Fangames being sold?

[OssieTheOstrich]

Have there been any fangames being sold by there devs for real money?

List of projects I eventually plan to finish after the indefinite hiatus is over, assuming I don't abruptly cancel them:

Spoiler

Mario's Rather Unusual Trilogy (Mario's slightly unusual Boss Rush (Completed), Mario vs. Some Unusual Foes (In development), Mario's VERY Unusual Final Frontier (In development))
Sonic's Foray into Random/Unusual Zones (spin-off of Unusual Trilogy, in development)
Angry Birds Slingshot Frenzy (In development)
Super Mario Flashback: Really Good Edition (In development)
Super Hilda DX (In only conceptual phase)

Yes, I am aware that I have about 6 or so fangame projects currently in development at the same time. And yes, I am also aware that all of this is very ambitious.

+ List of projects I'm helping out with in some small capacity during my hiatus:

Spoiler

Super Mario Bros Dimensions 2 (as a spriter, only for Mario's sprites)
MFGG Community Fangame Project 3 (as a spriter)
WordGirl ReWired (as a artist)

[VinnyVideo]

There's been a bunch of cheap Mario/Pokemon knockoffs on the various mobile app stores being sold for real money. (Not surprisingly, these usually get taken down after a little while.)

Course clear! You got a card.

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

Yeah, the App Store is home to many knock offs, some with blatantly stolen material. There was one game I played that used Super Mario World graphics, even the Mario sprite for the main character. It was free to play but the creator was making profit from ads. This was taken down of course, but apps like these are regularly added to the store.

[DustinVG]

There have been, but it's considered unlawful to do so, so MFGG (and many fangame sites) discourage doing it.

My Webs Site

join my discord join it join it right now i'm not gonna ask again

[HylianDev]

The cases mentioned above -- app store knockoffs -- tend to not be fangames in the traditional sense. They seem to be less about paying homage to the original series, and more about exploiting consumers to make a quick buck.

But there are fangame developers who have tried to become profitable in other ways. Exploding Rabbit used to have forums, they probably had ads. Heck, even MFGG has ads (though I don't assume that there's a lot of profit to be had there, it probably just pays for the server & domain). ER has since moved onto indie games I think.

Seems like I heard about fangame developers starting Patreons to fund their work, also.

I would warn anyone against doing this, though. Nintendo has been really strict about the existence of fangames at all; if there's profit involved, even if it's seemingly only adjacent to your fangames, you could land in some serious hot water, and it would permanently ruin your life. Just look at what's happening to the LoveROMs guys.

Hylian's day job, little did we know, was saying controversial things on the internet.

you fool!!!! you fixed it wrong!!!!

Bibby Team

[Cruise Elroy]

The only one that I can really think of that isn't a bootleg iPhone/Android app is Rockmen R: Dr. Wily's Counterattack. Unsurprisingly, even though Capcom is usually seen as more tolerant of fan games, they decided to take that one down as well. I suppose some could see Sonic Mania as a fan game being sold for money, though.

GOTM Awards:

Spoiler

[Retriever II]

But there are fangame developers who have tried to become profitable in other ways. Exploding Rabbit used to have forums, they probably had ads. Heck, even MFGG has ads (though I don't assume that there's a lot of profit to be had there, it probably just pays for the server & domain). ER has since moved onto indie games I think.

Yep, ad revenue usually tracked server costs, or a little less. Over a long time frame that dropped closer to zero. Who is still making money with ads these days? I terminated my adsense account a while ago, so MFGG has been ad-free.

[Honey Saucer Gengar]

Super Bruno world is a Super Mario 64 rip-off that steals assets and voice clips from SM64. It was probably made in China the land of bootlegs and rip-offs. Due to the description's bad grammar and spelling.

I have the Thunder Dragon Statue. Also, I'm not gay

[Thunderbro]

If we aren't strictly talking about Mario, there are lots of Touhou fan games being sold on Steam and on Consoles legally. The creator of the Touhou Project does however allow this and even embraces it.

The power of teamwork will eventually pull us through

[Yoshin]

Yeah touhou is full of it and a touhou game is current in the top 5 most sold games on the eshop

Lando Never Dies
pfp by Plasmi

[Clobbah]

Have there been any fangames being sold by there devs for real money?

No. That'a a big no-no.

Beware the mighty Wariphant.

[Thunderbro]

Have there been any fangames being sold by there devs for real money?

No. That'a a big no-no.

There have definitely been Mario fangames (although mostly asset flips, rather than true fangames) sold for cash on the android store before. It's definitely not legal, but it has happened.

The power of teamwork will eventually pull us through

[Fun With Despair]

there's a couple fangames that could probably just have the characters swapped out and then get sold, because the only real difference between a good fangame and a good indie game are the characters and world of said game, but that usually doesn't happen.

Selling a Mario fangame without changing anything though will get you sued instantly unless you're dealing with the sheer incompetence of the android app store