Hello,
I recently got an email from someone at http://www.bundleware.com/ offering it as a marketing opportunity for our game. Anyone ever tried this? It seems expensive, ($.12 per install) but, if I get 1% then I could make money. ($60=500 installs. $19.95 per purchase. 1% of 500=5. 5 * $19.95= $99.75. ) I don't know, it seems risky on one hand, but on the other I pay for the number of installs, so it's more likely people have played (and hopefully liked) our game versus people who have to find it on download.com or a publisher. Our game finds them, so to speak. Any thoughts or experience with this service are appreciated.

Josh

Well, I guess it depends on your games. If supposed that you are paying 100 bucks for 50Gbs of bandwidth, it means:

And assumming (ASSUMING) that only 25% of the downloaders install the demo

50000 downloads = 1 Mg demo = $0.0002 per download = [25%users] 0.0008
10000 downloads = 5 Mg demo = $0.01 per download = [25%users] 0.04
05000 downloads = 10 Mg demo = $0.02 per download = [25%users] 0.08
01000 downloads = 50 Mg demo = $0.1per download = [25%users] 0.4

So... unless you have a big demo, the pay for itself is more than you would ever get. Now it depends on the ammount of downloads you yourself can get.


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For as little as $0.06 per install you can start spreading your application around the World to hundreds of thousands of people per day!
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Why are they chaging you $0.12 if they have an offer for $0.06 ?


The other problem is the fact if these installs lead to real buys ? Or are just like the people that buy 1000 titles in a shareware cd that just want the free demos to continue pouring while not buying a single one.


Of course, I didn't answered you question, buts thats common isn't it ?:)

This has spyware written all over it.

In the past, companies that produce spyware have had to approach application developers to try to get their spyware bundled with the program. If you agree, they pay you a fee for every download you get, because each download means one more person they can spy on.:D

Obviously, finding someone who is willing to add spyware to their game/application is pretty difficult. What "Bundleware" (wonder how long it took them to come up with that name) is doing is offering these spyware authors another option. Instead of hunting for application developers themselves, spyware authors can just sign up with bundleware, and they will do it for them for the low low price of just 6 cents per install.

Of course, they don't call it spyware, they call it "third party applications" so by the looks of it they will bundle any type of software - even an innocent harmless game. But the whole thing still leaves a bad taste in the mouth. "All end users are opt-in". Hmm... where have I heard that before?

Here's from an e-mail they sent me today:
"BundleWare has the ability to dynamically bundle and install third party applications to a nearly unlimited amount of opt-in end users' desktops around the World.
We bundle your .EXE with one of the myriad of products we own including RAM Accelerator’s, Web Washers, Online Dating apps, P2P apps, News apps, DVD copying, a Key Saver app, screensavers and much more. Simply let us know what areas you are interested in and we will take care of you. When they download our applications, they will also be downloading yours. The user will OPT-IN and have your product. Your information will be included in the EULA.
We often work on a tier based pricing structure for installs of English speaking versus non-English speaking. We have the ability to geo-locate users based on your needs. Traditionally, we charge a flat fee of $.11 per English speaking install and $.08 per non-English speaking install. Our course there are volume based price breaks, etc. These fees cover everything. The exe needs to be 150kb. Anything higher than that will require a stub or .dll to be built. Your software will be installed when our software is downloaded."

So, it looks like this wouldn't work-who has a game this is 150kb?? The dos/bbs days are over! But it also looks like they aren't using spyware...jus giving people fatter downloads when they get something. Still an interested business model and I explained my game is 7mb with art and sound that size is not really negotiable! Also, I can't create a dll instead because I used Blitz, not C++ to develop my game. If they have an interesting reply I'll post it.

Josh

Originally posted by loadexfa
We bundle your .EXE with one of the myriad of products we own including RAM Accelerator’s, Web Washers, Online Dating apps, P2P apps, News apps, DVD copying, a Key Saver app, screensavers and much more.

The exe needs to be 150kb. Anything higher than that will require a stub or .dll to be built. Your software will be installed when our software is downloaded. This is the very definition of parasitic spyware. I would not do business with these people.

What these guys are doing is offering a trojan horse (in the classical sense) for Spyware comapnies. They are offering to bundle spyware (or any other .exe but spyware is the intended use) with their existing applications.

As part of the EULA for the application the user must opt in, thus the spyware gets installed. Each time the spyware is installed the spyware company pays these guys a fee, which they aim to recoup by selling on the data they collect.

Ah, after these posts I feel a little blind for not catching this. :( Duh! Oh well, that's what this forum is for. Thanks eveyone, I will not do business with these people.

Josh