It's brutal to be a gamedev right now...

The gamedev scene hasn't been doing too hot lately, including us. And I am not referring to how it's generally already tough to release an indie game, but what's going on in the world currently makes it even harder.

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Timestamps:
00:00 The fulltime gamedev dream
02:01 Layoffs
05:20 Publishers
07:32 More competition
10:31 The economy
11:27 What should you do?
13:48 Closing

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[viniciusantonio]

2024 plans
- [ ] -quit day job-
- [ ] release a game

[neoware]

Don´t bet all your horses in living making games if it is your first game.
Try to make games like a side project, having fun and learning, while having a regular day job to pay your bills.
That´s what I do.

[CitizenCoder]

Quitting a job to be a game dev has to be one of the worst ideas yet, and has been for decades. Unless you've got a windfall saved of 2+ years your monthly needs or is living at home/somewhere they dont have bills, its a rediculous prospect. It seems recently all these people are quitting their jobs/selling their homes/trying to live on savings just to be a game dev. Instead, maybe a take a job that lets you put more time into your dream without sacrificing much income. For instance, I work in a factory. Im working on a game. I took a shift(weekends/overnight) that gives me 4 days a week to work on my stuff. I view a job as funding for the dream.

[blackcitadelstudios]

My Eyebags evolved to Handbags from making my game at the same time making devlogs for it. 😅

[regalx]

You my friend, have earned my subscription.
This channel is a rare combination of technical resources, but also authencity.
Your other video that touched me personally was "Why I don't like other gamedev YouTubers."
And you make it clear that your channel differs from other gamedev content creators who's soul purpose is to sell you the dream, so that they can get the money to launch their own game.
I respect the fact that you're taking the harder road, and I that others like me will follow suit in supporting creators that are willing to tell us the hard truths of indie game dev, and not just what whatever we want to hear.

[zzmmorgan]

I think one key thing is to not get the mindset that you can make a million selling game and live the rest of your life off that. Basically you're adding another income source that may or may not be your primary. Cranking out games can potentially snowball into a decent income but a single game is like buying a lottery

[RafaelSilveira]

Look, in my case: I've been hearing this since 16 (I am 38 now) - on top of the market being difficult, I am from Brazil - we have no gamedev culture here

I've been hearing that the market is full since the beginning and it kept growing, new games, new ideas and it will always be like this - there will be always more competitors.... waiting will not get you at a better scenario. I've waited and now I am 38 yo and trying to learn something I could've learnt more than 20 years ago because i've been listening to this advice.

I will learn it and start making my games, no matter how the market is going right now haha

but thanks btw

[simonak]

With over 13, 000 titles released on Steam in 2023 alone (35+ new games EVERY DAY), breaking even is harder than ever.

[Omenthegame]

I think the focus should be on making a Good Game. Not about money. Make a Good game and live well. We are 6 months in Dev and another year away from finishing. Our followers are growing and so are our orders. Just make something decent and stop listening to the noise.

[kwksht]

I'm confused, you said that gaming is a visual medium, then you say that you were given no real reason why Forge Industry failed, but literally showed a screenshot giving feedback where the first point was the lacking graphics, which is quite true from looking at the Steam trailer. So no, you weren't doing everything right. I know that it is difficult to admit that your game is lacking in ways, but this video kind of falls apart when there are clearly identifiable problems with your game that can easily be used to justify why it failed.

[jamesoliphant]

I would never quit a job and go "full-time developer" till I had a game that was out and making an income and another on the way. This is of course from the perspective of a husband and father of 4 kids so your situation may differ. Instead I would search for a job that supported my goal of being a game developer on the side.

[fablefolk_studio]

Challenge accepted! This video just fired me up to prove the "brutal" wrong. Time to focus on the joy of creating and share the journey on YouTube. Who's with me?

[smokyHR]

Honestly, is this the first real video game industry recession? All industries go through it and it will bump back eventually.

[Sweepy_Games]

I respectfully disagree with your perspective! Why? It's because the tools available today are unparalleled and incredibly easy to use, mostly even drag and drop! While I hold great respect for you, I must emphasize that you might be unaware of how gamedev tools looked like just five years ago. And also there is my personal example - I embarked on my indie game development journey at the beginning of 2023. By the summer of the same year, I had already released my first game, and guess what? Tomorrow marks the release of my second game! My first game hit 600 wishlists, and despite being featured by numerous multimillion YouTubers, it didn't quite generate enough revenue to sustain me. However, my upcoming release already boasts 6k wishlists, indicating that I'm improving! I think you are overworking yourself with the youtube, while you have a great momentum it feels like you are less and less happy by every video! Please take some time to rest. Cheers!

[baumwollaugenjohannes]

There is a lot to unpack here.
1. the games market is not in bad shape. Look at the revenue per year. Games are selling and are always selling. Gaming is a relatively cheap hobby and a good escape, it's stable in crisis.
2. If you think your game flopped despite doing everything right, you will never succeed. That is because you are not taking enough opportunity to learn. No one does everything right, and games don't flop just like that. Either you made a game that no one wants or that is just not good.
3. Making games has never been easier. Engines are insanely good, better than ever. The marketing power you get for free via content creators can net you millions and millions of views. That is a relatively novel thing, and has not been an option 20 years ago, probably not even 10 years ago to that extent. If your game does not sell, you made mistakes (like spending years on a game that was dead in the water because it has no interesting concept or no audience).
4. I fully agree that you should not quit your job to make games. Most likely you are not good enough. If you can't make a game in your free time that people want to play, this won't change when you do it full time. There are plenty of excuses, but making a game full time needs a lot of discipline, and if you can't make a small game in your free time, you don't have that.
5. For any gamedevs watching: I know this sounds shitty, but think about who you want to take advice from. I'd probably aim for the people who made and make successful games, because they are doing something right the others don't.
6. Visual quality can be shit if the game is good. Brotato sold millions of units and looks quite bad.

[humman]

It's just that the big studios with hundreds of employees don't fire them because fewer games are sold, but because earlier in the industry there was too much money for investment and they started creating too many new projects and hiring too many people, now the investors have left and they can't burn money as before with the hope of a better future. For small developers the times are even better because if a game is successful the numbers can be bigger than ever, example with Pokemon

[OnZFlyStudio]

As someone in an Applied Arts program (film, audio, game) i really hate seeing these things for alot of my fellow classmates. Im an "Adult Learner" and already have 2 career fallbacks. I couldn't imagine graduating last semester and witnessing this economy crumbling.

[edward]

I disagree that people would spend less on games on a bad economy.
In the worst place of Africa where people can barely afford to eat, they would buy a TV as soon as they have enough, because they need an entertainment to escape from reality. Same goes for games, people need to escape from real life problem in a worse economy.

[pixel.voyager]

Samurai doesn’t have a destination, only path

[mahkhardy]

Another reason being a flooded market of AI generated crap, a new generation of shovel-ware is on the horizon.