How to write a non-exclusive licence

[Ark]

Hi people for those who know about legal stuff, how do you write a non-exclusive license agreement? I'm nearly selling it to a publisher who is interested on licensing my game Memory Box, and would like to know how to write one.

Thanks and regards!
- Ark

[vitinho444]

Yeah i would like to know that too.
Like those normals, what you mean by non-exclusive?

[Ark]

Well non-exclusive license means that you can sell your game to other publishers not just one. And the contrary of that would be an exclusive license which you can only sell it to one. That's why non-exclusive licenses are cheaper, but of course could be better if you sell a lot.

[vitinho444]

Wow, the problem is really getting publishers to buy my game

How can i get those?

[Jackolantern]

Wow, the problem is really getting publishers to buy my game

How can i get those?

You just have to make a solid, commercial-quality game and then shop it around

As far as the license, I would be very careful about making it yourself. The language used in any legal document is not speaking English, but something often called "Legalese". You write one sentence wrong, and the publisher's lawyers could possibly screw you out of all rights to your game and have to pay you nothing. If you have a game that has serious commercial potential, I highly suggest to bite the bullet and pay a lawyer to write the license for you. Since it is an office job (versus an in-court job), it will be less than often paid to lawyers, and if you find a lawyer who specializes in technology licensing, they probably already have a non-exclusive license written up and could charge a flat fee for you to use it that would be much lower than if they drafted it just for you

[vitinho444]

Hahaha jacko,
english works if you do like this:

CONTRACT

YOU PAY ME, GAME IS YOURS!!

[hallsofvallhalla]

You honestly have a better chance winning the lottery than having a game company buy your game or idea. I have sold frameworks and have done some contractual coding but I have ye to see anyone sell a game to a company. You are better off running the game yourself.

[vitinho444]

true story!

They see your game and probably will want to make some changes to their like -.-

[Jackolantern]

I have actually seen quite a few games sold (there are even entire websites designed for people to sell their games on to interested parties, so I don't think those would exist if there was not an active market). The thing is, publishers only want to buy completed games, not ideas. No one will ever pay for an idea or a game design document. If you are an established commercial designer, you may be able to secure funding based on a GDD, but not a new developer.

Also, there are specific games that are worth much more to publishers. I have never seen a PBBG RPG sold before. Granted, I think few devs try, as that is often a type of game the dev runs themselves due to how reliant on post-release administration online RPGs are. But for the most part the games being sold the most often and for the most money are mobile app-like Flash and HTML5 games. An exclusive license can net several thousand dollars if the game is high-end commercial quality, and non-exclusive licensed are typically a few hundred dollars a pop, or work out some kind of revenue sharing scheme.

[hallsofvallhalla]

I never said there wasn't a market to sell your game, I said you do not have much chance selling to a game company. There is a big difference in selling your game to a person and a company. They are the ones I was assuming you were pitching to.