Does anyway know the details or generalities of the license agreement that the TP inventors struck when they licensed the rights:
i.e............percentage, commission per unit, regional agreements, up front fee/ retainer??????????????
Those guys didn't make millions on 5% of the Wholesale...me thinks?
I'm curious, what prompted this question?
Chip
Think of it this way, if you can find someone to take all the risk (manufacturing, design, marketing etc.), you don't have much to stand on. If you think it's a great idea and you self produce, you take all the risk but get all the reward.
If for financial constraints you can't self produce AND you can find someone to license your game, I think any point is negotiable (aka if you sell X amount of copies and have made back your initial investment, the percentage goes to X%) My understanding is that the Trivial Pursuit guys self produced and after the game was a runaway hit, they are getting 14%.
But here's the rub, you're going to have to go through an agent if you have a game that Hasbro, Mattel or any major game manufacturers will even consider. And the agent will take some money for his/her time since they won't talk to first time inventors (myself included)
Good luck,
HR Puff
I don't know what percentage Chris Haney and Scott Abbott negotiated for Trivial Pursuit. Chapter 1 of the Game Inventors Guidebook gives a brief outline of what they did when the game was introduced though. It's kind of interesting.
Short synopsis: they introduced it themselves in 1981; got the economics all wrong and went in the red; they didn't give up and the game starts to take off; they sell 3 million copies in 1983, then another 20 million in 1984; Hasbro picked it up in 1991.
Mr. Haney and Mr. Abbott certainly made quite a bit of money even before they passed the rights to Hasbro.
Chip
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I have read so much on the fortune these guys have made, I was wondering on what the license they gave was based on, it can't be 5% of the wholesale like most 'textbook' agreements suggest?
I was wondering that it might have been a percentage on a progressive scale, ie. an increase in the percentage with higher sales. Or some other dynamic agreement.
Of course I also think that I have a great idea which will sell, not like T.P. but it has a wide market, so settling for 5% of the wholesale wasn't encourging ( a progressive scale is fairer I think after initial costs & placing benchmarks etc.). Then again it has to be very successful to make the manufacturer and me a happy fortune. The other thing is that I don't think I will get a great idea like the one I have now as long as I live.
Besides this the time & effort I've put in is really shattering, I would like others to enjoy my success and the game and make money at the same time.......however right now it is a very long and lonely road.
So there you have it, Thanks for asking.......