Wow, these numbers are really tiny!
I’ve never put any game on a game portal so I don’t know much about it. but how do you even make a living out of it?
So you’ll have to get 1000000 plays to earn 1000$?
Yup thats about how it works with game portals. You would have to make TONS (or really good one/s) of games to call it a living though.
Well if you want to make a living with game making, then you really should develop for some other platform than such free game sites… The it is a good way to build up your portfolio or just make some fun games 
I think that there are some other benefits as well:
- Learning to adapt in a platform with less abilities than desktop, a good step towards learning to code for IOS (more on this below).
- Taking advantage from user feedback (it is better to know why a game “sucks” ).
- Testing at low cost a new game design idea to see if it is viable.
- Giving the ability to people with a computer test your game using theirs browser is less intrusive than getting them to install it on their computers. This allows you to get more feedback.
- Making games is different than selling them. Marketing - wise, it seems a good exposure to give many people the ability to test your game (perhaps in a demo edition). Helps building a network of people that know about your games. You could also try to promote your other products from your existing ones (advertising), other products being full versions or other games.
- It is possible to do it with zero cost on the game engine, since unity free exports to web, as opposed to IOS platform where it costs to enter. More money (possibly) but more upfront costs as well.
- It is a good way to put your legs down to earth regarding what you can do, early. People not wanting to play a free version of your game is a clear sign that you should work more on the game, or try something else.
IOS is a platform where you could make more money, but chances are that you could benefit from the knowledge achieved in casual games so you prepare yourself for the IOS. Or union. Or whatever
I am very new to all that game developing stuff and I try to form a view. I would love to know your perspective.
I also wait for the first 50 highscores to see if the 35% shows up ! 35% of 1 dollar… Yeah !
Your players have to start submitting stats before you get the extra 10%
That is why most games have a really easy stat to get. Like completing the first level.
You need quite a few people to submit a stat too, Kongregate have to make sure the stats submittal is not open for the players to abuse and hidden away.
Yes it does take 50 high scores before a game receives the extra 10%. as stated in Kong’s developers news letter.
And as added “proof” today I received a reply from Kongregates support it’s self (yup thats right the actually read them), writing by the same Anthony (Anthony_Kongregate) from the unity forums about Kong’s unity contest.
So that officially answers this question.
P.s. I completely agree with ippokratis I learned TONS from submitting my game to Kong.
Within a day the +10% was active for my game. But it’s a one-level game where you die fast, submitting four scores each time. So it quickly got past the threshold.
However, I’m not there for the money, but for the data. Kongregate’s stats are quite useful. And I too agree that it’s good for learning and testing.
I worked out that you need a million plays to get roughly £300 , from a 40% share.