What is the average size of an indie game developer?

Typically, indie studios are made up of just a few people. Most often, their number does not exceed 10 experts. There are also indie developers who make games alone.

What is the size of game developers?

The development of a complete game usually involves a team of 20–100 individuals with various responsibilities, including designers, artists, programmers, and testers.

How large is a indie game studio?

Indie games are usually made by companies with less than 30 people, and some are even made by less than five people. On the other hand, AAA games are made by much bigger companies, usually with hundreds of employees.

How many people does it take to make an indie video game?

You can create an indie game alone, but often it is done by small teams of 5-10 people. So, “indie” means independent of major publishers. And from their financial support, of course, but difficulties make the process even more challenging.

How much do small indie game developers make?

While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $172,500 and as low as $13,000, the majority of Indie Game Developer salaries currently range between $35,500 (25th percentile) to $120,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $150,500 annually across the United States.

Why Most Indie Game Developers Don't Make Money

Who is the richest indie game developer?

The success of Minecraft did so well that Notch ended up selling Mojang to Microsoft for a $2.5 billion cash deal. This makes him the richest indie game developer.

What indie game genre is most profitable?

Most Profitable Genres For Indie Games

The most promising genres in terms of earnings are RPG, strategy, and simulation. They are followed by adventure, action, sports, and racing games, which are worth choosing only if you are completely confident in your idea.

How rich are indie game developers?

According to ALCOR, the average junior indie game developer in the US in 2022 earned $40,500, with mid-levels earning $55,500, and seniors earning $69,000.

What percentage of indie games are successful?

Yes, only 3% of indie developers ever make more than $1m, but that's still over 1,500 indies who have done so. Let's see what they do that others don't.

What is the success rate of indie games?

A study from Indie Game Haven reveals that 70% of all indie games are commercial failures. And only 7% of the successful 30% generate enough revenue to fund a second project.

Is it profitable to make indie games?

According to Game Developer, those indie teams that “made it” receive on average $4 million in revenue per game, which makes an impressive indie game developer success salary. Obviously, not everyone gets such a goldmine.

What is considered a AAA developer?

What is a AAA game studio? In the video game industry, a AAA ('triple-A') studio is a mid-sized or major game publisher with a more robust development and marketing budget than other tiers of studios to produce (usually) higher-selling, retail AAA games.

How many developers work on a AAA game?

Team size: The production teams for AAA title video games are huge, with at least 50 to 100 employees working on it. For instance, at Ubisoft, AAA game development involved 400 to 600 staff for open world games, split across multiple locations and countries.

How profitable is being a game developer?

The national average salary for a game developer sits at US$101,644 per year. However, it's worth noting that years of experience determine your job rank and game programmer salary. Beginner game developers who recently developed a strong interest in game development work in an entry-level or junior job position.

Why do some indie games fail?

Indie games fail sometimes because of a poor marketing strategy: Either the team didn't build an audience or didn't find a way to interest the gaming world enough to make it play the game. The second reason comes from the game itself: The lack of game design skills or the level of immersion is too low.

How much do indie game developers make a year?

Average salary for fulltime indie game devs is $11,782/year.

How many indie games fail?

The statistics show that for every successful indie game, there are at least 4 or 5 unsuccessful indie games out there. However, I spent the majority of my working career up to this point doing something that paid the bills, but didn't follow my passions or my own dreams.

Who is the youngest indie game developer?

At 12 years old, Max Trest is already an established independent video game developer who has even created a game with the Unity engine.

Do indie game developers pay taxes?

Indie developers and other people who work on games for a living face all kinds of interesting income tax and small business formation issues that more traditional businesses simply don't: not being geographically bound, relying on alternative funding, long periods of time with no income, and having multiple options ...

How long do indie games take to make?

Creating an indie game can take anywhere between a matter of days and a number of years. With indie games, coding experience and budget will be the biggest influences on a game's development cycle. Here's a few examples of quality indie games all made within vastly different timeframes: Cuphead.

What does AAA stand for in games?

The term "AAA Games" is a classification used within the video gaming industry to signify high-budget, high-profile games that are typically produced and distributed by large, well-known publishers. These games often rank as “blockbusters” due to their extreme popularity.

Which game income is best?

PUBG Mobile was the top grossing game in 2021, with $2.01 billion revenue.