Is there Any data available on payout/acceptance rate?
So last year I made a hud which i thought was pretty good (link) but didn't get accepted. Ok no sweat, it was a learning experience. I'm considering making something new but the workshop is pretty packed with content and it makes me wonder what the frequency of acceptance is. Then I wonder how much money people see once they do get accepted.
Over all, i'd like to see if I make 10 huds and only 1 gets accepted, would it be economically viable for the time spent making them? Anyone have any numbers on this?
Over all, i'd like to see if I make 10 huds and only 1 gets accepted, would it be economically viable for the time spent making them? Anyone have any numbers on this?
Replies
Talking about revenue anyway is forbidden from the workshop contract if i'm not wrong, i'm sure someone else can confirm.
What i can say is that there is quite some variability in what any of the workshop artists makes in terms of money, depending on what they work on (sets, hud, wards, single items, pro-player sets, tournament boundles, etc...), how much time and quality they put on their creation, and how many people are involved.
Also, if you get something added to the game, the revenue can variate a lot depending on the period, how many chests have been released together and a lot of other factors that can shift the amount of sales.
In general, don't worry too much about the money, worry about making something high-quality that will make people go "WOW! I WANT THAT!"
Also a good tip to get noticed and have more chances to get stuff inside the game is...be consistent in your releases...meaning....don't release one thing, and then disappear from the workshop for 6 months....keep doing stuff, keep being there, and get noticed (this was told to me by Anuxi, and i just forward it to you).
Good luck
"Over all, i'd like to see if I make 10 huds and only 1 gets accepted, would it be economically viable for the time spent making them? Anyone have any numbers on this? "
Yes it is viable , a 1/10 succes rate is considered a win in my books. It depens on your time spent offcourse. It is indeed forbidden to speak about hard number.
Gl
If you get at least two acceptances a year, you should make enough to live off (whether or not you can live comfortably on that is another story).
Good and experienced artists tend to get somewhere around one in every 5-6 submissions accepted.
I've not seen anyone who was not a total amateur get less than roughly one in every 10-12 submissions accepted.
So in theory, if you can release at least 1-2 quality submissions per month it should work as a functional job.
Like others said though, there's some pretty huge variability in both acceptance and earnings based upon what types of submissions you create and how good you are.
Most of my own information here is based on individual weapon/armor pieces.
Full sets for example have a much higher acceptance rate and earning. As do couriers, I think, and wards are probably only a little higher than individual items.
HUDs and loading screens I think are less.
Where have you been the last twelve months? the playing field has changed and now sets, couriers and wards are as hard to get in as singles before.
Plus, they haven't released a chest containing any singles at all in a crazy long time.
Because one of the following reason:
- There are people who do really great stuff that are almost guaranteed to get their stuff in. These people deserve it because they are THAT good!
- People who are doing it to keep improving and at the same time a chance to get something in. Overall they enjoy doing it regardless.
The Dota 2 workshop is never a practical place for you to get a steady income. It is just an art dump, where whenever Valve wishes to take something from it, they do it and obviously they go for whatever sells for THEM foremost. You as a contributor are the least considered. Make 10 good sets and cry about it taking a lifetime will get you nowhere if any of them are the BEST for its hero.
TL;DR version: Unless you are a leading industry artist, don't ever do it for the money. Even the current leading artists do it for enjoyment as they can easily work somewhere else.
Very rarely can a single overpass a set in value unless it has been given a legendary or a mythical value. (Unless its a different patch update, which would just make the mythical be worthless).
Why doesn't Valve release singles?
They sell 2 singles for a $1 with a chance to get a bonus. That means, they have to find something really good for the bonus. It's all about incentive, unappealing items = less customers.
Why are sets harder to get in now?
Because there are so many sets in the workshop now.
Do not work for money with the workshop. There is no schedule on when Valve will release items and there is no guarantee that your item(s) will even enter ingame.
Couriers on their side have the unlucky feature of being a lot less visible in-game, considering that till a couple a patches ago, the only courier shown in-game was the one owned by who bought it. So in general as a cosmetic is a lot less appealing in terms of sales, considering that once you have 3 or 4, you're probably not gonna feel the need to have many more.
That's also why Valve is slow to accept couriers, cause they are literally saturated with them (imho).
Sets in general are those with the highest chance to get accepted in-game, if you ask me...