browsing around works in progress forum, completed projects forum and youtube it seems to me that most people here are making games for fun and are not really worried about commercialization. seems to be alot of slender clones, minecraft clones and generic rpgs/mmorpgs or first person shooters that no one will really pay for. i have no problem with this but i was just wondering.
Will always be like this on forums of engines with free versions.
I think, in the end, that you make the most money off a game when making money is not the prime motivator.
Money ambitions channel you into what is true and tested, and not into taking risks. You want to ensure the highest probability of a return.
It’s like any sort of art, really. In writing, you can either be a Stephen King that writes because he wants to tell a story, or you can be a James Pattersson who writes to make money. Which books are the most engaging to read, and which books gives the most reader pleasure?
I think it’s the same with games.
I choose to develop games purely because i love doing so, its not about the salary. But at the end of the day there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. I believe a game should be fairly priced, enough to compensate for the amount of effort put into development.
This ‘make for love’ thing just destroyed smartphone app market. You must make it free with inAps or go home.
Just because you love it and are having orgarsms making your dream game doesn’t mean you should not make it for money too.
That has nothing to do with “make games for love”. That has everything to do with people being stupid and not putting a value to their time.
I like money 
I thought we just had one of these threads.
Me:
About how much money they are going to make? A lot 
About how much money they’ll need to spend ? Very few 
If you develop games with the intent of using the revenue to pay for your living expenses, then making money is important. It is critical that you develop games that people want to play, otherwise you’ll go hungry.
If you develop games for extra pocket money, then money is semi-important. If you make money, then great. If not, oh well, there is always the next game idea. In this case, you just need to develop a game that looks professional and people like to play.
If you develop games solely for the fun of it and money doesn’t really matter, then you need to be extremely motivated to finish and do a good job.
Since game and mobile app development is just a hobby for me, I fall into the second and third categories. I really enjoy game/app development and all the research that goes with it, so having fun learning new things and being creative is more important to me than making money.
I think anyone trying to make money using unity will not advertise the fact on the forums, those that are doing it for fun will advertise that is what they are doing.
There is a lot more people browsing the forum than that posts here and a lot more people and company’s who have bought unity that again posts here.
That’s right, I only advertise high profile projects that are already in the wilds, our stuff for clients isn’t advertised (NDA is always 100% respected).
I’m doing it for the love of video games. But I am also making tools I can use later to streamline the development process. Control and RPG systems mostly.
Since I moved over, I have to think of game development as a business now. Developing my own titles, I need to think about the bottom line and how I’m going to maximise profits across all platforms and forms of monetisation.
Yet what allows me to put in 12-14 hour days quite easily is the fact that I’m passionate about games and their development.
So I have fun, but at the same time it needs to be smart fun.
MONEY+FUN = Game Making.
Sure, I want to have fun… but I also want to continue making games and get the resources to expand. Without making money, I couldn’t put my full-time into the games…I would have to work full-time to pay the bills, then work part time after? But all my energy would be exhausted through working full-time in a creative field.
I also want large amounts of people to enjoy what I make and purchase it (money - it is a measure of how much people like what you are doing). I want to communicate creatively with people, and games are the medium I chose to express that with.
From the very start I approached game making as a business. I began with deciding I wanted to build an IP that I could build upon and expand (it is worth more, and gives me a launching point for future games…each new game building on the overall value and the success of an early game helping to promote the later ones).
Really, I think anyone needs to think about money when making games (at least if you are serious about it). If you aren’t selling, then people aren’t enjoying it. If people aren’t playing your game… why bother? It is like spending a year painting a picture that you put into the closet and no one sees ~_~ Kind of defeats the point.
Sure, I think there needs to be a deep passion when making games (at least if you want to make something special that cuts through the clutter and noise). But, if you are trying to cut through the noise…if you are trying to get the media to pay attention…and you are trying to win indie awards… and you are trying to get recognized for what you are doing…why not at least make money from it too, and be able to do even better and better things down the road.