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In this month’s Ask Indies we requested our dev group one other burning query about indie video games growth – Do indie video games generate income?
It’s a tricky query to ask, as for a lot of indie video games gamers and builders, creating wealth is maybe not the primary focus of a mission. But it stands to motive, the arduous work of indie devs needs to be rewarded and they need to be capable to make a profession of constructing video games.
So we requested the folks within the know, devs themselves, do indie video games generate income?
ALAN ABBADESSA-GREEN, DEVELOPER, CURRENTLY WORKING ON LITTLE GHOST
“It is undoubtedly an uphill battle for sure, and we’ve only seen small glimmers of breakthru titles, but I think if we scale back our expectations there is plenty of potential for success. Just as we work with smaller budgets and teams, we can’t think in terms of AAA numbers. Plenty of folks I know have had Kickstarters and launches that took their projects to the next level. However, as my own Kickstarter is still somewhat slogging along with an uncertain future, maybe ask me again in 2 weeks what I really think about indie finances lol.”
“I guess that depends on many things; what state your game is in, the price, how much did someone spend making the game, genre and a ton of other stuff… Our Aquatico game is certainly not making any money right now, will it make some in the future? Well, I certainly hope it will because if it doesn’t, we’ll be toast 🙂 . A lot of time and hours went into making it, and you can’t expect devs to work for free, so yeah, the final product must generate some revenue.”
“On a bit more serious note, I’d definitely say that Indie games can make money, and they should strive to make some. In nothing else, then because it is a requirement if you want to continue making games, and I’m sure all indie developers are in this line of work because they wanted it. At some point the entire production process will have to become self-sustaining system, otherwise it won’t work for long. Ofcourse, if you have a secret billionaire uncle funding everything, then it’s a different story and I’m completely wrong :).”
“Now, will your FIRST indie game make money? In my opinion it doesn’t really matter. “Surviving” the primary full growth cycle is a really sophisticated factor the place you’ll undergo undiscovered nation. I imagine aim with first sport needs to be to easily make it to the end line. Amount of expertise you’ll collect by ending all of the manufacturing steps for a videogame is immense and can’t be translated to cash. With each subsequent endeavour you possibly can then construct additional and ensure your sport is producing sufficient to cowl for every mission coming after present one.”
JULIA NOLAN, DEVELOPER, INTEGRAL STUDIOS, CURRENTLY WORKING ON EIDOLON
“Most do not. There are the few that are huge commercial successes, but the vast majority of dev logs I’ve seen note that the games don’t earn back their costs – even when many of the assets are free or created (without cost) by the game developers.”
JAY CAMERON, GAME DIRECTOR, DRAGONFLY GAMES. CURRENTLY WORKING ON: BEYOND THE OAKS
“Indie games can and do make money! Keep this in mind everyone, even the AAA giant developers are all fighting for the same pot of money, there are only so many people and only so much money to go around. The more important question is how do you create a community around your project! Good quality projects, with big thriving communities will last the test of time.”
SOFI, DEVELOPER, HAPPY DOGGO STUDIOS, CURRENTLY WORKING ON A SHORT LOVE STORY
“It depends what you want as an indie dev. If an indie dev sets a goal to make money on the game and chooses a popular genre, builds a community around their work, constantly updates their game and posts news then I’m sure it will be a success in making money. Regarding myself, I do my games for fun & experience (to try out some new ideas etc), post not so regularly, as I should, and all my games are free, still I get donations from time to time. So, according to my experience, the answer is YESSS :-)”
“There a huge assortment of factors that go into making an indie game to make a profit. There have been some huge success stories over the years – Untitled Goose Game and Cupheads are two that instantly spring to my mind. But though I am sure not every indie game turns a sizeable profit, I hope many indie devs can make a career our of making indie games. There are no guarantees but being original and raising the quality becnhmark, are surely factors in making money from indie titles.”
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