What are the budgets of indie games made of and why they are increasingly estimated in millions of dollars
Indie developers are sometimes accused of deliberately inflating budgets. Mike Crassweller, senior product manager at Forward Game Studios, disagrees with this. He explained why today budgets from $1 million are a reality that we have to put up with.Please, Don’t Touch Anything 3D
Krassweller told about this in a small thread on Twitter.
He admitted that he wants to scream when someone once again talks about the “greed” of indie developers.
“For a team of 10 people with an average annual salary of $ 60 thousand, two years of development will cost $1.6 million. And this is even before she starts marketing,” said Krassweller. Given that he lives in Dallas, such figures are true primarily for the United States.
In the original post, the amount announced above corresponded to three years of development. However, Krassweller later corrected the statement. The fact is that when assessing the “value” of one employee, he usually does not take a net salary, but multiplies it by 1.35.Every time I see a hot take on how indie games budgets are “bloated” or “greedy” if they’re over $1m, I want to scream. A 10 person team working for 3 years, and an averaged salary of $60,000 USD is going to cost $1.6m at a minimum before you even get into marketing
— Mike Crassweller (@zoomba) December 27, 2021At the same time, even such an approximate calculation does not take into account many factors.
Today it is impossible to hire experienced employees for $ 60 thousand a year — one good programmer can receive from $ 100 thousand in almost any company. In the case of a lower salary, developers will have to make big sacrifices.
Indie games are increasingly having budgets over $4 million, not because of the whim of managers. This amount only guarantees that employees will be able to eat normally, pay rent, start a family and not live from paycheck to paycheck.
“If we expect people to eat instant noodles, live in a house with their parents, or rely on the financial support of their partner, then only a narrow stratum of people will be able to make indie games,” Krassweller stressed.
At the same time, such budget calculations do not include gaming exhibitions, the cost of licenses, outsourcing services, marketing, taxes, accounting, lawyers, etc. It is expensive to make games even with a small team, Krassweller believes.
There are many examples when indie projects are created alone or as a result of great sacrifices. However, this does not mean that such cases are the norm. “I don’t want people to risk their savings and the opportunity to buy food just to make games,” Krassweller concluded.
