Which VIDEO GAME GENRE to Choose as an INDIE GAME DEVELOPER
324Are you wondering which video game genre to choose as an indie game developer? Maybe you are curious what the highest revenue video game genres are, what is the most popular game genre and what is the best indie game genre?
In this video I take a look at Steam game data provided by Video Game Insights (https://vginsights.com/) to see what are the most popular video game genres and what are the best selling video game genres to help you choose which game genre to pick.
Can I get rich with video games?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45JpSKjE334
⚔️ Mortal Glory 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2216660?utm_source=yt
⚔️ Chambers of Devious Design: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1650860?utm_source=yt
⚔️ Mortal Glory: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1097530?utm_source=yt
🧙 Chat on Discord: https://discord.gg/uhyB8VzcB2
⭐ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RedbeakGames
💎 Patreon - Support to gain perks: https://www.patreon.com/redbeakgames
0:00 Intro
2:05 Main genre comparison
https://vginsights.com/ has an overview of the main video game genres by popularity (released games in last 365 days) and how their estimated revenue numbers differ from each other. I go through the genres in more detail in the video, but here is a quick list of the order:
MMO - 147 games, $16k median revenue
Racing - 345 games, $7k median revenue
Sports - 419 games, $8k median revenue
RPG - 1551 games, $15k median revenue
Strategy - 1703 games, $12k median revenue
Simulation - 1859 games, $13k median revenue
Adventure - 3528 games, $10k median revenue
Action - 3800 games, $8k median revenue
Casual - 3948 games, $4k median revenue
There are many other variables also, but based on this data, I would say that RPG, Strategy and Simulation are the best genres for indies.
8:13 Sub genre peek
The site also has data on sub-genres. That data requires a subscription so I won't go through it all, but I will give a few examples. You can also take a look at the sub-genre details for free by going to the Steam Analytics view and playing around with the filters. But you won’t be able to get a quick & handy overview of the data.
4X - 35 games, $241k median revenue
Exploration - 1112 games, $24k median revenue
Puzzle - 1847 games, $9k median revenue
I wouldn’t start making a 4X game just because it’s high on this chart though as they are really demanding to make and it's (almost) impossible to make a small-scale 4X game.
11:15 Indie game vs AAA/AA revenues
It was my assumption that a lot of the differences in the revenue numbers were influenced by how many indie games there were compared to triple A games. So I went ahead and collected a bit of data from the site of paid games from the last 3 years and then separated them into Indie games and non-Indie games.
Based on this data, the Casual, Adventure and RPG genres seem to be the most welcoming to indie game developers. On the other hand, in Sports, MMO and Simulation genres, bigger studios are making more money.
Of course you do have to take into account that for example the Simulation category still has a decent amount of indie games and a high median revenue so it could just be that there’s more money flowing into this category and while big triple A titles are swimming in cash, there’s still plenty for indies also.
13:04 Final thoughts
My opinion on all this is that while the data is interesting to look at, you definitely shouldn’t base your decisions just on it. If you really love some genre, don’t avoid making a game for it just because of the data says so.
Just know that, if your genre is not so popular or it is highly contested, you might need to work a bit harder or spice things up more to better stand out from the competition.
Analyzing your competition is one of the things I would really focus on. Consider, which game will your game be compared to and can you somehow stand out in this comparison? Maybe you can do something better or maybe you have an interesting hook that will really spice up the conventional genre tropes?