How Much Money Do Indie Games Make? [2021]

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So you are about to release your indie  game and all that goes through your mind is:   How will my game do? Is it going to  sell? How much money will I make?   The best way to get an idea is by following other  indie games and learning from their experience.   In this video, we'll take a look at several  indie game revenues and look at how much   revenue the developers actually made - some  an estimate and some to the actual dollar.   All the devs that made this list have  been very open with their numbers,   putting them out in Steam posts, dev blogs,  and even videos. We love this practice as   it gives other indie developers better chances at  achieving successful launches of their own.   We are Ask Gamedev and these are 6  Real Examples of Indie Game Revenues   Welcome back! We make videos on how to elevate  your game development and inspire others. If   after watching this video you want to continue  the gamedev conversation, check the video   description for a link to our Discord server.  We are now making fresh Ask Gamedev content on   all of the major social networks, so be  sure to check us out there too.   First up on our list, THE hugely successful  Norse mythology-inspired phenomenon:   Valheim. At the time of this writing,  it's been almost 2 months since Iron   Gate Studio's unsuspected giant was released,  and it has sold over six million copies with   no signs of stopping there. Valheim is an  exploration and survival adventurous sandbox   set in a procedurally generated representation  of The Tenth World - a forever drifting Viking   purgatory, where players will  have to prove their worth to Odin   in order to ascend to Valhalla alone... (or with  friends, thanks to its online-coop mode.)   Iron Gate Studio, the Swedish dev  responsible for bringing Valheim to life,   is made up of an astonishing number of 5 people.  This fact has put them and their publisher   Coffee Stain Studios into the spotlight, as they  ascend at the same sales speed as The Witcher 3,   which also sold six million copies early  into its release. By comparison though,   over a thousand people were involved in  the Witcher 3’s production globally.   But, how much money did Valheim really make? The  devs are yet to announce their development costs   and final return, however, they are very  open about their sales units week by week.   Sebastian Badylak from Coffee Stain Studios said  "We all had high hopes for Valheim and we really,   really thought it would perform  super well, but this is beyond   anything we could have ever imagined." And he's not exaggerating! With Valheim's price   at $19.99 right now, those six million copies  sold can translate up to over $100,000,000.   Take Steam's and the publisher's cut, factor  in region pricing, and you’re still left with   a hefty sum for the 5 game developers, and  should we say 5 Vikings worthy of Valhalla.   Oh, and the game is still in early access...  you can pick upValheim on Steam now.   2021 appears to be a booming year for indie  releases. The next title on our list was released   on March 4th, and in under a month, has already  surpassed the milestone of having a 500,000   player base. Loop Hero is a roguelike deck  building strategy RPG filled with all sorts   of old-school 2D visuals, fresh animations,  and a set of innovative gameplay mechanics.   The premise? simple enough: Become a hero  and save the world, while walking in loops.   Behind this simple idea, hides a deep story about  regaining memory and overcoming despair.   Loop Hero was developed by Four Quarters, a team  of four young developers who previously made the   2015 experience, "Please, Don’t Touch Anything".  The game was born out of a failed attempt at   Ludum Dare 45. Not giving up, the devs continued  through their loop again, completed their story,   pitched the demo to Devolver Digital, and  received a contract almost immediately.   After 17 months in development, Loop Hero is  now available in Steam, the Epic Games Store,   GoG, and Humble. It has sold more  than 500,000 copies worldwide and   counting! Not bad for a failed Game Jam, huh? Making its 3rd appearance in an Ask Gamedev video,   the next game in our list is Hive Time by Two Lof  Bees. We got to know Cheeseness and Mimness about   a year ago when their game was mentioned  in our 2020 Godot Game Engine Showcase,   and we are still excited about their work. Hive  Time is a Hive-building strategy game about not   only building a beehive but managing  its resources and population, facing   disasters to the beats of some spectacular tunes  reminiscent of the first Simcity entries.   One of the devs at Two Lof bees, Cheeseness  published a detailed assessment of notes and   facts about his finances. As an example, we  can find how they got to the suggested price   point of $10 USD on Itch. He also details how  he designed a zero-dollar budget model to work   in a six-month development timeline. What did he  do to accomplish this? He donated his own time,   calculating how many hours he would work  at a certain hourly rate. This helped   him to determine the game's price as well. In  the end, the budget for Hive Time was $4,174.52   mainly due to the music composition costs. Called by Rock Paper Shotgun "An Obscure Gem",   Hive time has been downloaded more than 40,000  times from itch.io and is owned by an extra   815,000 users that purchased Itch’s Bundle  for Racial Justice and Equality. The game is   sold on Itch via a “Pay What You Want Model” and  has made a bit more than 750 full-priced sales.   According to Cheese, he's still been "unable  to approach anything near covering development   costs". This doesn't mean he's giving up. His  assessment reflects great growth on a personal   and professional level, and we at Ask Gamedev  can’t wait for them to generate more buzz.   Ever wonder how much money a monochromatic  8-bit-nostalgia shoot-em-up about a food-spitting   toaster can make? Well, we did. The fourth  entry on this list is Toast time, by solo-based   studio Force of Habit. Released in September  2013 for Android and later ported to iOS,   Steam, Humble, and Nintendo Switch, Toast Time  has had quite some time to mature and show some   meaningful results. Its developer Ashley Gwinnell,  recently published a video on Force of Habit's   YouTube channel in which he breaks down several  sales figures and recaps the game’s progress   throughout its seven years of life. The title was developed by a team of two:   Ashley and his friend Nick, with whom he'd  worked with in several game jams prior.   In terms of time, the game took over 8 months  of development. At the end of development,   they calculated they would have to recoup  16,000 pounds or 27,000 Dollars to break   even with development costs. This meant selling  11,500 units priced at 1.99 pounds each.   So how did they do? * On Android they sold $10,500 USD   * On iOS they made $19,100 USD * They won the Intel Level   Up Prize for $2,000 USD. * Winning this granted them access to   publish with Steam, where they made $4,170 USD. * Later the game was included in Humble and   Indie Gala Bundles which added another   $8,450 USD to the basket. * Lastly, the game was ported to Nintendo   switch where it is slowly gathering new followers,  having sold $2,754 USD and counting.   Over the years, the development costs ascended  to $38,385 and the sales have returned $36,106 to   their pockets. Keep in mind their costs are mainly  made of the time they've invested in the game,   so Force of Habit has been able  to keep on developing new games   thanks to this return on investment. Some clever tips given by the dev after   doing this analysis are * 1. Hold off on putting   your game on discounts and * 2. Don't quit your job.   Next up on our list is Mortal Glory by Redbeak  Games, a solo developed fantasy-themed tactical   roguelike game about training gladiators  and throwing them into an arena to fight   for your name. Arm them with legendary weapons  and magical spells, recruit celebrities,   and even cheat to get the glory you deserve. Mortal Glory was created over the course of nine   months by Auro, a dev with no previous development  experience. Using Unity for the first time,   and working during his free time (while keeping up  with his full-time job), Auro managed to build his   very first game arming himself with a great set of  free tools. He used Paint.net for his pixel art,   Inkscape for his titles and vector art, GIMP  for his concept art, and Audacity for his audio.   He also built a custom python script that  would track his working hours on the game   and later on be able to calculate his return. So, did Mortal Glory survive its first round at   the indie arena and bring glory to its master?  Over its first year in Steam, Mortal Glory not   only reached a very positive rating but also made  a total revenue of $128,884 USD! Auro will receive   $76,592 USD after Steam’s cut, returns and taxes.  After that, $3,174 USD will be used to cover his   development expenses and $18,355 to cover income  taxes, leaving the dev and his game studio with   $55,000 USD or, as he calculated, a $33  hourly wage for his work on Mortal Glory.   Auro is building a solid gamedev channel on  Youtube full of tips and tricks from his first   experience as a game developer, we'll leave  a link to it in the description below.   Topping our list with one of the greatest indie  hits in the last decade, we’ve got Stardew Valley   from solo developer Eric Barone and published by  Chucklefish. The idea for Stardew Valley was born   when Eric got obsessed with paying tribute to  the many hours he had spent playing the Harvest   Moon franchise in his younger days. The dream  was to build the ultimate farming experience,   and he went way beyond that. In Stardew Valley  your main goal is to set up a thriving home in   which to farm and live your life to the fullest.  This includes crafting, mining, exploring caves,   fishing, building, fighting monsters, making  friends, dating, getting married, having children,   cooking, having a pet and more! Eric established his studio ConcernedApe,   and he self-imposed himself to work 10 hours daily  during the four years it took him to develop his   dream game. In an interview with Gamasutra, he  admitted his working time just increased to 15   daily hours when the game was released. Stardew  Valley was released in February 2016 and during   its first year, it earned over 30 million  dollars across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation.   During the following years, the farming craze  spread to Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch. By   the time the game turned 4 years old in 2020, it  had sold 10 million copies across all platforms.   In 2021, the game is still selling and it has  also spawned a brilliant board game, announced   in February and already sold out in March! ConcernedApe sure achieved his dream and will be   harvesting from it for quite a long time. Thanks for watching! For more Ask Gamedev check   out this video on Marketing Mistakes,  or this list on Video Game Budgets.
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Channel: Ask Gamedev
Views: 141,719
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: ask gamedev, indie game revenue, indie game sales, how much money do indie game developers make, indie game developer revenue, indie game developer salary, indie game sales results, indie games sales revenue, how much do devs make, valheim revenue, loop hero revenue, how much money can you make with indie games, how much money can you make from game development, game dev income, game revenue, game dev money, game dev revenue, indie game money, indie game business
Id: ftUWPIc389c
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Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)
Published: Fri Apr 02 2021
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