When I say this, I mean games like say a platformer that actually look good and is fun and worth playing.
Not the shovelware etc
Generally speaking most of the games released onto Steam have not even made minimum wage.
Let’s Be Realistic: A Deep Dive into How Games are Selling on Steam
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^ Interesting so Game Design seems to have fallen the way of the DODO much like Web Design?
I remember when in 2008 you could get any Tom, Dick and Harry to build a website for their small business and make atleast $500 USD. Today that field is a legit pipe dream, although the statistics seem to suggest webdesign is growing but I don’t know if to believe any of this.
I was reading mobile app development is also pretty much dead, even me myself refuse to download Apps on android.
I wonder how software developers survive
So I had a deeper look into this whole scenario, turns out the average steam game that is bottom of the list, meaning crappy steam game still manages to make about $4000 USD a year.
LoL if I release a steam game that I made by myself and it made $4000 USD in a year, that is a huge success for me, that can pay my bills and buy food etc it can even buy me a Nissan Sedan.
I wonder if I build myself a Metroidvania game and release it if I would make $10,000 for the year?
Hmm it would take me maybe 5 years to learn programming, art etc then complete the game to sell it to make this potential 10K USD.
Hmm I been watching some more stuff, this seems rather depressing.
I wonder if I should complete FreeCodeCamp and focus all my attention on being a FullStackDev if this would be a significantly better chance of me landing a career than being a Indie Solo Dev?
To be fair the author of the video is from Europe and he’s giving a discussion in America. Minimum wage for most states is around $7.25/hr or just under $14,000/year. Our cost of living is way higher too. It’s not uncommon in my area for people working minimum wage to have more than one job.
^ hmm interesting, where I live the minimum wage is $2 USD an hour although I am a Technician so I am paid $3 an hour for having a skill. $3 sounds small but it is in reality $20 an hour when its converted to our economy.
If could actually make $3 an hour as a Solo Indie Developer that would be the dream, I could build a house with that kind of money.
Currently at $3 an hour, I have my own house although it was inherited, but I do have my own Car, I have Audiophile music equipment, OLED TV, a top end Gaming PC, Air Conditioning, broadband internet etc, I eat in restaurants twice a day as I can afford to.
$3 an hour is soo much money where I live if that could be a guaranteed thing I would put all my effort into becoming a Solo Game Dev.
Are you telling me if I am passionate and I put in some real effort into making this Metroidvania that I could actually land that kind of money?
Most of them. The vast majority of indie devs will only ever release a single commercial title for this reason.
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I am looking through the steam games list, holy fck that is a LOT of games being released every single day. It took me forever scrolling just to go through the “All new release” section just to go from 24th December to 20th December.
99% of what I click on are legit legit shovelware hot garbage.
How are these games even being allowed on steam? there is noway I would release anything like that to the public that is just so insulting, wtf
They get released on Steam because there’s no real barrier to access as far as getting your game on the platform is concerned, just a barrier to getting visibility. The fact you weren’t aware of this is actually proof that the system in place is keeping you from ever seeing these games unless you actively seek them out. Most of this is done is because it offers a centralized storefront as opposed to having to use your own page (time and effort, as well as even more visibility issues); it’s on a known platform (steam has been basically a household name in games for a decade now); and it allows for easy saturation for these sorts of titles, making it more likely to turn a profit due to a diverse catalogue.
It’s basically an expanded version of how they used to sell shovelware games at the drug store/hardware store.
That is low, its lower than a 16 year old make flipping burgers at McDonald’s here in Sweden. Funny thing though in sweden we don’t have any minimum wage but most simpler jobs like flipping burgers have unions with their own minimum wage regulations.
Yeah, even I am surprised sometimes to see the number of indie games, that have been released so far.
People eat McDonald’s in Sweden? Interesting.
Probably not the same amount as in the States 
I don’t eat there, awful quality.
I dont think Europeans in general eat fast food in the same amount actually
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Like the video say most of those games are hot garbage. Still even the numbers with those games removed are not fun to read
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I was watching this video
And there doesn’t seem to be anything to discourage me from making and releasing a game. All these stories about less than 7% of studios survive the thing about it is, I am taking 0 risk. The video is indeed pretty grim for anybody actually even going into this field to make money, but if I spent 5 years making a game and I made a grand total of $1000 US from it, that would still be a success.
What I am doing is looking at examples of games made by Solo Devs to get an idea of the scope I could undertake.
I just can’t understand why anybody wold pay $100 USD for steam direct to release a hot pile of garbage shovelware that would never even sell a single copy. This just doesn’t make any sense to me, is it possible these are basically rich kids just doing their high school project and used their mom’s credit card to release it on steam?
You can take zero risk and still not survive if you decide you end up not liking some aspect of game developement and quit the industry before you make a second game. For that matter you can take zero risk and still not survive if the team members you brought on have decided that the reason for the failure was the team itself.
It’s not always the team either. You can take zero risk and still not survive if you fail at making games to the point that no investor or publisher will take you seriously. This one might sound a little far fetched but just getting your first investor can be a nightmare. My employer had to go through 50 investors to find our current investor.
Just be careful. A not insignificant number of solo developers are not beginners but rather veterans striking out on their own to make their own game or coming from a related industry like software engineering. Ultimately the scope you can undertake is best determined by trying to make games of progressively larger scope and timing it.
For some people it’s just to say they’ve done it. Just as an example if you looked at this you might be inclined to believe some kid made a game but it was created as a quick and dirty prototype by one of the hobbyists in this community just to say that they’ve released a game. We’re not all here to make money after all.
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Where do you live?
People complained years ago Steam’s approval process was too restrictive, and this is the result. They changed it so now the fee is per game while before it was a one time fee, but people will still upload anything and everything.
But yeah, if you’re a solo dev, unmarried, and have a job, getting 1k~5k USD from your games isn’t too bad.
This sums it up so perfectly, I am still gonna give it my best and see what happens, since it’s just a side gig on weekends, anything I make I would consider it a success as I have no wife no kids I already have my own house and just live a carefree life. And I will never have a wife and kids anyways so there is that and it’s for the better and I don’t want kids either cause the world has enough, I even use my car as a private Taxi to make extra money aswell and I also fix refrigerators and AC
I did an HVAC trade school for 2 years because I wasn’t willing to risk being a solo dev as my primary source of income because I saw the writing on the wall and every GDC video that it was nothing more than a pipe dream.
Since I am doing this indie game Solo Dev part time and am having so much fun learning programming and art, I consider everything a success.
My main aim is having a decent quality game on steam, if it’s not good I won’t release it.
I have absolutely no idea where in the world you’re getting your information from. 99% of games make exactly $0. If you honestly expect your game to make $4000/year I have very bad news for you. With how many great games there are on Steam for up to $5 you’ll have to make something REALLY good to even make a few hundred bucks.