Thursday, September 07, 2006
The Reality So Far...
I see a lot of people coming to indiegamer.com basically asking the question "How much can I really earn?". When I reply to these I know for a fact that this person is already doomed to failure, because like me they will no doubt make a terrible start.
I was that person around the start of 2004, and in all honesty I didn't have a clue. I seriously thought my first game would make at least 100 sales in it's first month. My first game actually sold 1 copy in about 6 months. My second game was a massive improvement, but I only managed to sell about 15 copies of that in 2 years. After that I started making some real money, but I've still only earnt the equivilent of about $5 an hour for my time since Xeno Assault I . I'd have earnt almost double that at McDonalds.
My total monthly earnings from all my games combined is a massive $600-800, which is about enough to buy 2 sticks of gum and a 6 pack of toilet roll in the UK. Of that my own site generates 15-20 sales per month. Which is pretty bad. But a year ago it was only 4-6 per month, so I can't complain too much. This is all after 2.5 years of being an indie...
Pretty depressing stuff huh? Well it's not all bad:
The games and website I've made have helped me get a lot of freelance work for ArcadeTown and some other places, and I'm now doing alright for myself because of that. I'm no where near rich, but earning a hell of a lot more than I would at the London Fancy Box factory (my pre-indie job).
And there is another thing to note. I've earnt $5/hour on my current portfolio of games so far. But lets take a wild guess and say each game has a shelf life of 5 years. Assuming it stayed at the current rate that figure should rise to a good $30/hour. But I'm guessing it will be even higher, since my direct sales are always on the up.
I'm optimistic for the future, my website traffic is slowly rising, my sales are rising and my skills as a developer are also rising. It will take more time before I really make it as an indie, but I'm confident it will happen if I stick to it long enough.
I was that person around the start of 2004, and in all honesty I didn't have a clue. I seriously thought my first game would make at least 100 sales in it's first month. My first game actually sold 1 copy in about 6 months. My second game was a massive improvement, but I only managed to sell about 15 copies of that in 2 years. After that I started making some real money, but I've still only earnt the equivilent of about $5 an hour for my time since Xeno Assault I . I'd have earnt almost double that at McDonalds.
My total monthly earnings from all my games combined is a massive $600-800, which is about enough to buy 2 sticks of gum and a 6 pack of toilet roll in the UK. Of that my own site generates 15-20 sales per month. Which is pretty bad. But a year ago it was only 4-6 per month, so I can't complain too much. This is all after 2.5 years of being an indie...
Pretty depressing stuff huh? Well it's not all bad:
The games and website I've made have helped me get a lot of freelance work for ArcadeTown and some other places, and I'm now doing alright for myself because of that. I'm no where near rich, but earning a hell of a lot more than I would at the London Fancy Box factory (my pre-indie job).
And there is another thing to note. I've earnt $5/hour on my current portfolio of games so far. But lets take a wild guess and say each game has a shelf life of 5 years. Assuming it stayed at the current rate that figure should rise to a good $30/hour. But I'm guessing it will be even higher, since my direct sales are always on the up.
I'm optimistic for the future, my website traffic is slowly rising, my sales are rising and my skills as a developer are also rising. It will take more time before I really make it as an indie, but I'm confident it will happen if I stick to it long enough.
# posted by Neil Yates @ 8:27 PM 
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Well you should consider relocating to a cheaper country like france...
It's just a few hundred miles away and you could live decently with as little as 1000$ a month in a nice little village with broadband. ( of course you wouldn't benefit of city lifestyle )
It's just a few hundred miles away and you could live decently with as little as 1000$ a month in a nice little village with broadband. ( of course you wouldn't benefit of city lifestyle )
# posted by 
: 5:41 AM
: 5:41 AM
Well it's important to note my indie income isn't all I've got, so I can afford to live in England. However I have indeed thought about moving to france or other similar places and it doesn seem like a nice prospect. Though for now I'm staying in England :)
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