Licensing Flash Games - Browser Games Without the Restrictive Costs

Browser games, such as Flash games and Java games, have now been around for over 10 year and recently their popularity has seen a marked increase.  The growth of social media platforms such as Facebook have taken casual Flash games from geekdom to mainstream audiences, and as such Flash game developers are in greater demand than ever.

There is good reason why there is a high demand on developers, Flash games attract visitors, increase brand loyalty, and encourage visitors to promote a site by sharing it on social networks and linking to it.

The problem with Flash games however can be the cost.  Whether you develop games in-house, or hire a developer, there is a significant cost involved.  If you choose to develop games in house you or one of your staff need to become competent in Flash and Actionscript, and learn how to use those tools to develop games.  That can take many months of studying and learning.

Hiring a developer can cost upwards of a few thousand dollars for a simple puzzle or action game.  There is now however a more affordable and accessible option, of licensing existing Flash games.

A number of companies are offering licenses to their games, normally costing a few hundred dollars per game, and with a limited license allowing the game only to be used on one domain.  It is however possible to get less restrictive licenses which grant you access to multiple games, allow you use of the games across multiple domains, and in some instances even allow you to modify and rebrand the games to sell on to your customers.

There are multiple advantages to this type of licensing agreement.  Primarily of course, costs are much lower than having bespoke games developed.  Secondly, since the games are already developed you can deploy almost instantly, rather than waiting for development and testing.  Thirdly, since the games are pre-developed and tested you know they are proven designs and robust enough for publishing on your sites without worrying.

Casual gaming is certainly on the rise, and while some companies are embracing browser games as a great way to increase traffic to their sites, and improve brand loyalty, others are being left behind.  With the option of licensing flash games taking away the major hurdles of expense and long development times, this form of marketing is now available to everyone.  I predict that licensing Flash games will become more and more popular, and those who are first to adopt this method of marketing will be the ones who benefit the most.

Billy has been involved in the Flash games industry since early 2002 as both a developer and a publisher. In 2009 he formed ViralFlashGames.com, specialising in licensing Flash games and offering unrestrictive licenses or rebrandable games to his customers. He also teaches games development with an online Flash games course at FlashGamesClassroom.com

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