discussion Can devs make good money?

[Grutrec]

There is a lot of work that goes into it, and for us to enjoy content we need them to be successful. Or is it like any art, 100 penniless devs for one wealthy one?

 

[snow123789]

depend on the game,

 

[Death Angel Studio's iconDeath Angel Studio]

it highly depends from person to person as some devs have a patreon and what not and then also have a lot of supporter but then there are also devs who dont have that or dont want that and because of that they make less money, so its an eeh question

 

[Chainedpanda]

Depends on definition and nation of origin. In the past, Patreon used to show how much money a project made. I remember seeing some of the larger projects making 20k USD a month. Obviously, that's great. But, it's likely the extreme minority.

Most devs are likely only making some extra pocket money. However, that may not be true for less fortunate nations. Also, I have no idea how the global inflation is impacting it.

 

[FrankTheDuck]

If you can get it on steam you're likely to be earning some good money from that.

 

[TwistedMoony]

it highly depends from person to person as some devs have a patreon and what not and then also have a lot of supporter but then there are also devs who dont have that or dont want that and because of that they make less money, so its an eeh question

Like us being cheap and running around with no money

No but seriously, I am far from being succesful and don't aim to be. If people like my game that is great. I never thought that (being a dev for 6 month now) I had a discord with almost 400 members and I just had a demo and a first update and close to a 2nd bigger update.
So yeah, I think so far all is well and I am enjoying making more content.

 

[GoodOleFun]

If it's what the people want. Heck, doesn't even have to be a game dev, even some very high level mods can get money. Obviously the biggest example being Whicked Whims for Sims 4, where I think the last time I checked their patreon it was around 45k a month, and that's just patreon.

 

[Bobjock67]

I believe they can, but it's becoming harder because Patreon is screwing people and taking down their games.

 

[Unknownadd]

In general? No. You can make a living off it, but you probably won't make 'good money' on it.
If you want to be a developer then do it for the sake of developing things. If it's interesting then people will support you on it and it will push you forward.
It helps if you actually use that money to improve what you are developing, but cost scaling is what people run into when a project gets larger.

Of course there is always the off chance you're make a run away hit, but even then the most money isn't made by developing, but by selling the IP. See Minecraft RIP.

 

[TheVampirate]

There is a lot of work that goes into it, and for us to enjoy content we need them to be successful. Or is it like any art, 100 penniless devs for one wealthy one?

pretty much this. A lot of the successful devs can be split into 2 groups; Artists who learned to code and programmers who learn art. The amount of time it takes to be good at both is substantial and the amount of money you get is limited until you're popular. If you're not great at the coding the games you make can be a mess and it slows down the release schedule. If your art is not good then you don't get the support and money from the fans and computer engineers get paid pretty well all around the world.

 

[User_80256]

Some people make $50,000 a month (tax free), some make $50-$200
I don't like to count money in other people's pockets, but a fairly simple analysis of their accounts allows me to easily analyze their capabilities.
Besides, don't forget that a single developer is rare nowadays. Most often a small team works together, so the money is split. Who gets more money in this case, I cannot judge. On the other hand, they say that the termination of the Amity Park project is due to financial disagreements in the group of developers. But this is just a rumor.