How much did I make in 2022 as indie game developer?

Where did my money come from in 2022? Without a new game release, HOW did I even make money? Check it out!
Demo + Wishlist Regulator City: store.steampow...
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I'm Pascal a Dutch independent game developer since 2004 known as Orangepixel. I created various games including Residual, the Gunslugs series, Heroes of Loot series, Space Grunts series, Stardash and the Meganoid series released on PC, mobile and various consoles.

[@fidistheone4829]

Full respect man, you are one of those few people who fills me with determination that I might in the end become full indie and ditch the work for hire stuff we do to sustain ourselves.

[@orangepixelgames]

I'm cheering for you!

[@Yoni123]

how much did he make?

[@LonelyOrAlone]

I love your videos because you're not another one of those proclaiming the great indie dream. A basic setup, hard work and a realistic view of how much money is enough to see your games or your business as successful. Yeah, releasing the next Stardew Valley or Hollow Knight would be cool, but that won't happen. So you're basically the kind of indie dev I hope to become. Thank you for sharing those weekly insights in a real, down-to-earth indie game dev business.

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks, best description of what I'm trying to do with this KZbin channel! 🙂

[@cfffba]

You're my great inspiration. I released my first indie game on Steam a month ago and I'm currently at $8k. I hope I'll be able to do this full time, forever. Wish me luck :)

[@orangepixelgames]

That's a good start! Now release it on other platforms and create the next game! 🙃

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

Just found your channel. Very cool to hear the business and "adult" side of being a indie game developer. Another sub for you sir!

[@ChristopherCricketWallace]

make that two subs!

[@iainkey5102]

Great to hear you’ve hit your targets for this year! I was slightly surprised that mobile is still so high but I guess that’s just the long tail effect I quite like the hat! 😂 Have a Happy New Year and best of luck with your releases next year! 🎉

[@orangepixelgames]

I'm also surprised that mobile is still do much to be honest! And I do also like the hat 🤪. See you on the other end!

[@Shadowstorm5400]

I really appreciate this type of video especially as someone looking to open an indie game studio as well. The amount of transparency and the explanation behind you business plans show that there really are soo many more places to launch a game besides the big 3, PC, Mobile, and Consoles. I didn't know that you could make games for the atari system and ir cade. Thank you for the video and keep up the hard work!

[@orangepixelgames]

Happy to give people the realistic numbers and facts of doing game development business 🙃

[@Xero_Wolf]

Damn.... for 50,000 euros you can legit live in my country (Grenada) for 3 years and not lift a finger. Thank you for posting this video. Gave me a lot of insightful information.

[@orangepixelgames]

Very tempting to move there 😁

[@bailwl6]

This exactly explains the problem with the Netherlands and similar countries high tax structure. He's actively discouraged from working harder and producing more value for society because of the absurdly high tax rates that start as low as 60k/year. Countries should incentivize creators and entrepreneurs by lowering taxes on those earning honest upper-middle income.

[@orangepixelgames]

Agree with the crazy taxes, but I also don't need/desire to work harder just to have more money. I prefer having enough and more free time 😉

[@johnjohnes698]

because leftism

[@Studio_VDS]

Thanks for sharing. Great to see many appreciate your openness and realistic view of indie gamedev too :) happy new year Pascal 🎉 Lets make the prototype something cool!

[@orangepixelgames]

happy new year ! it will be cool.. and have a better name than prototype! :D

[@OandCoGames]

Thanks for the excellent info! That hat is genuinely fantastic.

[@ViewerRG]

Sir thank you for all of the value you provide in ALL of your videos. I remember my first encounter with your videos, I could instantly see the value you present. Thanks again and god bless you

[@veryeld]

Glad to see the year was successful money wise for you. Veel succes for next year!

[@orangepixelgames]

Tank joe!!😜

[@ollie_r8162]

I love watching your videos, especially on a shitty morning. Takes me from being down to "Hell yeah let's get coding". Can't wait to play Regulator City, takes me back to Cannon Fodder on the Amiga haha. Also, cool hat.

[@orangepixelgames]

Ha! Glad I got to lift your shitty morning/day into a productive one 😜

[@wordofmike]

That last tip - huge. I shall protect all my limbs. Great video. Let’s keep going!

[@AndrisGameDev]

Congrats Pascal! It is all well deserved! Also happy new year to you!

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks, and belated happy new year back at ya 😜

[@thegamingvan]

Thanks for the insights! I'm just starting off as solo gamedev. So this information was really valuable for me :)

[@orangepixelgames]

good luck on your journey ! :D

[@GameArts1]

Cool game concepts. Especially the regulator city pixel art and the Residual poster art are tight. (Plus its just awesome to see a dutch game dev thrive)

[@orangepixelgames]

Hey bedankt! :)

[@MichaelKocha]

Man, those low yearly expenses sound so nice. Congrats on finding that sweet spot of not going too big and having a ton of expenses and a team to pay, but big enough to live comfortably and do what you love.

[@orangepixelgames]

Yeah I love my low yearly business expenses 😁 (excluding all the non Business expenses in the vid)

[@AkashGameDev]

I am so happy for you! Great video, I genuinely like the fact that you are so different than those Indie Game Devs. Congratulations and a Happy New year!

[@orangepixelgames]

Happy new year back at ya! :)

[@TheSimwhi]

A great video, Pascal! Really inspiring! Many thanks.

[@orangepixelgames]

Glad it inspires!

[@jesper86broberg]

Love your reasoning 2min 40sec. More people should think like that!

[@amorak223]

Thanks for the transparency. I'm trying to transition into the game dev field and this video gives me hope.

[@orangepixelgames]

your mileage may vary ! been doing it for a long time now.

[@RichardEricCollins]

Thanks for sharing. Is the 60k you state after the person who does your ports have had their cut? Is it gross earnings or net?

[@orangepixelgames]

Yes it's my goal after costs, but before income tax

[@limmmi]

Great video! Inspiring for my future career as a indie game dev. Realistic and to the point. Sorry to hear your business and banking frustrations, always envious of people living in europe, but then here in New Zealand, we dont need a business bank and insurance. And accounting is extremely basic (plus you can develop games on the beach in summer).

[@orangepixelgames]

every part of the world has it's pro's and con's ! ;)

[@BlackHiveMedia]

Respect, man! Always a treat hearing your insight.

[@orangepixelgames]

Glad my insights are pleasing you 😅

[@marte1587]

happy new year and .. keep programming games!

[@orangepixelgames]

happy new year back at ya!

[@funlabsdesignstudio]

Hugely inspiring, because business especially within the self employed, creative industries can be very difficult at first when developing clientele too. As an artist and aspiring game developer myself there are times when you feel as though you are literally juggling all your business responsibilities melded together with your home responsibilities like a confusing mess of time management 🤣 especially when you also have a family hahaha. Buuut, and a huge but... Once continuous clientele comes in for projects or you are financially sustainable to be able to work on what you love to work on. It makes it all worth it! I would love to be fully self sufficient someday as you are with your indie game company and with strong determination I know I can. Truly inspiring video and definitely hitting that Subscribe button! Cheers!

[@orangepixelgames]

Happy to see my videos and journey inspire people!

[@AndreaDoimo]

Some nice insights here. Thank you!

[@orangepixelgames]

Glad my insights are of use to others! ;)

[@BAR4L]

downloaded the demo cant wait to play tomorrow after work and keep you updated on my experience with it hope it helps !!

[@orangepixelgames]

enjoy the demo! :)

[@nexuzinnovation-com]

at 7:04, what Atari development platform are you releasing your games, can you share that programming platform and requirements ?

[@orangepixelgames]

The new Atari VCS (Kickstarter from a few years ago) it's at it's core a Linux PC nothing special needed! (Atari.com)

[@GrahamOfLegend]

Love this for you. Another year under your belt 🍻

[@orangepixelgames]

👍👊

[@VanTheuni]

Very informative, thanks for sharing 🙏.

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks for watching!

[@SvenGarson]

The amount of stress this must induce initially is insane - I wish I was creative enough to do this sort of work! Hats off to you. I wonder why this channel is not more popular?

[@orangepixelgames]

Oh there's stress sometimes for sure :) mostly when it's getting close to releasing something! Rest of the time it's fairly stress-free and just a lot of fun working on games

[@SvenGarson]

@@orangepixelgames That's your 20 years of experience talking ;) What's the hardest aspect of your work for you personally? Since you do design; programming; testing; marketing; sales; contracts; lots of art; a bunch of platforms ... Most people have this dream, but not the capacity required

[@orangepixelgames]

@@SvenGarson hardest aspect is the actual selling the game :) I'm already stressing/nervous for the two games I'm working on and how to make sure they sell enough to continue on the next project. That's the biggest down-side of doing it solo, and the hardest aspect. Every new release feels like you start from 0

[@SvenGarson]

@@orangepixelgames Well you have an old and consistent track record, so that's great for funding I suppose. There's no lack of games these days. So you fight the noise (lots of crappy projects) while hoping that "the market" likes your thing enough to support you. Game designers/developers work in the dark a lot. Nothing is certain. Woof. "You''ll figure it out" anyways, if it's you against a bunch of new and in-experienced devs with no backlog - I know who'll win ;)

[@SanderE39]

Die stoel is niet arbo verantwoord kerel! Nice story thanks for taking the time to explain exactly how much you make, can be a difficult subject for us Dutch people.

[@orangepixelgames]

Haha als de stoel niet meer lekker zit is het tijd om het buro omhoog te draaien te staan 😜 haven't had back problems for years !

[@ZeroTraceOperative]

I actually want that hat, where can I get one? Looked around but cant find one specifically like it. Great vid btw!

[@orangepixelgames]

I think my wife got it from Ali Express somewhere..

[@Neutronized]

interesting insights, thanks for sharing!

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks for watching! 😁

[@venumspyder]

How do you find these other third party mobile stores to sell your games on? Or do you use a publisher for this?

[@orangepixelgames]

They often find me, probably cause I have a lot of (premium/non-free) games out there.

[@theclimbto1]

Not going to lie, my man. That light hat rocks. Of course, I'm stuck in 1987.

[@orangepixelgames]

Ha! Yeah it's properly 80s coolness 😎

[@MuhammadEjaz-me4gx]

Hi I'm from Pakistan. I like your videos. May Allah help you make a new game this year. I also want to be indie. But don't know where to start. Please make guiding videos also. Indie industry need more from the survivors like you. Keep it up young man you can do this. Blessings!!

[@orangepixelgames]

Bonus points for calling me young man 😏

[@hdort]

With regards to your costs: you don't have any health insurance? Isn't that mandatory? Also, don't you have any kind of pension fonds? Anyway, I am looking forward to the next 20(-ish) years of Orangepixel! Best of luck for the upcoming year!

[@orangepixelgames]

I do have health insurance (mandatory in the Netherlands) but that's not included in the business expenses but in private expenses (like the mortgage, food, etc). And pension-savings are also not done through business income.

[@bonehelm]

Where do you find artists to do the high res marketing material?

[@orangepixelgames]

Artstation, Deviantart, Twitter sometimes

[@prcs420]

geweldige video, dank je wel! ik vind jouw pet leuk haha

[@orangepixelgames]

Haha ik vind mijn pet ook leuk 😅

[@UltimoGames]

Making games only costs me money and lots of time and headaches.. Since 2008! What a life..

[@orangepixelgames]

Haha yeah there's that part also! 😅

[@khanlakhno2757]

The hat is really cool, man

[@Joomsan]

I don't know if I missed it, but how much of the mobile revenue is from premium and from ads? Also who does your cover art? Thanks.

[@BramOuwerkerk]

I would guess 99,9% is from premium as almost all his games are premium

[@Joomsan]

@@BramOuwerkerk I totally forgot that, thanks. I do have few of OrangePixels games on my mobile. Meganoid had a free version years ago?

[@orangepixelgames]

I did free versions years ago, but these days it's pretty much all premium revenue coming in. Cover art are different artists 🙃

[@Jt9393synyster]

@@orangepixelgames I have a bunch of games on Steam that are mobile friendly, thinking about porting them to Android, how do you make money from premium since most of the mobile market is ad based?

[@venumspyder]

On a side note do you support Vulkan in your engine? I currently support Direct3D, OpenGL ES, and Metal. I am currently trying to add Vulkan support to my engine and I am surprised about how complicated it is to set up. Thanks for posting your year end review!

[@orangepixelgames]

No Vulkan support yet!

[@AgentWaltonSimons]

1:58 - "almost 20 years now". I know that look; I suggest just not thinking about it too hard ;)

[@orangepixelgames]

🤣 it's weird to think about it!

[@JulianFernandez]

thanks for sharing

[@jackredrum3840]

Great as usual, Pascal! Ciao!

[@orangepixelgames]

Ciao!

[@ocarina33]

cool hat bro :) u survived this year again :D

[@kinsondigital]

You said that you do all of your own game artwork. Can I ask what tools you use for creating the game artwork?

[@orangepixelgames]

I use Gimp mostly

[@inappdesign]

Epic Game Store now has self publishing, it should be a lot easier to get your games on there.

[@rokker333]

Thanks for the insight :) May I ask where you get reliable, affordable and good artists for graphics and sound?

[@orangepixelgames]

you hunt them down! :D I got some contacts through Twitter but also artstation, and some just drop an email in my mailbox!

[@rokker333]

@@orangepixelgames Haha, thx :) I hoped more for a simple hiring process through some search engine. But I see, it is really that difficult and I am doing nothing wrong. ;)

[@saulnores3477]

Hi Pascal. One question, have you tried selling games in your domain/ website so you don't pay percentages to Steam and others?

[@orangepixelgames]

It can be done, but even "big" sites like Epic, Humble, GoG, and Itch.io struggle to even come close to the sales on Steam - Gamers simply prefer playing their games on Steam! And I would then have to do a LOT of advertising to just get people to my own website, and then convince them to buy the games there :) - it's possible, but not a route I want to invest my time in

[@saulnores3477]

@@orangepixelgames thank you Pascal. Excellent answer.

[@ys1197]

I would say to put the game on all store fronts you can. Including your own website. If you can handle the management that can come up with that. I say it's worth it

[@TimConceivable]

that's weird that you have to pay to open a bank account. i've never paid anything to open an account. i'm not sure if there are transfer fees for me because i never do that (i use paypal or venmo occasionally, not my bank). the only fees i end up paying are if my balance goes negative (which i don't let happen).

[@TimConceivable]

also agree insurance is a scam! if you lose a hand, you could look into voice-to-text software to keep coding. :D

[@orangepixelgames]

I guess they took banking to the next corrupt level over here! Can't live with it or without it, certainly can't do business without!

[@squaxcom]

Hey Pascal, great video would you ever consider publishing other peoples games?

[@orangepixelgames]

Yes, but it depends on the game. It would need to fit with the Orangepixel brand

[@TheBlackbirdii]

you can release your games on tesla (arcade)systems

[@orangepixelgames]

I could actually! 🙃🤪

[@TheBlackbirdii]

@@orangepixelgames more income source

[@frostwoodinteractive]

30$ a month from KZbin, with 12K subs?! I've been working on growing my own channel for my game stuff, so that is kinda tough to hear. But at the same time, my main motivation with the channel is to bring in more players for and attention to my games through my videos, so I guess the YT income doesn't matter much. Still always shocking to hear how much time and effort it takes to earn off a YT channel!

[@orangepixelgames]

More money can come from sponsors, I had a few of those deals, and then we're talking about $500 for maybe 1 minute of special content inside a normal video. And that was before I hit the 10k subs, so right now it would probably be a bit more. But finding sponsors can be hard (or I just haven't tried hard enough 🤣)

[@frostwoodinteractive]

@@orangepixelgames Ahh, I forgot about that possibility! That makes a lot of sense. There's some hope then :D Thanks for responding!

[@axs203]

This is interesting. You didn't mention your costs when it came to the game engine. Which engine do you use please? Which plan do you use? Thanks

[@orangepixelgames]

own engine build on java/libgdx - which is all free

[@axs203]

@@orangepixelgames Wow. Thanks. That makes you think. I guess if you added Unity costs in then it might make it much more difficult. This was very insightful. Thank you

[@orangepixelgames]

@@axs203 Unity has a Free plan that most devs I know are on, so doesn't have to cost a lot more I think?

[@sergiorodrigoroyo5079]

​@@orangepixelgames they've moved consoles support to the highest cost tier I'm afraid.

[@orangepixelgames]

@@sergiorodrigoroyo5079 did they? I'm not a Unity user myself, so don't keep track of it :D

[@ghosttie]

Nice hat!

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks!

[@DUSKOsound]

Great video

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks!

[@adkinsy85]

Did you do any marketing for your games, how people found out that your game is available

[@orangepixelgames]

Yes, social media, press releases, KZbin videos, contacting streamers, building discord community, all of the usual stuff

[@adkinsy85]

@@orangepixelgames youtube keep deleting my comments here 😭

[@CoffeeAI201]

That light is cool man

[@orangepixelgames]

It kinda is.. don't tell my wife I said that 😁

[@mauricioventura1901]

How long did it take you to start making a livable salary from indie game dev?

[@orangepixelgames]

The first few years I also did work-for-hire projects for other companies, so not counting that period, I'd say 4-5 years to be brave enough to stop doing side-gigs ;)

[@voon7820]

Makes me want to save up 100k Euro and move to Netherlands. Then I can fool around for 2year try to setup my Indie career

[@orangepixelgames]

then why not save up 100k euro and move to Thailand, or Vietnam, and never work again ;)

[@voon7820]

@@orangepixelgames That will be plan B and C after I tried Holland ;P Am from South East Asia btw, quite familiar with Thai and Viet

[@orangepixelgames]

Haha, well let me know when you arrive in Holland 👍😁

[@AlhambraDream]

You are my inspiration

[@orangepixelgames]

🙏 glad to inspire!

[@kian8595]

cool

[@familiablancosanchez9462]

I am amazed at how much money you make on mobile!

[@orangepixelgames]

It's still a good amount of my yearly revenue (I was surprised when making the pie chart!)

[@johnmoss4624]

regulator city looks awesome

[@orangepixelgames]

Thanks!

[@WOLVERINEUN]

Usefull video

[@emanueltejadacoste2250]

But what if instead 60k year, you suddenly make 800k? I would like to know your thoughts on that

[@orangepixelgames]

I'd pay a lot of taxes, and then probably take a long break from working 😁

[@emanueltejadacoste2250]

@@orangepixelgames 😂👌

[@overPowerPenguin]

@@orangepixelgames Or move fast for 6 months in other country with less taxes and pay them there.

[@orangepixelgames]

@@overPowerPenguin haha that might be more costly and time consuming ;)

[@overPowerPenguin]

@@orangepixelgames depends. There are places in E.U. with low taxes and rent, Bulgaria, Romania for example. Well, when you hit 800k/year, I'm sure you know what will you do 😄.

[@Tbjbu2]

Finally new vid

[@orangepixelgames]

Woohoo! Took a whole week!

[@Tbjbu2]

@@orangepixelgames Ikr takes forever every time I wait !

[@real-neo-altair]

Why not write in mono right away? Why such redundancy?

[@orangepixelgames]

I'm very fluent and fast in Java and my own framework. AND I often already started a "quick little project" before I finish the last game, and then turn that project into the next game. So there's very little room for me to learn new tools :D (or I don't give myself that time). Besides, the port from my framework to monogame is the easy part, all the other work to make things work and play nicely according to console rules is the extra work, and I don't mind putting that on somebody else's shoulders so I can focus on the new games.

[@real-neo-altair]

@@orangepixelgames thank you, I will follow your approach. Also, it supports what I heard that you should use the engine that you are most efficient in. I'm an android developer so I know Kotlin very well. I was struggling so much with GameMaker before I switched to LibGDX and now I actually make progress. I was only worried that C# is so similar to Java that it's basically the same thing plus the console support. On the other hand, supporting consoles is such a remote perspective at this point that It should not spend even a second thinking about it. am I correct? btw. I just visited Amsterdam recently, very beautiful country and a nice place to live.

[@dukeelma7ala]

how much did u make u didnt mention i ni t

[@orangepixelgames]

I mention my goal is between 50-60k, and at that part I also mention that I made the goal and a little over it.

[@Mr21tstrong]

First like and comment Woo

[@orangepixelgames]

Woohoo!

[@ascension6699]

what country you live in? sounds pretty rough to be honest.

[@orangepixelgames]

Netherlands! But what makes you think it's rough? :)

[@1Chitus]

I love your videos because you're not another one of those proclaiming the great indie dream. A basic setup, hard work and a realistic view of how much money is enough to see your games or your business as successful. Yeah, releasing the next Stardew Valley or Hollow Knight would be cool, but that won't happen. So you're basically the kind of indie dev I hope to become. Thank you for sharing those weekly insights in a real, down-to-earth indie game dev business.