Hey guys and gals,

I'm a 6-month friend to the pico-8 platform, being inspired by pico games I discovered on game sites, like MetroCUBEvania and Just One Boss on CoolMathGames. I spent the last two months developing a passion project on the platform and submitted it to a game site, mostly for the pride factor. They responded positively and are interested in purchasing a non-exclusive license and I don't want to overcharge or shortchange myself.

Do any of you guys have experience licensing your games? If so what kind of price and legalese should I be prepared for?
The game offers 1-2 hours of play and I put a lot of heart in it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Firstly, congratulations @AdmiralEnto on completing your passion project - and also for it to get an offer of payment for. Nice one! 🥳

With regards to commercials - that's a very individual thing (and probably something you should seek more professional advice on).

Personally (if it were me), I'd look at how long I spent on the project (in hours), come up with a reasonable hourly rate, and total it up.
But, nobody's ever really gonna pay you that much (and especially not for a "non-exclusive" license).

So, if they're asking you for a figure (which is what it sounds like) - then I would be tempted to start high, go for the largest amount you think they might accept (so long as that's an amount you'd still be happy with - considering the time you've spent on it). If they really want it - then that they'll either go for it, or hopefully you'll have a good starting point to negotiate from.

Hopefully, others will chime in with their "two cents" - as I think it could help to have a good selection of advice (ideally from people with more experience than me!)

Whatever happens - good luck! 😉👍
(and don't undersell yourself - better to walk away!)

P.S. - 1 to 2 hrs of play for a PICO-8 game is also VERY cool.
Only a few other games come to mind with those numbers ("Dank Tomb" being one).

If you're nervous about asking for too much, you can include a sentence about the rate being negotiable. They have more experience than you do in valuation in this market, and if they didn't make an initial offer then they're hoping you'll aim low. That's not necessarily sneaky, they're just feeling out how you place your own work in the market. So aim high and be flexible if you actually want it to happen.

This company wants indefinite non-exclusive distribution rights so they can attract users and collect ad/membership revenue. This is what's valuable to them, and it's what they're paying for. A game that can't attract users or revenue has low market value; a game that can has high market value. This is independent of how many person-hours went into making it.

Applying an hourly rate is a fine way to feel good about the offer absent other information, and attempts to capture how employers amortize the value of work. It tends to exclude the assumption of risk, though. Salaries are lower than the value created by the work because the employer assumes the risk of project failure, to capture profit and to give employees stable low-risk earnings. You already have a completed product, so you've already absorbed a portion of the risk (completion failure).

This is all theoretical, though. For little games on ad-based platforms, the lifetime earnings per game are so low that I really have no idea what an indefinite non-exclusive license would be worth. Applying a contractor-hourly to time spent might produce a high-end offer, for all I know.