Indie games continue to grow rapidly in 2024. With free creativity and unique innovations, indie games are now the first choice of many gamers who want a different experience from AAA games. This popularity is even more evident on the Steam platform, where indie games not only dominate game releases, but also compete in terms of revenue. Let's take a look at how indie games reached this position.
Rapid Growth and Popularity of Indie Games
According to VG InsightsThrough September 2024, indie games generated nearly $4 billion from full-game sales on Steam, accounting for 48% of the platform's total revenue. Interestingly, of the total 13,007 games released on Steam this year, 98.9% of them are indie games. This means that the revenue generated by indie games comes from thousands of titles with varying scales and levels of success. This data shows that while many indie games are released, only some dominate the market, while others still contribute a smaller portion.
Indie Game Market Segmentation
VG Insights divides the indie game market into four segments based on developer team size and revenue:
- Triple-i: Large teams with more than 50 people, revenue of more than $50 million, and sales of more than 1 million copies. This segment accounts for 53% of total indie game revenue in 2024.
- Middle Market: A team of 15-50 people with sales of 200k-1 million copies, and revenue of over $10 million, contributing 19%.
- Small Teams: A small team of 3-15 people, sales of 20-200k copies, and revenue of $1 million, contributing 20%.
- Hobbyists: Individual developers or very small teams (1-2 people), sales of 2-20k copies, and revenue of $50k, contributing 8%.
To understand the huge contribution of indie games to the market, it's important to look at the data clearly. Of the 13,007 games released on Steam, almost all of them are indie games. However, revenue is spread across different levels of success, ranging from small teams to large projects like Triple-i. This means that most indie developers may only contribute a small amount, while some big games account for a very significant share.
With this rapid growth, the market segmentation described by VG Insights helps us understand how the contribution of each category of indie developers may vary depending on the scale and success of their projects.
For example, Black Myth: Wukong, an indie game from the Triple-i segment, managed to achieve $1 billion in revenue on its own. This shows that while most indie games have small revenues, there are some titles that stand out and contribute a significant share to the total industry revenue.
Innovation and Sustainable Success
More experienced indie developers tend to make more. Data from VG Insights shows that on average, the third game released by an indie developer earns $209k, higher than the second game ($168k) and the first game ($120k). This proves that the more experienced a developer is, the greater their chances of success. Innovation is also the key to success, as indie developers are more free to explore fresh ideas without being bound to mainstream market expectations as is the case with AAA games.
A Bright Future for Indie Games
VG Insights predicts that total indie game revenue will reach $4.9 billion by the end of 2024, with sales of 381 million units. This growth of 82% is fueled by the support of an active gamer community and technological innovations that enable indie developers to produce high-quality games that can compete with AAA games in the global market.
Indie games have proven themselves to be a major force in the gaming industry of 2024. With ever-increasing revenue, thousands of indie games are released every year, providing gamers with infinite variety and innovation. For those of you who want to explore the gaming world with a more personalized and creative experience, indie games are the way to go.
Source: VG Insights via Game World Observer
