How to Make Money from Game Development
Do you love playing video games? But how great would it be if you
could make money from creating games by yourself? In this blog post, I will tell you 8 ways to earn money from making games.
8 BEST Ways TO MAKE MONEY As A Game
Developer
1. Freelancing
The first option for making money in games involves using your
work hours as a work-for-hire game developer. There is a large demand for
freelance development services, and you can find lots of empty point
opportunities for this work at online freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and
upward.
While looking for these opportunities, you have to establish
competency in whatever service you plan to revive. Make sure you have a
convincing resume or personal project portfolio that shows your expertise.
Consider what other freelancers in your discipline are charging
for their services and set your pricing accordingly. You may want to charge
less when starting out to ensure you get work, to help build up your credibility.
As you build up your work for hire resume by completing projects as a
freelancer, you can move on to larger development opportunities by networking
with larger developers and publishers at industry conferences. From here you
can consider banding with other freelancers that have complementary skill sets,
and efforts to start your own full-service studio that provides a broader
selection of game development services.
Word of mouth recommendations and good industry contacts can
really help promote your service as you scale. The best freelancers can
sometimes negotiate a share of product revenues, in addition to fees for their
development services. Something to consider if you have a professional quality
skill set.
2. Premium-priced games sales
This is where the user pays once upfront for the title and gets
access to the full game. PC and console games still use this premium pricing as
a primary method of monetization. This model can be good for making revenue
quickly, as most premium titles receive most of the revenues they wanna release
when their audience is clamoring for the game.
The downside of the premium model though is that the developer may
not have as many options to upsell the most passionate users or whales as
those users are referred to in the premium space.
Be very careful when implementing a premium model that is coupled
with additional monetization or advertisement features in-game, as gamers have
reacted negatively to such offerings in the past. Audiences generally expect
all content to be unlocked and available after paying upfront.
3. Freemium games
The alternative of the premium-priced game revenue model is the
increasingly popular freemium monetization model.
Freemium is the dominant pricing model in mobile gaming, and users
can typically access the base game for free but must pay for additional game
options through in-app purchases.
Freemium developers spend much of their development time putting
together systems to convert users to paying customers. One nice benefit of this
model is that by removing any upfront payments for your game, you can reduce
the roadblocks to having a user try out your game.
A downside to freemium is that user feedback ratings for your game
can sometimes be a challenge. Freemium users can click to give negative reviews
as they often aren't has invested in your game as premium users that have had
to pay money upfront.
Be forewarned. Competing in the freemium space isn't for the faint
of heart. You Can't Bank on a platform featuring your game to get installs.
You'll have to dedicate a portion of your budget to user acquisition, and user
acquisition in this space is not cheap. You're also going to need a smartly
constructed game loop, a deep understanding of your user analytics, and the
ability to constantly av-test your game features.
Most freemium games will need to spend a significant amount of
development time optimizing their user attention, and accompanying monetization
systems after launching. Development doesn't end on mobile with release.
4. Ads
If you're finding in-app purchases to be a difficult model to make
money from, a common fallback fine for many freemium developers is to take
advantage of your game's popularity by serving ads throughout the user
experience.
Flurry, AdMob, Chartboost, and Unity Ads are amongst the more
popular ad networks for implementing as interior games, and there are countless
other options to choose from.
One big benefit of ads is that they can be relatively easy and
quick to set up. One thing to note though is you'll typically need to serve a
lot of ads to make a meaningful amount of money from advertising.
As a result. Many developers use clever ways to encourage users to
be wads, including incentivizing add viewings in return for in-game rewards.
It's also common for freemium titles to push ads to unpaid users with the
option to remove the ads from cost.
5. Crowdfunding
Another opportunity for earning income is to pitch a game via one
of the leading online crowdfunding sites in the hopes that fans of your ADL
will provide financial support while you're in development.
Be warned though the competition for funds in this area is fierce,
and keeping a competitive project page can be a lot of work. You'll need to
provide real value to your project backers in return for their support, either
through exclusive items, item discounts, or presale opportunities.
Kickstarter, Indiegogo, fig, and GoFundMe all have large audiences
that you can approach, with Kickstarter being the traditional choice for gaming
projects. A slightly alternative option is Patreon, it's a relatively new
entrant in this space, and has a focus on content creators that provide ongoing
exclusive material for their fan base. Whichever site you choose, it's best to
review what you're planning to develop and evaluate what funding platform has
an audience that is best positioned to appreciate your project.
6. Pre-sales
Another option for making money is through pre-sales of your
premium-priced game. Pre-sales involved letting passionate users purchase the
game before it's ready for release, and in return, they receive an additional
bonus for paying in advance. DLC and other exclusive game content her popular
incentives rewarding presale purchases.
The benefit of pre-sale revenue is that it can be received while
the game is still being worked on, and then can be used to help finance the
final stages of development before finally release.
Pre-sales were much more relevant during the disc and cartridge
days of gaming's tasks as the most passionate fans often turn to pre-sales as a
way to ensure that they got a copy of their favorite title on day one. With
digital distribution, Pre-sales have become less common but can still be found,
especially when developers self distribute through their own storefront.
7. Selling Assets
A less popular opportunity for earning money from a game is to
sell in-game assets from one of the asset marketplaces.
Popular engines like Unreal and unity have online marketplaces
where developers can sell all kinds of assets from 2d and 3d art to animations
to plugins and audio assets. Basically, if you can use it in a game and sell it
on these marketplaces.
8. Sponsorships
One final possibility for generating revenue is to acquire
sponsorship deals and trade in-game placements in return for cash.
This opportunity is similar dad's, but is more
often set up directly with an advertiser as opposed to through an admin. You'll
need a large user base and good contacts with brand owners to make this happen,
which is maybe why we don't see it very often.
