Garry's Mod has made over 3 million dollars since Steam release

[Sol Invictus]

My jaw dropped when the Garry's Mod team released their sales figures so far on the mod's two year anniversary.

It’s 2 years today since GMod went on sale on Steam.

The day it went on Steam was a nervous day for me. How well would it sell, would it be buggy as hell, would Valve regret giving me this chance?

The popularity took me and Valve by surprise. As soon as it went on sale the steam servers were temporary knocked out, due to the demand. On the first day it sold 5,729 copies. Wowzer.

I kind of expected that it would sell a big number of copies for the first day, then sell very few after that. I was kind of wrong, because over the next 2 years it went on to sell 312,541 copies. Which has totally knocked my socks off.

GMod hasn’t just given me financial stability, It’s also made me a lot more experienced in c++. I learned how game engines are meant to work. I got to fly to Valve HQ and meet some game making dudes. I got to tell a nice bearded fellow how I was sick all over myself in the shower after eating airline food, and then realising I was talking to Warren Spector.

And it’s my hope that it has inspired other people to do stuff. I mean, I’m a fool like you, I’ve just got more experience in pretending I’m not, and I did it.. So why can’t you.

But I couldn’t have done it alone. Thanks to: All of TEAM GARRY, and all those that contributed ideas and suggestions. Thanks to all of Valve, but especially ErikJ, because none of this would have happened without him and to Alfred and Jason for putting up with my many updates.

http://www.garry.tv/?p=694

Rolling in greens.

[nutsak]

# Grey Ganado Says:
November 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

According to my calculations you’re a millionaire.
#
10
Garry Newman Says:
November 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

According to my bank account, I’m not.

What. How is that possible ?

[Skipper]

Amazing. I've been intrigued with similar stories about people making a lot of money off apps through iTunes.

Now if we can just turn the corner with digital distribution and get down to 1 or 2 sources for most of our gaming needs.

[WarrenM]

What. How is that possible ?

Well, he mentions "Team Garry" so maybe he's paying other people to work on it. Factor in income tax and such, and that million he's brought in looks a lot smaller. He did mention he has financial security now so he may not be a millionaire but he doesn't have to get a 9-5 either.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Originally Posted by nutsak

What. How is that possible ?

Valve's cut, taxes and there's more than one person who has worked on the mod so presumably there is some kind of split of profits.

[Tyjenks]

Company I audit:

$180,000,000 in revenue and net operating loss of $100,000. Its business.

[Sol Invictus]

Valve's cut of the 3 million is 50%. The team takes the other 50%. I guess he doesn't take a large chunk of it and splits it semi-evenly among the small team that he has. Either way, it's six figures. Good stuff.

Unless he goes out and buys a house or a car or has a family to support, he's probably not going to have to work for the next 10-20 years.

[salwon]

Also, I think we can safely assume that he's spent some of the money he's earned over the past two years.

[Jonathan Blow]

Originally Posted by nutsak

What. How is that possible ?

Garry's Mod costs $9.99. That doesn't include bundlings with HL2, or other special promotions, so let's guess the average sale price is $8.50. I don't know what his deal is of course, but let's say he gets 70% of that, which is $5.95.

We multiply that by 312,541 and get $1,859,619.

Now, if you look on the web site, he doesn't make this mod himself:

http://www.garrysmod.com/team/

One presumes these people are being paid. At this point we are totally guessing how much because really, we have no idea. Do these people work full time? One presumes not. Are they being paid cash for their contributions, or a royalty? No idea. If I were Garry and I had started the mod by myself and made some money off the initial sales and then brought the people on, I would be paying them cash instead of a royalty -- because it's an evolving product, it is not good to pay royalties since you might be legally required to pay those far into the future even if someone's contribution has mostly evolved out of the product. Better to pay people in the here and now with enough money that they are just happy with the deal.

So, let's say each of those guys has been on the project for both years, but on average are working 1/3 time... so they are making $20k/year average. Again, this is totally being pulled out of my ass; I have no idea.

But that's 7 contributors besides Garry, times $20k, times 2, = $280,000.

Subtract that from the total and you get $1,579,619 going to Garry.

Now Garry gets raped by taxes. He lives in England, according to this:

http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/member.php?u=1

And I am not particularly familiar with what a UK citizen needs to do in terms of paying taxes on USA income. According to this (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm) the tax rate is about 40%, so that knocks him down to $947,771.

So already he is not a millionaire, even if he spent $0.00 eating, paying rent and taking girls out to dinner for 2 years.

But living in the UK he is going to be thinking in quid, not in US dollars. xe.com says that currently 1 USD = 0.68 GBP, and I have no idea how this has changed over the past 2 years, so I am just going to pretend it's constant. So he's been paid 644,484 GBP. What's been his cost of living for two years, including buying computers and software with which to develop Garry's Mod, and including hiring people to tell him what to do with his money so he doesn't lose it all? I don't know what the cost of living in the UK is like but according to this random thread:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/unite...omparison.html

if he lives in London maybe he is spending 50k GBP a year? So since it's been 2 years, that puts him at 544,484 GBP.

And that is if he never bought anything special to celebrate his big success. Which he probably did.

So, he's got a decent amount of money, but as he says, is not a millionaire, or even that close. According to all these numbers I just pulled out of nowhere.

[Jonathan Blow]

Ahh, so if what Sol Invictus says is correct it's even lower, since you have to start by multiplying by .5 instead of .7.

[Tyjenks]

I need clarification on one point though. Is he going to be considered one of those fat cats who is going to get a substantial tax increase?

[Lorini]

Originally Posted by Tyjenks

I need clarification on one point though. Is he going to be considered one of those fat cats who is going to get a substantial tax increase?

He lives in England, remember. Obama's policies don't reach quite that far (yet:):)

[Linoleum]

Well, the top rate in the UK is going up to 45 from 40. So maybe, but probably not.

[Tyjenks]

Originally Posted by Lorini

He lives in England, remember. Obama's policies don't reach quite that far (yet:):)

Dammit! My un-subtle knock at the $250,000 Obama cut-off for fat cats has now been facepalmed.

[steve]

Originally Posted by Tyjenks

I need clarification on one point though. Is he going to be considered one of those fat cats who is going to get a substantial tax increase?

I'm waiting for the backlash, where people start accusing him of being the "new EA." We love our indies, but we love to tear them down when they become successful even more.

[Tyjenks]

Originally Posted by steve

I'm waiting for the backlash, where people start accusing him of being the "new EA." We love our indies, but we love to tear them down when they become successful even more.

Ha!

It has crossed over from the music industry. As long as you struggle and live in a cardboard box, you are on the cutting edge of business, but translate that into monetary prosperity, continue putting out the exact same product, and you are a talentless sell out.

[Pogo]

Originally Posted by Sol Invictus

Unless he goes out and buys a house or a car or has a family to support, he's probably not going to have to work for the next 10-20 years.

10-20 years? I guess... if you're content with having money and still sitting on your ass in a 1 bedroom apartment playing video games all day and eating takeout.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Pogo

10-20 years? I guess... if you're content with having money and still sitting on your ass in a 1 bedroom apartment playing video games all day and eating takeout.

Actually, that doesn't sound so bad to me!

[Sol Invictus]

Sounds like a good time to me. He'll die of a heart attack in 20 years from all that takeout, so it works itself out.

[Pogo]

And you two are what's wrong with the world.

[Staff Sergeant]

What is wrong with people?

The world needs less Peter Gibbons wannabes. Gaining large amounts of money means that you can stop worrying about finances and just do what you like (so long as it is borderline productive, becoming a full time hobbyist is not acceptable if you have less than a million dollars, and it still isn't really acceptable for a millionaire either, wait for the multi before you retire early) regardless of pay, not withdraw from the light of day for the rest of your life.

[Sol Invictus]

What if that's what some people like to do? Just look at that catass WOW multiboxer.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Pogo

And you two are what's wrong with the world.

Oooo, Pogo. You crazy motherfucker.

Originally Posted by ~EFG~

Gaining large amounts of money means that you can stop worrying about finances and just do what you like regardless of pay.

Agreed. And if a person's passions in life are enjoying video games with friends and eating takeout food, who am I to judge that?

[WarrenM]

"I would sit on my ass. All day. I would do nothing."

[PeterGinsberg]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Blow

Garry's Mod costs $9.99. That doesn't include bundlings with HL2, or other special promotions, so let's guess the average sale price is $8.50. I don't know what his deal is of course, but let's say he gets 70% of that, which is $5.95.

Valve is a nice company, but you think they take only 30% of an indie published on Steam?

I guess if you've got a better insight into this (is that all MS takes for live? I'm impressed), but I would have expected at least 40.

[Staff Sergeant]

"No, you're working at Initech because that question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars.
...
""PC Load Letter"? What the fuck does that mean?"

[Mordrak]

Originally Posted by Pogo

10-20 years? I guess... if you're content with having money and still sitting on your ass in a 1 bedroom apartment playing video games all day and eating takeout.

That sounds awesome. :)

Originally Posted by EpicBoy

"I would sit on my ass. All day. I would do nothing."

I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Microsoft's old policy was 70/30. Their new policy is a bit more muddled than that and mostly NDAed, but is a somewhat sliding scale that can still reach as high as 70% though it is difficult to get that unless they really want your game and/or you're willing to pay for all the certification/localization/QA stuff (which can cost a substantial amount of money) up front.

[WarrenM]

if you're content with having money and still sitting on your ass in a 1 bedroom apartment playing video games all day and eating takeout.

I keep running this through my head and it just keeps getting better. Holy shit... 10-20 years worth? Oh yeah, right there, that's the spot...

[Pogo]

Originally Posted by Cubit

...if a person's passions in life are enjoying video games with friends and eating takeout food, who am I to judge that?

You don't have to judge it. I'll judge it by calling them lazy, useless sacks of crap. Since when did people deserve to become invulnerable to being criticized for their actions?