{"id":27451,"date":"2024-02-20T12:43:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T03:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=27451"},"modified":"2024-02-20T12:43:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T03:43:44","slug":"20240220-27451","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240220-27451\/","title":{"rendered":"My annual income is under $300 \u2013 Japanese dev on the harsh reality of indie creators\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI just recently finished filing taxes for the past year. The result? My annual income was 40,000 yen. I\u2019m shocked.” The chillingly honest blog entry reporting an annual income of about $270 USD has resonated with many independent creators trying to make a living from their work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/infinitegame_ja\/status\/1759172061627613387?s=20\n<\/div>
Post translation:<\/strong> This is reality. The story about how my annual income came to 40k yen after starting my business (in game development).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japanese indie developer InfiniteGame has two titles out on Steam and the Nintendo Store. They had believed that distribution on the big platforms would give them  an annual income of at least a million yen (about $6.5k), but were faced with a much harsher reality. They analyze the reasons behind their low profits, wondering if they should have made a sequel to their first, well-received title rather than make a new original one \u2013 a dilemma that many creators can likely relate to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just making games is not enough \u2013 this is another point that the developer makes, analyzing how they failed to do sufficient networking in the industry and promote their titles. As opposed to large companies, indie creators need to focus on making their development progress as visible as possible, they comment, as they already have a much smaller target audience than that of major titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Japan\u2019s game industry has been growing stronger,<\/a> with numerous companies implementing wage increases and game developers coming to be regarded as high-level human resources. However, this mostly applies to larger companies, and the increased competitiveness only makes it tougher for small businesses and independent creators to stay afloat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, as InfiniteGame mentions, independent game developers do not have the luxury of focusing solely on making their game, with successful promotion and networking being almost equally as important as the product. While international platforms such as the Steam and Switch stores have given creators access to a large market, generating awareness of their game\u2019s existence in the first place is the pitfall for many. In response to InfiniteGame\u2019s post, other Japanese developers reported similar experiences, such as having made only 5,000 or 30,000 yen in their first year as creators.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

InfiniteGame\u2019s titles Ein\u2019s Sword and Lumiere Magna are available for the PC (Steam<\/a>) and the Nintendo Switch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese indie developer comments on the harsh reality of being an independent creator, reporting an annual income of less than 300$.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":27454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-27451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy annual income is under $300 \u2013 Japanese dev on the harsh reality of indie creators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese indie developer comments on the harsh reality of being an independent creator, reporting an annual income of less than 300$.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240220-27451\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My annual income is under $300 \u2013 Japanese dev on the harsh reality of indie creators\u00a0 - 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