What percent of indie games fail?

70% of all indie games are commercial failures. Of the 30% that are considered successful, only 7% of those games will generate enough revenue to fund a second project.

What is the failure rate of indie games?

Most indie games fail to produce profits, with some estimates being less than 1 in 5.

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.

Why do most 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.

What percent of indie games make money?

According to VG Insights, only 15% of all solo game developers take home more than $100,000 annually. VG Insights also reported that only the top 5% of indie games released each year make over half a million dollars each, and the average game only makes $13,000.

Why These Games Failed Then Succeeded

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.

What is the biggest indie game ever?

1 Minecraft

Minecraft was originally developed by Marcus "Notch" Persson until he had enough money to be able to hire more people to help him develop it. He created the company Mojang which is probably the largest indie game success story.

Why AAA games are better than indie?

A larger budget allows AAA studios to invest in cutting-edge technology and head-hunt top talent in the industry. They have the resources to create more polished games with more features than most indie games.

What is the saddest indie game?

How many sales does the average indie game get?

The median game earned just $1,136 lifetime; 68% of all titles released in 2019 generated less than $10,000 to date; 91.5% of all titles earned less than $250,000; 96% of all games generated less than $1,000,000.

Is it worth it to become a indie game developer?

Some of the most captivating and innovative video game experiences have come from passionate and dedicated indie developers. So to say that small game projects can't be good is a lie. However, as an indie developer you'll never get the chance to work on the biggest projects in the industry.

How much funding does an indie game need?

The average cost to make an indie game is about $250,000, but some small projects can cost as low as nothing + time you spend on development.

Is gaming getting less popular?

Despite the decline in number of people playing video games, the industry continues to see growth in the number of hours spent gaming. There was a dramatic increase in time spent playing games from 2019 to 2020, with average hours played per week jumping from 12.7 to 14.8, respectively.

How hard is it to start an indie game studio?

Developing an indie game is hard work. You need to be able to design and build the game, market it to the public, and get it published. Some people usually begin indie studios to develop passion projects, which later can become successful or develop smaller cult followings.

How long do small 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.

Is Minecraft a AAA game?

Examples of Indie games include Transistor, Minecraft, and Celeste. AAA Games: These are game titles made by companies that can produce huge, blockbuster-style games. They have large budgets – both for development and marketing – and they sell several million units upon release.

Why is Unity not used in AAA games?

AAA teams have enough resources to re-write all of Unity's systems. There aren't any Unity systems worth keeping if you have the resources to re-write them, hence no AAA production will ever use Unity for a big budget blockbuster AAA game.

What are most indie games coded in?

Java. The indie game industry owes a lot to Java. Because of its open-source material and beginner-friendly syntax, Java is one of the go-to's for game developers in need of a solid coding language.

Can you make a living as an indie game developer?

It's possible to make money off of indie games. In Eric Barone's experience, he worked diligently for four years on the beloved Stardew Valley by himself. All while holding down another job and living off of more meager savings.

How often do indie games succeed?

70% of all indie games are commercial failures. Of the 30% that are considered successful, only 7% of those games will generate enough revenue to fund a second project.

What is the hardest game genre to make?

MMORPGs, without a doubt, are the hardest game genre to build, for one very significant reason - the sheer volume of resources required to build them. As a common sense rule, +1 game content = +10 more development required.

Which game income is best?

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