Emanuele Feronato

Talking about Game development, Monetize and Users contributions.

While most developers are trying to get their games sponsored in as much ways as they know, Ryan from Freelance Flash Games (great blog! a must read) is going to explais us why you shouldn’t get your game sponsored.

Sponsorship is one of the biggest revenue streams for flash developers. Flash Game License reported over 1 million dollars in sales since it has begun.

So why would you ever decide to forget the sponsorship route? Here are 7 reasons why you shouldn’t get your game sponsored.

1. You can promote yourself. By not having a sponsor intro to your game, you will be placing more emphasis on your own logo and game intro. This will get you more recognition as a developer and can be useful in future sponsorship deals.

2. You can increase your site’s traffic. The key reason a sponsor will give your game a sponsorship is to send traffic back to his site. By putting your own logos into the game the traffic will be coming to your site.

3. You can use your new traffic to generate revenue. If your site is well optimized for advertising, the players that come back to it will click on your ads. Depending on how well your game spreads, this can generate a good amount of income.

4. You can increase your site’s branding. Even if players don’t click on the link to your site, they are still going to see your site’s logo. By showing them your logo enough times, you will build brand recognition for your site. So when they think of how great your game is, they will also think of the site that made it.

5. You can earn in-game advertising revenue. Some sponsors won’t allow you in-game advertising, which can cause you to lose out on revenue if your game becomes viral and spreads to thousands of sites. By not having it sponsored you are free to choose whether you want in-game ads or not.

6. Most Sponsorships are a one time deal only. Sponsorships will only give you a flat fee for your game. By hosting your game on your own site, you will still be receiving revenue from it months or even years from when you released it. There is no limit to how much you can make off of it.

7. You can still make money from non-exclusive deals. Just because you don’t have a primary sponsor doesn’t mean you can’t make money off many of the sites your game spreads to. Sell them a non-exclusive sponsorship and you will be making more money from your game, as well as getting more traffic sent back to your site.

Sponsorships may be the right choice for some developers, but if you want long term monetization opportunities you will have to turn away from sponsors and start driving traffic to your site.

Do you think you can make more money with or without sponsorship?