7 Game Developer Success Stories [2023]
Are you passionate about video games and want to turn your hobby into a career? Have you always dreamed of creating your own game and seeing it come to life on the market? If so, then becoming a game developer may be the perfect business opportunity for you.
As a game developer, your job will involve creating, designing, and coding video games from start to finish. This includes coming up with ideas for new games, creating prototypes and mockups, coding the game using programming languages like C++ or Java, and testing and debugging the game to ensure it is functioning properly.
To start and run a successful game development business, you will need a few key things:
A strong foundation in programming and computer science. While you don't need to be an expert programmer, having a strong understanding of programming languages and computer systems will be essential to creating and coding your games.
Creativity and a knack for storytelling. Game development is about more than just coding - it's also about coming up with engaging and immersive storylines that will keep players coming back for more.
Marketing and business skills. Once your game is complete, you'll need to market it and get it in front of potential customers. This will require a strong understanding of social media, digital marketing, and business strategy.
A team of skilled professionals. Depending on the size of your business, you may need to hire a team of developers, artists, and other professionals to help bring your game to life.
With these skills and resources, you can start and run a successful game development business and turn your passion for gaming into a lucrative career.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a game developer:
1. Scirra Ltd ($1.2M/year)
Thomas Gullen (from London, UK) started Scirra Ltd about 12 years ago.
Hello everyone! My name is Thomas Gullen and I’m the co-founder of Construct 3 along with my brother Ashley. Construct 3 is a game engine that allows anyone to make games without needing to know how to code - “Powerpoint for games”. We feel a lot of other low-code/no-code engines slip into cookie-cutter-style game engines, and a primary focus for Construct has always been not to fall into this trap and allow users to have complete control over every aspect of their games. We’ve recently celebrated our 10 years anniversary of starting the business, and it’s a little unnerving how quickly that time has flown by looking back!
We’re currently generating in the region of $100k per month in revenue - a number if you’d told me and Ashley 10 years ago we’d be generating I don’t think either of us would've believed it. We’ve gone through some major transitions in the business, not only the technology choices but also how we charge customers (moving from a pay-once model to subscription-based) and we’ve learned a huge amount along the way which I’m happy to share. I’ve always thought the most important thing when running a business is to minimize the mistakes you could make, and looking back I feel like this is a pretty large part of why we are where we are today.
2. YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE ($30K/year)
Dennis Hensley (from Los Angeles, CA, USA) started YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE almost 5 years ago.
My name is Dennis Hensley and I’m the co-creator along with Jeb Havens of the boxed party game You Don’t Know My Life! It’s been described as “if Cards Against Humanity and your diary got together and had a baby.”
Learn more about starting a game developer:
Where to start?
-> How much does it cost to start a game developer?
-> Pros and cons of a game developer
Need inspiration?
-> Examples of established game developer
-> Marketing ideas for a game developer
Other resources
4. Unity
Make real-time 3D projects for Games, Animation, Film, Automotive, Transportation, Architecture, Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction. Visualize & simulate industrial projects in 3D, AR, & VR.
- Website traffic: 13.1M/month
- Business rank: #1.75K
Check out their full website ➜
5. AMD
- Website traffic: 13.4M/month
- Business rank: #2.29K
Check out their full website ➜
6. Kongregate: Play free games online
Play thousands of free web and mobile games! Discover the best shooters, role playing games, MMO, CCG, tower defense, action games and more!
- Website traffic: 5.32M/month
- Business rank: #5.18K
Check out their full website ➜
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