Hi guys!I'm writing this post because I think I could use some help.I'm a software developer and I started developing video games about 5 years ago. It was really a hobby and I never expected to make money doing it, but the first game I released (a 2D tower defense web game) did much better than I thought it would and brought in between $1,000 and $1,500 per month. At that point, that was a lot of money for me, so I then decided to drop out of my Master's program and develop games full-time, since I could live off that money.I developed my second game for about a year, working on average over 100 hours a week, expecting the sequel to be much more successful. Unfortunately, that didn't work out - the game made maybe $3000 in the first week, and since then about 500-1000, which really wasn't worth it compared to the amount of work.I then took a break from game development and freelanced a bit as a software developer, as I can make very good money doing that. After a while I started to develop more games on the side, this time again purely as a hobby.The game I developed during that time was a surprise hit, was high in the Steam charts and sold over 350,000 copies in the last 2 years, which led me to start a company for tax reasons. Even now the game is still generating good sales, the numbers are approx: 2020 - $500k, 2021 - $450k, 2022 - $350k estimated. Since I have virtually no costs besides my working hours, the whole thing is of course very profitable.Because of the success, I went back to game development and developed another game for about 6 months - this time I hired people to help me with graphics, sound and level design. Unfortunately, the game has again been less successful than expected. It generates about $1500-$2000 a month, which is okay, but I've invested (including my time, with wages I get as a freelancer) about $100k in development costs, which means it takes almost 5 years to pay for itself.After the game I was a bit demotivated again and didn't develop any new games for the time being. Luckily I found a very talented employee during the development, who is able to develop a game completely by himself. So I tried to establish myself a bit as a publisher, he gets a fixed salary plus percentages and develops about one new game every 6-8 weeks. We plan the ideas together and every week we do a feedback meeting where we set the goals for next week.My idea was that by combining several small games, all generating $1000-$2000 per month, I can minimize the risk and scale after a while - So hire more developers etc.However, that doesn't feel like the right way to go - My goal is definitely to become as successful as possible at what I do, and build a company that can get really, really big.Because of the success of the games I've made so far, I'm fortunate that my income is secure and I can focus completely on new projects if I want to. However, it's currently hard for me to put so much passion into a project because the outcome is so variable.I am currently also in the process of handing over as many tasks as possible so that I can focus on new ones. So far I've taken care of marketing, accounting, market research, ideas, development etc. on my own. I taught myself all that and it worked - but I have the feeling that other people can do it better. But I'm only doing that now, because I had to learn to hand over tasks first.What bothers me the most - I always have the feeling that I could do much more, that maybe I'm not doing the right thing and that others can do it better. The background: I am still relatively young (I will be 25 this year). I would say that I am a very good programmer (I have successfully worked for many big companies as a Software Architect so far), but until 2 years ago I had no experience and interest in business and management at all. It was only through the success of the game that I got the motivation to create something bigger, which is why I then got into business management, marketing, accounting, taxes (which I actually enjoy a lot).It would actually help me a lot to have a mentor in this field, someone who has successfully built a large company and who can maybe steer me in the right direction. I don't have much of a network, unfortunately, and I don't have anyone in my circle of acquaintances who has built a really successful company that I could ask.TL;DR: Built a Game Dev company more or less by accident, and now looking for a mentor. see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
0 comments:
Post a Comment