"? No. It just makes it a smart donation or even sponsoring a project.

In all cases he is securing his own supply chain, and for a very cheap price. It is a very rational business expense.

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