SigninG a Publishing Contract

2E. RoyaltIES FOR VARIOUS PRODUCTS

Once you understand the royalty methodology your publisher uses, you can consider whether the royalty rate is acceptable to you. Usually, there will not actually be a single royalty rate: your contract should lay out the rate for each of the categories of potential products that your publisher might sell under this license. The royalty rate for different categories frequently varies. This table shows some typical royalty rates, based on a survey by Cardboard Edison and our conversations with well-published designers.


Category Typical royalty rate
Printed games, not sublicensed 5-8% of publisher revenue (may be higher for well-known designers, lower for games based on an IP)
Printed games, sublicensed (international) 33% to 50% of sublicensing fees OR Same rate as for other printed games, depending on how the international partners pay your publisher (see section 2C on sublicenses)
Electronic versions 10-50% of publisher revenue. If the publisher funds development of the electronic version, a lower royalty may be appropriate. If they are getting a licensing fee from a developer, the higher end is appropriate. In some cases, it might be worth discussing whether the rates should be different for a Board Game Arena version versus an app.
Add-on items, promotional items, other media 10-50% of publisher revenue Again, depending on whether the publisher expects to sell products themselves or simply collect a licensing fee.
Expansions designed by you Same as for printed games (above)
Expansions designed by someone else 33% to 50% of your royalty for printed games
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