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How to start your business of Furry Avatars for VRChat
It’s happening. Users are growing.
With an annual growth rate of 25%, the virtual reality market will exceed 200 billion USDthis decade. Opening up more opportunities for artists, designers, and developers to dedicate to it.
That was one of the initial things that caught my attention when I began exploring the niche of furry avatars for VRChat.
Being part of the furry community and interacting with other members allowed me to quickly validate and understand the emotional connection you can have with these characters and the desire to embody them.
Generally, furries can own from one single fursona representing thems, to dozens of anthropomorphic characters.
They also tend to invest in art that represents those characters.
This is one of the reasons of why the furry fandom is one of the places with the highest demand for custom avatars for VRChat. However, if you’re considering entering this niche, you may want to know that it’s also where the most extensive catalog exists.
Highlight the Best of Your Avatars
Users are often faced with a wide range of options when searching furry avatars for VRChat. The market for furry avatars for VRChat and NeosVR is broad and competitive.
If you want to succeed, the key is to stand out. Find something that sets you apart from the rest.
It could be quality, concept, design, or the experience the customer receives during the purchase or the user gets while using it. If there’s an aspect you’re good at, highlight it.
Commissioned Avatars vs. Avatar Bases
If you’re starting in the avatar market for VRChat and haven’t yet decided what your business model will be, it’s worth considering whether you’ll focus on selling products or offering services.
Service-based creators specialize in editing and re-texturing base avatars. Some also commission custom-made avatars.
Commissioned avatars are made from scratch according to the customer’s specifications.
They offer a higher level of customization but are also much more expensive.
When a user is faced with the choice of buying an avatar base or commissioning one from scratch, they will likely choose the base for the following reasons:
- Price
- Functionality
- Compatible products
Product-based creators specialize in creating avatar bases and/or compatible accessories.
Avatar bases are generally the more atractive option for buyers, as they allow them to create characters at a much lower cost than custom models. But that’s not the only advantage:
Avatar base creators focus on making more complete and polished avatars, often putting in many more hours of work. If their bases are successful and become highly profitable, there’s an incentive to keep them updated and create compatible textures and accessories, tutorials and other resources.
This is actually a signal that make the best bases stand out: the compatible products available for them. The more popular they are, the more compatible things the community makes for them.
If you decide to make your own avatar bases to sell, remember that you’re taking on a risk. While you can sell many copies comparing to just one on commissioned avatars, the profit margin per sale is much lower.
Your sales must be enough to cover not only the time invested, but also the opportunity cost.
If you want to make furry avatars for VRChat in the long term, your avatars and your numbers need to be up to the task.
โ Compatible textures and accessories
โ Support and updates
โ User community
โ Lower cost
โ Greater customization
Consider creating your own website and Virtual Spaces
Many creators offer their products and services on third-party platforms like Fiverr. However, these options come with certain restrictions at the whim of each company, which are not always in the best interest of creators and their customers.
This has been the case with Gumroad and Patreon, which have repeatedly made controversial changes to their usage policies, forcing those who seek or offer certain types of content to switch platforms.
When I started Conceptual Cosmos, my goal was to offer a more complete experience than simply buying an avatar.
I set up my own website to control every aspect of my brand and ecosystem of products. Creating a unified system to standardize them.
I also designed a VRChat world with everything needed to showcase avatars and allow any user to try them. Additionally, I launched a Discord channel where I offer technical support and resources in a more direct and close way with the community of users of Conceptual Cosmos avatars.
Making these decisions comes with a significant extra effort. You’ll need to make an initial investment especially in terms of time.
But if you really want to stand out, it’s the best option.
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