Finnish game studios: app store payouts, publisher advances and dollar revenue

A 14-person Helsinki studio ships a mobile puzzle game that does well in the US and Japan. Revenue arrives from Apple and Google about five weeks after each month ends, in dollars, converted into euros by the bank. The studio then pays for its game engine, analytics tools, user acquisition and two US contractors, in dollars again.

How platform payouts work

App stores and PC platforms collect from players, keep their commission and pay the developer monthly. The usual timing is 30 to 45 days after the end of the sales month, once earnings pass a minimum. A good March arrives in late April or early May.

Each platform asks for a tax interview. A Finnish company completes Form W-8BEN-E, confirming it is foreign and claiming the Finland-US tax treaty, which reduces or removes US withholding on royalties. Do this before launch. A missing form can mean withholding on your first payouts.

Publisher advances

A publisher deal often pays in milestones: signing, vertical slice, beta, launch. These are usually in dollars. They are cash with conditions, and most studios spend them on the work that earns the next milestone, which often includes outsourced art, audio or porting priced in dollars.

The dollar cost base

Game studios have unusually many dollar costs:

• engine and tool licences,
• cloud, analytics and backend services,
• user acquisition on ad networks,
• outsourced art, QA and porting,
• conference travel.

When dollar revenue is converted to euros on arrival, every one of these costs means buying dollars back. The studio pays a conversion margin twice and carries currency risk on money that was always going to be spent in dollars.

Hold dollars, convert the surplus

A dollar balance receives platform payouts and publisher milestones as they are. Dollar costs are paid from it, by company card for tools and ads and by payout for contractors. The remaining surplus is converted to euros for salaries, on a schedule that fits payroll.

Paying into Finland: the local rail

Source: European Payments Council: SEPA Instant Credit Transfer. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account gives a Finnish studio US account details in its own name on every plan, so platforms and publishers can pay in dollars by ACH or wire. Dollar costs can be paid from the same balance with Visa company cards or payouts to 120+ countries, and from the Growth plan euro details with an IBAN are added for euro payroll. Conversions happen at a rate shown before you confirm. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.

See also virtual cards for ad spend.