Video games are one of the most popular industries in the world, valued at roughly $159.3 billion in 2023. Setting aside the factors behind that huge number, it's worth looking at the ways games actually generate profit
Making money from game development is a goal for many developers. However, achieving success in this field isn't easy—it takes high technical and creative skills, along with a deep understanding of the games industry and its audience
In this article, I'll go over 8 of the most important ways to profit from game development, whether by developing a game itself or through other methods, along with a few small tips at the end
As a Job
You can work as a freelancer, offering services online, or work at game development companies and studios—neither requires you to be a fully independent game developer; it's enough to excel in a specific specialty like programming or design
1- Freelancing
This is an appealing option, since it lets you work from anywhere in the world and with many clients across different games. That said, there are some challenges you should be aware of before you start
One of the main challenges of freelancing is finding clients. There are several ways to find one, such as freelancing platforms, social networks, or game development communities. Still, it can take some time to find one that's right for you
Another challenge of freelancing is managing your time and money. When you're a full-time employee, you get a fixed salary and a set schedule. As a freelancer, you're responsible for organizing your own time and money, and you need to create a budget and manage yourself
Finally, the main challenge of freelancing is competition. There are a lot of independent developers in the market, so it's important to stand out. Make sure you have strong skills, solid knowledge, and a strong portfolio
2- Traditional Employment
Companies and studios let you work on large projects with an experienced team. Although this kind of job comes with a stable income, it's worth mentioning its main challenges too
One challenge shared with freelancing is competitiveness—it exists here too, but in a different form. You need to work on your CV and fill it with everything a company or studio might be looking for
There's also commitment. When you're a full-time employee, you're bound to a fixed schedule and certain expectations. You may need to work long hours, travel, or relocate to a new city
Employment doesn't just come with a fixed salary—it also comes with other benefits like health insurance, paid leave, or even courses and tools provided by the company itself to help you grow
Your Own Game
Like any other tech field, you can work in game development for other people, either as a freelancer or an employee, or you can create your own personal projects that earn you money. In this case, your personal project is your own game
Assuming you have the ability and skills for it, here's a set of ways to profit from your own game
3- A Paid Game
Paid games are games that players have to buy before playing. You could say this is the traditional approach: make your own game, then put it in game stores and profit from players buying it
The most notable thing about paid games (aside from making whatever you want) is their ability to generate income without needing you to work on them directly—passive income. This way, you can go on to make other games and repeat the same process
That said, paid games also come with some difficulties, including:
Risk: you might spend your money, effort, and time on it, and in the end nobody buys it :(
Marketing
Setting the right price
4- Ads
If paid games were the traditional approach in the past, ads are the most popular method today—you'll hardly find a mobile game without ads, and Google is soon planning to launch its own platform for placing ads in browser (web) games
Ads are a good way to profit from your games, but the earnings aren't guaranteed or fixed, since the amount depends on several factors like impressions, clicks, and even which countries the ad appears in
The most important thing is not to annoy players by showing them too many ads, so they don't get turned off from your game
I should also note that a lot of ads are not permissible in Islam, so caution is warranted with this method
5- In-Game Purchases
Micro-transactions are purchases of products inside the game—you can sell in-game items for real money, such as cosmetics, skins, and so on
This method has a mixed reputation—a lot of players dislike it because it leads to pay-to-win, meaning players can buy items in the game to win more easily
But others have started seeing it as a great investment method thanks to the popularity of NFTs—buying in-game products that can't be obtained again through other means, then reselling them to other players at a higher price
As for the products themselves, they can be cosmetic items like clothing or other items that don't affect gameplay, digital currencies players can use to buy in-game products, or even entirely new levels
6- Selling Source Files
This isn't a widespread method, but it's worth mentioning since it does exist. It's a simple method that relies on developing a game, then selling its files to companies or individuals so they can profit from it themselves. But you should be careful about 3 things
First, make sure you have full ownership rights to the files. If the game was created as part of a commercial project, you might not hold full ownership rights—the same applies to translations and other elements. If you got help from someone else or used ready-made files, make sure you have the necessary licenses to sell those files
Second, set an appropriate price. The price should reflect the game's quality and complexity
Third, provide support to the customers who buy the files from you. They may want help modifying the game or fixing issues. This way, you also get the freelance work we talked about at the beginning
Other Ways
Here are two other ways to profit from game development, but this time you won't be working in the field itself—rather, you'll profit by leveraging the game development skills you have
7- Selling Assets
Assets are all the files related to producing a game, such as graphics, designs, script files, and helper tools like level-building tools
I talked in a previous article about assets in game development and how to obtain them, but this time you can flip that around—instead of getting them, you can now make your own assets and sell them in those stores
Article: Assets in Game Development
Those assets usually need to be reviewed by the store before appearing on the front page, and even though that review takes a lot of time, it's worth the effort
You can easily create several different assets and publish each of them on the store, which is a kind of passive income—no need to worry much about the product after putting it up in the store, aside from some marketing
8- Teaching Game Development
This is the last method for today's article, and it's the most popular method in any field by far—instead of profiting from the field itself, you can profit from teaching this field to others
You can create your own courses to teach game development, whether teaching the whole field or just one specialty, meaning you focus on one aspect of game development, then put that course on platforms specialized in selling courses, like Udemy
Creating courses, giving private lessons, writing articles or books, holding seminars and lectures—these are all ways to teach and educate on the field. As for profiting from them, it's either by selling that knowledge directly, or through whatever monetization options are tied to it
If you feel you're capable of helping Kinmatik by writing paid articles, get in touch with us now
Summary
With that, I've covered the most important 8 ways to profit from game development, and here's a summary of all of them
- Employment:
- Freelancing: working for clients
- Traditional employment: working at companies and studios
- Creating your own game
- Create a game and put it in stores as a paid title
- Use ads
- Sell in-game products like skins and other cosmetics
- Sell the source files to companies and individuals
- Other
- Create assets and sell them in game asset stores
- Teach game development
Let me know your opinion—which of these methods do you prefer the most, and is there anything I didn't mention? Share your own approach with us