Why 96% Of Indie Games Make NO MONEY

not 96%. the real number is 99.999999999% that dont make money

ya AI can work, but majorly most of the things in it are recycled assets from other online sources and many times that doesn't help it distinguish itself, humans will always be in demand in this industry because people start thinking so out of the box that AI can't even keep up to it, and lets be real AI believes what is good based on statistics while humans understand what is good based on personal feelings which is why I think AI won't be able to keep up with genre shifts and out of the box ideas like buckshot roulette though it helps a lot. How I see it is that AI will just end up like a tool to help developers, just like the game engines, before the game engines came out, every thing was manually written and making games was exponentially tougher. I think AI will end up like an assistant tool which accelerates the production speed but can never fully replace the human factor

The part about making games no one asked for really got me. So many devs (myself included) pour everything into a concept they love without stepping back to ask "will anyone else care about this?" The games I've worked on lately shifted my whole perspective on this. It's humbling.

How often do you buy pre-made music packs vs hiring a composer?
I'm working on breaking into video game music and I'm curious how developers are currently approaching getting music assets for their projects.

Hopefully I will make my money back😂

Bro thank you for the honesty. It’s well respected.💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

Let's not encourage using generative ai, it's trained on stolen art and is horrible for the environment. Using it also makes you look lazy and cheap.

@thomasbrush I need you help!

I’m a new young game developer and creator I have been at a loss and almost gave up but after hearing you I’d like to try …again I’d love to get in contact with you

Incredibly scummy that you have a 'coursework' on 'getting 100k' wow, you're such an asshole.

scam

Okay, so I got to create a hook to fit the genre. That's going to be a tall order for myself. So far, I only have 2 out of 3 points.

awesome, you certainly know what you are talking about!

Thanks for letting me know to never give you a cent seeing how much youre in favor of ai, aka art theft.

@5:25 That's such a useless way to make a living.. by basically creating or adding nothing and just taking money. Almost like pretty girls opening an OF

im only hoping that my game get some attention and i dont run out of ideas haha

"But the AAA..."

I could not care less about what AAA is doing if I tried.
There's a reason Indie games are so popular these days.

Make something worth playing. Be creative with your dev logs, grow a community.

It's been a while since this video. Maybe you can make a video with updated metrics, the 18,000 games put out on Steam last year, and what AI capability is like today compared to then :)

being a developer is such a waste of time. You work your ass out, get migranes regularly by the end of the day, then after a few years they just destroy your all your work. In the meantime some 16 y o kid presses a few buttons, does a few stock trades with 20* leverage and make more money than you in your whole life in a single month.
But u have to keep your skills top notch all the time, and once they fire you, because "well we don't need this many devs anymore" you have to be top of the top to get even an interview after sending out hundreds of emails as a full time job seeker. Best part after the interviews you get some no brainer job.

Thanks brother!!! Maybe we can make some money 😂

Tour such a godsend. Thank you for this info

I'm making an indie game mostly because i want people to have some fun to do (sounds like a boring reason), and listen, idc if my game gets pirated or not, i care that people like my game, money should just be a way to show support to creators

then how the fuck battlebit made such a scucces no good graphics but really good mechanics and really good user experience ... go check duckside wtf is that and see how many revenue they made bro ... stop talking shit the only way to maek a really profitable game is to know what the audiance wants and then make them what they need many gamers dont rely on really good graphics they just want to have fun thats it

Good advice just started my journey a few days ago, been having fun making lil indie projects

Im gonna kinda disagree on AI tools with dear author. "Artist that does not use AI in 2025 is an idiot, but art drawn by AI looks like an art drawn like idiot", that means that ai cannot replace artist. About coding... well... You cannot code anything complex with AI in 2025

What game is shown at 4:46?

people should be happy for what they can get (dirt cheap prices for a lot work).

Yeah I was going to say money probley isn't the goal for them surprisingly better games and will outdo the AAA studios still. Do what you love you never work a day in your life

1:10 ahhh, that’s how you make the money 😜

blah blah blah

Steam doesn't promote the asset flip games and AI games though. Because by the time people find out and start to refund and write negative reviews for the few that did sell, the algorithm kicks in. It is a myth that 'slop games' somehow dominate visibility. They don't. And yes they are part of the 96% of failing games. Truth is, making great games is difficult.

Some interesting points :)

Dont be a fool. AI hasn't made production faster, it has only made the smell of shit among the sea of apps stronger.

I don't want to suck seed? I'm here to learn how to sale games 💀💀💀💀

Well, making indie games isnt always about money, its about the satisfaction of your work. But if you want to make an indie game and are already doubting that its not going to make any sales.... then try to make devlogs about it, which helps marketing it and drawing people's attention to the game.

Live in not rich&expensive country - selling 10k copies for like 10€ (-3 for steam, - ~1tax) might give you 3x+ nice yearly salary (:

Me here..idk why but anyways
I think u need 2 things
1 would u love play your own game
2 have a demo
Cough u can also spread keys to youtubers also have a youtube channel when building

Thomas im a follower and i do watch alot of your video im planning on releasing my new first game this September to steam can you just play it on your channel? It will be called getting a therapist and it will be as you said something from the old mario games but coop and i have hopes on it

Everytime I watch a game developer youtube video I feel so bad. Never hear something nice. i love game programming and from now I decide that I am not gonna watch game dev videos anymore .

"Building an audience it's what I am doing right now"

Actually, I've subscribed after that.

2024: 19k games released

Let's say you really had to survive by just coding your own computer program. Now your brain really starts to work, how to sell, etc... the food in the corner is running short and you have only sold one $0.99 cookie game to an old lady in Johannesburg... what to do?? what to do?? my mind - always thinking.

Short, but crusially importnant info, thank you!