COMG! Japan Pre-Order Chart

[GProgrammer]

Megiddo said:

GProgrammer said:

I dont think people realize how unprofitable games genreally are, most games do not make a profit. 

While this is a true statement in a general sense, if including every video game ever published from the heydays of Newgrounds flash games to the modern Itch.io and the thousands upon thousands of mobile game clones, if you restrict it to video games with a retail/physical release then it's a decidedly false statement.

Im not including flash etc games, only proper video games. Currently I work for one of the largest 20 video game publishers and have worked for a few others over the last decade and a half.

From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_failures_in_video_games

As a hit-driven business, the great majority of the video game industry's software releases have been commercial failures. In the early 21st century, industry commentators made these general estimates: 10% of published games generated 90% of revenue;^[1] that around 3% of PC games and 15% of console games have global sales of more than 100,000 units per year, with even this level insufficient to make high-budget games profitable;^[2] and that about 20% of games make any profit.

Look at the number of games here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games_(A%E2%80%93F)

How many of these 3rd party games have you even heard of?

I do agree with flash/mobile its even worse but it certainly is not release game on console = profit, I dont know if the figure is 20% games make a profit, all I know from my experience is its less than half actually make money