(non)-exclusive rights - what is it exactly?

[omniscient232]

Hello,

I was wondering: alot of flash game sites, offer to buy non exclusive or exclusive rights of your game, for a fixed amount.
anyone can take your swf file and put it on his site no problem, and the sites know this. when you buy the exclusive rights, they will have their logo in the game before you publish it (so it seems to me). I just don't exactly know what the difference is between a non exclusive and exclusive rights, and why someone would buy non-exclusive rights, if everyone can just take your swf and put it on their site.

With mochiads/gamejacket it wont matter if someone does that, i just dont know why someone would want to buy your non exclusive or exclusive rights then.

[Squize]

Have a read of this site:
http://www.flashgamesponsorship.com/
It covers everything really well.

The deal about non-exclusive is that the site gets a branded version really cheap.
It breaks down one of two ways, either it'll be a non-exclusive but site locked ( ie, they'll pay you next to nothing ) or not site locked, which means they will pimp it out as far and as wide as quickly as they can so as many sites as possible have their branded versions as opposed to the other non-exclusive branded versions you've sold at the same time ( Miniclip used to do this, don't know if they still do as I haven't dealt with them in a long while ).

Also keep in mind a lot of these deals also affect your ads. You may not be able to keep your own ads in there, with the sponsor wanting theirs in there instead, or if you keep your ads you won't be offered as good a deal.

Really though, check the link I posted first thing, it covers everything in a lot of depth.

Squize.

[flashisland]

A non-exclusive license will allow you to sell the game to someone else, while an exclusive license means that you won't sell that same game ever again. Usually non-exclusive agreements only allow you to place the game on one domain and not distribute it, while many exclusive agreements allow the buyer to distribute it if they wish. While it may be possible to put the game on any website, you can't do so legally. The licensing agreements are for use when such legal issues arise.

Edit: Squize, you beat me to it!

[Ray Beez]

Exclusivity can also have (and should) have a duration limit. If a contract says "in perpetuity", they had better be paying you a crap-load of cash, cuz that means "forever".

[omniscient232]

i read that basically when you have an exclusive licence, the game all over the net will have the sponsor's br4and name on it so that people go to their site.

a non exclusive sponsorship, the brand name will only be on their own site. why would they want that? the player of the game is already on their site, so they don't need to lure them to it anymore?

Primary Sponsor/License – This is currently the ideal license for a game developer. The holder of the primary license will have their branding in every copy of the game on the web except where the developer has explicitly sold a non-exclusive site-locked version to another company. The developer has complete freedom to remove the primary sponsor's branding and make any other changes to the game as long as it is licensed and locked to the buyer’s domain. The developer is also able to use in-game ads (a critical component to maximize earnings). It is often possible to base the primary license price on the amount of traffic that the game brings the buyer.

by in game ads, do they mean pre-game ads aswell? i mean the one that mochiads featurs. they feature 3 types of ads: inter-level ads, video ads, and pre-game ads.
these pre-game ads are also treated as in-game-ads, right?

[flashisland]

a non exclusive sponsorship, the brand name will only be on their own site. why would they want that? the player of the game is already on their site, so they don't need to lure them to it anymore?

Games aren't just used to "lure" people to a site. They're also used to provide content that will keep people coming back (and keep them viewing your ads each time). This is typically what non-exclusive games are used for.

[omniscient232]

i know flashisland, but the non exclusive sponsorship seems to mean that their brand name is included in the game on their site, so that when it loads, it'll say: sponsored by armorgames, but only on their site right? now i know that having the game on their site is good for them so that they keep coming back, i just don't understand why they wouldwant it to say: sponsored by armorgames.

[flashisland]

Just because you license a game doesn't necessarily mean that you have your name on it, such as 'sponsored by ...' Sometimes it's as simple as wanting good content for their site, but not wanting to pay the price to have it exclusively belong to you.

[omniscient232]

but it is not illegal to simply put someones swf on your site, is it? this is kind of the entire idea of mochiads, that anywhere where people take it you get money, right?

[flashisland]

Yes, it is certainty illegal if you don't have a license to use it. If they are using Mochiads and are freely distributing it, then you may use it on your site. That's really the point of getting a non-exclusive license. It's basically paying for permission to post the game on your site.

[omniscient232]

maybe you're right, but then i dont understand the purpose of a primary sponsorship.
primary sponsorship means that the logo of the sponsor is shown everywhere, except on sites that have a non-exclusive licence of your game. now if the game is not allowed to be on any sites except those that have licences, then why would someone want to buy your primary licence of your game? the primary licence presumes that the game is going to be on sites that dont have a non-excluisve licence, since if it isn't, why would they buy a primary licence instead of a non-exclusive one?

[flashisland]

You're making this way more complicated than it is.

Non-exclusive = Only on websites that you license the game to
Exclusive = Only on the primary website or websites that the primary sponsor distributes the game to

[Squize]

*sigh*

ah, FlashIsland you beat me to it this time, that saved me some typing

Squize.

[omniscient232]

im not making this more complicated than it is.

Non-exclusive = Only on websites that you license the game to
Exclusive = Only on the primary website or websites that the primary sponsor distributes the game to

i know this ofcourse.
but listen:
you have mochiads, so that people can take your game and you still earn from it.
now why would someone buy your primary licence if your game will only feature on that site that has the primary license, and a couple of non-exclusive license sites.

because primary license means that their brand name is on the game, everywhere, except on the sites that have your non-exclusive license, effectively means the primary license is simply a non-exclusive license, if the game only features on those sites.
( because the brand name of the primary sponsor is only on the site of the primary sponsor, and the other sponsor's have their own brand names on them).
primary sponsorship would only make sense, if the game also features on sites that don't have your non-exclusive license. but if you allow the game to feature on sites, without a sponsorship, why would people buy your non-exclusive license, since they can just put it there for free?

[flashisland]

You can only sell one or the other: exclusive or non-exclusive. You can't sell both types for the same game.

[omniscient232]

im not talking about exclusive licensing.
i am talking about primary licensing:

The 'Primary License' Sponsorship Model

FGL has pioneered a ‘primary license’ sponsorship. This entails one sponsor buying the branding rights to your game semi-exclusively. They basically get their branding on the general worldwide release of the game; however, you are free to sell non-exclusive licenses which remove the sponsor's branding. All non-exclusive licenses you sell this way must be site locked to a single domain. Basically, a successful flash game will spread to 1000s of websites (all on its own). Even if the developer sells 5-10 licenses where the branding is removed, the primary sponsor is still getting 90-95% of the total impressions.

A primary license will also allow the developer to include their own in-game ads. This is an incredibly important direct revenue path but it also gives the developer leverage with portals that want to host the game without ads. Many portals will pay a nominal fee simply to get the game ‘as is’ but with the ads removed.

So a primary license keeps all revenue paths open to the developer and still provides almost the same value to the sponsor that is purchasing the ‘Traffic Generation’ part of your game. Additionally, it is possible to base the ‘Traffic Generation’ payment on the actual amount of traffic the game generates. Typically the developer will get some guaranteed amount that is less than what the sponsor would pay as an up front lump sum for all of the traffic. However, since the sponsor is risking less if the game fails, they are able to offer MUCH more if the game is successful.

With a ‘primary license’ there isn’t any reason to not seek sponsor(s) unless you own your own mini portal. Note: You might try something like Flipline did with Papa Louie , however I believe that a properly structured primary license would generate more money than the path they took.

In the past it was difficult for a developer to get these terms. Most of the larger sponsors were not willing to change their successful (and lucrative) terms. However, with FGL it is now possible for you to easily get your game in front of a huge number of potential buyers. As of March 20th, 2008 we have over 180 buyer accounts signed up on FGL. If you have a great game, somebody will offer you the terms you want. Finally, the developer is able to hold the cards in their hand!

Keep in mind that portals must also make money from these deals. FGL works closely with the sponsors and developers to make sure that everyone wins. A primary license enables a game to reach its full potential and actually increases the size of the ‘pie’ so that everybody can get a bigger piece.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly point out that we have several partners who are interested in purchasing non-exclusive licenses on nearly every great game. This allows us to immediately add $500, 1000 or more on top of the primary sponsor’s offer.

on http://www.flashgamesponsorship.com/...-overview.html

and still:
since people are distributing their game to lots of sites, why would you buy someones non-exclusive license? you say its permission to put it on their site, but people distribute their games to lots of sites, without licenses.

[Ray Beez]

You get what you pay for.

[omniscient232]

:/ seriously though, this question isn't answered yet.

[Squize]

An exclusive licence means just that, so if gyw bought your game under an exclusive licence we'd be the only ones to own that game ( You'd have to ask us if you could have it as part of your on-line portfolio )
It'd be branded with our logo, and run our ads. If you wanted your ads running then obviously I'm not going to pay you as much.

If we bought a non-exclusive licence then we would want it branding, but expect you to site lock it to our site.
We would buy a non-exclusive licence if we had our own hi-score api or achievement system, so we'd pay you a very tiny amount of money to brand the game up and use our hi-score api's.

A primary licence means we'd buy the game, and we'd want it branded and we'd "kinda" own it.
Basically you can sell your non-exclusive copies, as they're site locked and don't get spread around so they don't really affect us much, and in return we don't pay as much as if it was an exclusive licence ( That's why we'd only kinda own the game. You can only sell it to individual websites and it must be locked to those sites. If you sell a version of your game that we've bought the primary license to it and we see a miniclip version floating around, then you're in the poo ).

I don't know how to explain it any clearer, so hopefully that answers everything. Could I just ask, I assume you have actually got a game finished and ready to sell after all this ?

Squize.

[omniscient232]

A primary licence means we'd buy the game, and we'd want it branded and we'd "kinda" own it.
Basically you can sell your non-exclusive copies, as they're site locked and don't get spread around so they don't really affect us much, and in return we don't pay as much as if it was an exclusive licence ( That's why we'd only kinda own the game. You can only sell it to individual websites and it must be locked to those sites. If you sell a version of your game that we've bought the primary license to it and we see a miniclip version floating around, then you're in the poo ).

this is what i still dont understand:
if you sell a primary licensed version, then why would people want to buy your non-exclusive license?
what i understand from this, the reason cannot be that they do it for permission to show it on their site, since if you need a license for that, then the primary license would be pointless.
is the non-exclusive license only so that your mochads is off, and you use their hi-score/other API's (only on their site), and that their brand name is on the game (on their site only again)?
i understand all this if that's the case.

but i dont understand it if you need a non-exclusive license to show someones game on the net. because if that we're the case, then how does a primary license benefit the publisher? if that were the case, then the only sites other than the publisher's site, that has the game on it are sites that have non-exclusive licenses and wont show the primary publisher's brand name etc anyway.

I'm almost finished with my game (almost meaning relatively almost, since i've been working on it for 5 months now).