$15K/year is almost misleading, the developers took home $172,000 of $426,000 income after refunds.
$560,000 in sales
$426,000 after $134,000 in refunds (22% rate, which they describe as "way above" normal 10-15%)
$297,000 after $127,000 contribution to Gabe's next super yacht
$282,000 after $ 14,850 in tax to US
$172,000 after $115,000 to the publisher, which is described as the controversial amount
I think Steam's cut is far more controversial TBH, the publishers at least did something for them and the article suggests successfully. There was no particular service provided by Steam unless you want to count the initial review (which costs $100 anyway).
the indie industry is brutal. i read his original reddit posts (he posted on several subs). that low cost of living is what's helpful and keeping him hoping for a 2nd attempt, plus he was saying he'll be going solo.
but as a career choice, with the current costs of doing business and targeting markets with a high return rate, it's totally unsustainable.
the sadder part is that there's really no other serious choice for publishing. Steam is 75% of the market share. as an indie, you want to cast a wide net, maximize exposure to maximize chances of sales, so Steam is the only realistic chance at success.
They don’t have to publish on steam. They could have published on their own website and sell exes there. Or epic store. Or gog. Or humble bundle. Or itch.io .
If people don’t want to pay steam their cut they are free to not publish there. This isn’t iOS or a game console.
And iOS and game consoles aren't even the only handheld gaming devices. There are lots of options (Android phones from dozens of vendors, Steam Deck and its many competitors, etc.)
But presumably developers see value in being on the leading game stores (Steam, Google Play) for hardware from multiple vendors, and on walled-garden game stores (iOS, Nintendo eShop, etc.) for single-vendor hardware.
They don't have to publish on Steam and Gabe doesn't need to take that much of their money if they do. There's no reality where that money is better-spent paying for new carpet or whatever for his fifth yacht instead of supporting the indie creators.
Ugh, just what I needed to discourage me away from game development again. No point in pouring all that effort if this is what an average profitable indie looks like.
Somehow every few years I get the delusion that it'd be fun to try and release a game.
I develop indie games for fun in my spare time, but I would never bet my livelihood on doing it full-time.
We hear about the tiny fraction who manage to make a decent living from their games, but rarely about the vast majority who don't. It's classic survivorship bias.
And it's hardly unique to indie games. The same is true across pretty much every creative industry: books, movies, music, art, and so on.
11 comments
[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 6.6 ms ] thread$560,000 in sales
$426,000 after $134,000 in refunds (22% rate, which they describe as "way above" normal 10-15%)
$297,000 after $127,000 contribution to Gabe's next super yacht
$282,000 after $ 14,850 in tax to US
$172,000 after $115,000 to the publisher, which is described as the controversial amount
I think Steam's cut is far more controversial TBH, the publishers at least did something for them and the article suggests successfully. There was no particular service provided by Steam unless you want to count the initial review (which costs $100 anyway).
If people don’t want to pay steam their cut they are free to not publish there. This isn’t iOS or a game console.
And iOS and game consoles aren't even the only handheld gaming devices. There are lots of options (Android phones from dozens of vendors, Steam Deck and its many competitors, etc.)
But presumably developers see value in being on the leading game stores (Steam, Google Play) for hardware from multiple vendors, and on walled-garden game stores (iOS, Nintendo eShop, etc.) for single-vendor hardware.
Somehow every few years I get the delusion that it'd be fun to try and release a game.
We hear about the tiny fraction who manage to make a decent living from their games, but rarely about the vast majority who don't. It's classic survivorship bias.
And it's hardly unique to indie games. The same is true across pretty much every creative industry: books, movies, music, art, and so on.