[2022 update: I just stumbled back on my blog. I wrote this in 2015]
There's been quite a bit of talk recently about how hard it is for indie developers, most notably indie game developers, to make a living, now the "big" names have come in to the market.
I have a few views on this, but first a background:
I've been an app developer since there was app development, I had quite a bit of success early on, and made a bit of money along the way. I never made a game or tried to make a living from making game, so maybe my view on this is a bit slanted?
Anyway, when I left my well paying development job in banking, in 2009 to become a full-time indie app developer, it was a pretty tough decision. The iPhone had only just been released in my country (NZ), and no one really knew what they were. The world Smartphone wasn't in the general psyche yet, and I had two young kids and a mortgage.
What made it a little easier, was that the apps I had in the market, along with Steve Speirs (Hundred Pushups et al), and Terry Monro (Sleepmaker series) were selling well. Really well actually. This was the wild frontier of the app world, Android was still shit, and iPhones really were expensive playthings for the rich. Or at least people that had enough disposable income to justify them.
These were people who didn't mind paying $1.99 to get fit, or get to sleep, when they had been, 2 years prior paying $25 or more for crappy Palm apps on Handango and other sites (yes, I'm old enough to remember that, in fact I started my career as a Palm developer in the 90's).
I'm the first to admit, that our apps were pretty basic, but they scratched and itch, they were a fair price and we did everything we could to keep our customers happy.
I am a bit of a student of the history of computing, I've read pretty much every (good) book on the history of our industry, including the excellent Hackers, which told the story of early computer gaming, where the indies made a LOT of money in the early days, and then publisher came in and basically ruined it for everyone, except the biggest of players, and even then, most failed.
So, basically I always had it in the back of my mind, that this was a short term thing, and to try and make hay while the sun shone.
And it turned out the history repeated itself. The more popular the App Store got, and the more, "hey I make $10k a day from these apps" stories that got told in the press, the more the big boys took notice. And in they came and basically ruined it for everyone. Mostly. Having lived through it, we are our own worst enemy too. There was the race to the bottom, pricing apps first at $4.99, then $1.99, then $0.99c to try and gain traction as more people came in.
I think Apple - and Google to some degree - have to take some responsibility here too - they did nothing to help app visibility, only really used their power to help the big guys promote their branded apps, and really did nothing to stop the current trend of free to play, but costly to enjoy, games that are out there now.
So here we are then. As I look in the "Top Grossing" section of the App Store, the apps in there are pretty gross alright. What can we do, is there even a point trying to make it as an Indie?
Well, I guess if we take a look back at history again, then it will tell us that, yes there is still a point. Good app developers who find a niche, who scratch an itch, or who just do excellent work, can and do profit still today.
Personally, my advice would be to do something you love, do it because you love, pour your heart into it and make the best app you can. If you do that, then you can succeed. If you're not prepared to, or can't afford to do that, then I think it really is hard for an Indie to make it.
On the positive side, there are plenty of success stories out there, and never before have there been so many potential users of your stuff, and more ways to make money that ever before.
As for myself, I sold out a couple of years ago. I'm still doing apps, but someone else pays me to do it. It's not as fun as it used to be, but I'm still doing the things I love, and I might just be able to send my kids to University.
And there's nothing wrong with that either.
No comments:
Post a Comment