SiteRip Is it worth it to become an AVNdeveloper?

[somethingLikeUser]

I've been thinking for quite a while about trying myself in AVN (adult visual novel) development. The only problem is — I'm not sure if it's worth it. I'm hoping your answer will help me make the final decision.

Purpose:

Right now I'm in a phase of life where I really need to earn some money. Not urgently, but steadily. And I’d love to combine my two hobbies — programming and my interest in visual novels — and try to profit from it. The desire to create my own AVN game has been with me for a long time.

Questions:

The main question is — can this actually be profitable?

I've been around the AVN scene for a while now, and I see that some games like *Summertime Saga*, *Desert Stalker*, *Fetish Locator*, and others are bringing solid income to their devs via Patreon and even Steam. But I also understand that AVNs are a niche, and the audience is smaller compared to general games.

So — is it realistic to reach about $2000 per month? I understand it’s quite a goal, but I do need to make a living.

Also, I'm wondering about marketing: even if you make a great game — without promotion it may go unnoticed. Where do people advertise AVN projects? Or is there a chance that a well-made game can go viral on its own?

My Skills:

- Programming: Lua, Rust, Python
- Lots of free time
- Strong motivation
- Some experience in game development
- Lacking visual art skills (but planning to compensate using AI-based tools for 3D image and animation generation)
- also I had played in a lot AVN and Iknow what people actually want
- have a few game idead

I'm hoping for an honest and detailed answer — because this might define the direction of my future.

 

[Kodacho]

When you enter the adult game industry as a developer, of course you want to create something that generates a lot of money. However, please be aware that only a small percentage of those developers earn enough with their games to make it their primary source of income. Your initial goals should be to see this as a fun learning experience.

You get to work on many facets of the development pipeline (coding, writing, marketing, etc.). And you also get to interact with a lot of people, and if you are curious to learn, you will stumble across something new daily.

Making a good game costs a lot of effort (time, money, and often a combination of those two). But don't forget: it's hard for adult game developers to make money, but this industry is considered "niche", which means that the chance of earning money is higher than when you're a "normal" indie developer.

Parody game:

• Easier writing: characters and lore exist
• Might have many fans, so can become popular more quickly
• Main platform: Patreon

Non-parody:

• Much more freedom
• Main monetization platform will be Steam: a lot more potential customers, which could mean more money

There are smarter and more experienced people around here who might have better tips and tricks for you. Good luck!

 

[Count Morado]

I've been thinking for quite a while about trying myself in AVN (adult visual novel) development. The only problem is — I'm not sure if it's worth it. I'm hoping your answer will help me make the final decision.

Purpose:

Right now I'm in a phase of life where I really need to earn some money. Not urgently, but steadily. And I’d love to combine my two hobbies — programming and my interest in visual novels — and try to profit from it. The desire to create my own AVN game has been with me for a long time.

Questions:

The main question is — can this actually be profitable?

I've been around the AVN scene for a while now, and I see that some games like *Summertime Saga*, *Desert Stalker*, *Fetish Locator*, and others are bringing solid income to their devs via Patreon and even Steam. But I also understand that AVNs are a niche, and the audience is smaller compared to general games.

So — is it realistic to reach about $2000 per month? I understand it’s quite a goal, but I do need to make a living.

Also, I'm wondering about marketing: even if you make a great game — without promotion it may go unnoticed. Where do people advertise AVN projects? Or is there a chance that a well-made game can go viral on its own?

My Skills:

- Programming: Lua, Rust, Python
- Lots of free time
- Strong motivation
- Some experience in game development
- Lacking visual art skills (but planning to compensate using AI-based tools for 3D image and animation generation)
- also I had played in a lot AVN and Iknow what people actually want
- have a few game idead

I'm hoping for an honest and detailed answer — because this might define the direction of my future.

This has been asked and answered DOZENS of times, if not over 100 times. You could have easily searched and found your answer.

Here's the TL;DR: Get a traditional job and develop your game as a hobby/side gig. $2000/month? About a 2% chance the first year and upwards about 14% chance after more than 4 years of development. If you want to do it as a passion project and be happy if it catches fire and you can make a living on it - but if you don't, it's not the end of the world because you are enjoying what you are doing by making something you have always wanted to see come to fruition - then do it. If you are looking for steady income - get a traditional job.

The LONG VERSION: For every Dark Cookie (Summertime Saga) there are over 100 other developers who make pennies per hour they have invested their lives in creating an adult video game.

This has been asked SOOOOOOOOO many times, I have been tracking earning potential on Patreon for the past 3 years at the end of the calendar years:

UPDATED FOR 2024 DECEMBER
Data of the 8,685 adult game creators on Patreon used to create this analysis comes from:

You must be registered to see the links

Of the 8,685 creators, 6,650 have paid subscribers.
Of the 2,035 creators who do not have paid subscribers, 137 started in the past 365 days.
The 1,898 creators who do not have a paid subscriber and have had a Patreon creator account for longer than 365 are not included in this analysis.

This analysis is of the 6,787 creators who have paid subscribers or started in the previous 365 days.
Of those, 4,165 make their earning public (61.4%). Using their data, creators receive an average of $4.50 per paid subscriber each month (that's down 3-cents from last year).

Where monthly earnings are supplied, they are used. Where the earnings are not disclosed, the figure is determined by multiplying the number of paid memberships times the average monthly subscription as listed above (Monthly Earnings = # paid memberships X $4.50)

However, I am also including a figure that is half that. Again, if monthly earnings are supplied, they are used. However, based upon looking at various developers numbers prior to their decision to not disclose their earnings - it appears that the actual average is closer to $2-$3 per paid membership. This is comparable to paid memberships across the entire Patreon site.

$4.50 paid sub avg	$2.25 paid sub avg.
View attachment 4378154​	View attachment 4378156​
View attachment 4378163​	View attachment 4378158​
View attachment 5001420​

So, use this data with a grain of salt - this is for large data purposes - not to determine exact figures for any individual developer.

Spoiler: 2023 Post

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Spoiler: 2022 post

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So, yes, my original memory was slightly off on the upper end, but it still stands that "if you're doing this because you think this is going to be more lucrative than a traditional job in a brick-and-mortar business or a great way to earn extra money to supplement your current income or a rainmaker to get you to your first million" then a person is sadly mistaken.

If anyone is interested, attached is a CSV of the information I used (for 2022, 2023, and 2024).

And Steam is only slightly better than Patreon, in terms of earnings for the vast majority of adult game developers - as shown with a quick look at the data this week:

FIFY

EDIT 1: A quick look at the median game listed on Steam with the tags "sexual content" AND "nudity" AND "mature" that have been released up through today, there are 4220 listed on Gamalytic with estimated revenues. There are other sites, but the ones I looked at required creating an account, etc. This was a quick look up. Of the 4220, about 120 or so have no sales/no price. So that leaves about 4100 that Gamalytic has to work from.

The median game has an estimated revenue of $6.5k. Some of those games making that estimated revenue were released this year. Some of those games were released over 5 years ago. But the median is $6.5k USD.

View attachment 5019336
That is before Steam's 30% cut. Taking that out, that makes it $4.6k USD median. For a game released this year - that's over $700 per month. For a game released at the end of 2019, that's about $70 per month.

EDIT 2:

Release Year	Median Estimated Lifetime Revenue (after Steam cut)	Appr Avg/Mth	Screenshot
2025​	$422​	$140​	View attachment 5019370​
2024​	$2,660​	$222​	View attachment 5019416​
2023​	$2,450​	$102​	View attachment 5019417​
2022​	$1,680​	$47​	View attachment 5019428​
2021​	$4,200​	$88​	View attachment 5019430​
2020​	$9,660​	$161​	View attachment 5019438​
2019​	$17,220​	$239​	View attachment 5019443​
2018​	$44,170​	$525​	View attachment 5019445​

So, based upon this data, I would say listing an adult game on Steam does show that it has the potential of earning double per month on that platform, on average, than that a person might see if they only used Patreon as their funding platform.

We are still comparing apples to oranges, however, due to comparing a far higher number of completed games on Steam when considering that Patreon is primarily a funding platform used by developers while building their games. Yes, there are similar games on Steam - but not to the extent seen on Patreon. This is similar to when people compare "Japanese games" to "Western games" on here when talking about abandoned and completion rates - the conditions at which games find themselves on the market are different between the two and thus, aren't proper comparisons. Similar can be said about comparing Steam revenues to Patreon revenues.

Anyway. I think the quick look at the data also shows it's not as lucrative as presented - unless you got in when adult games started appearing on Steam in the early years (pre-2020). The median adult game developer is still not going to be able to earn a living simply by listing their game on Steam, singularly or in combination with other platforms.

As I stated many times - without proper deeper look at the data - a reasonable comparison is not possible to give a better prediction or opinion. And that deeper look still has yet to be done. This is only a quick glance - but it is something to start from.

 

[TheMagicalGurl]

Consider Top 10% of Patreon, per Graphetron, is $200 and it took me nearly 1.5 years of work to achieve that and ask yourself if you want to do it or not...

Zoners really think a lot of us are rolling in Benzos and eating caviar, huh?

I work a FT Job on the side. I barely have any time for myself.

So... ask your self that question again... and maybe you have an answer...

 

[MissCougar]

As stated, get a normal full time job and do game dev on the side.

Your skillset seems to indicate you may do some game modding but I'm not sure if you're a developer necessarily. Python would be a good skill you could build out that could potentially land you a dev job. Figure out what kind of developer you want to be and make software development your passion. Might not be in the games industry but the regular workforce can be profitable and fun for skilled and dedicated devs. I hope you find success! <3

 

[TheMagicalGurl]

Also, plenty of people need game testers..... Cursed Atelier is asking for one, for example. Maybe dab your toe in it a little and see if you really want to try it out...

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

Everyone else already covered the monetary aspect, so I'll mention something else.

If you aren't ready to spend thousands of hours on something that people will inevitably throw a fuck ton of hate at, then you can't be a AVN dev.

 

[Jaike]

Zoners really think a lot of us are rolling in Benzos and eating caviar, huh?

Don't forget snorting coke off hookers' asses. So, the full Icstor lifestyle...

 

[peterppp]

Zoners really think a lot of us are rolling in Benzos and eating caviar, huh?

i didnt know rolling in benzodiazepines was associated with rich adult game devs. is it because game deving is so depressing?

 

[TheMagicalGurl]

i didnt know rolling in benzodiazepines was associated with rich adult game devs. is it because game deving is so depressing?

Sorry for my slangy american talk I guess... Benzo = A Mercedes Benz. Context clue was in the original statement. People think we are living the high life, but 95% of us are pretty much hobbyists.

Don't forget snorting coke off hookers' asses. So, the full Icstor lifestyle...

You jest, but ICSTOR is an exception and even they heard the shitposting and finished. But they are not the rule. For every ICSTOR, you have me, Insomnimaniac and Nine of Swords. Completing games/passion projects to not too much fanfare and doing what we said we would do with little gratitude. I have my fans, but my F95 page is a corpse. I think I got 3 reactions in June, one was an angry react. Not too many here love my shit and I joke a lot about it but as Asia Argento and I are the same person and all the friendos I made from this weird site, I feel kinda..... down?... about that fact. Disappointed? IDK... Part of it is indeed WHAT Projekt Moon Hope Awakens is about... It's why I am hoping things change with In the Bag, but who knows... People are people...

Which goes back to somethingLikeUser 's question. Experiences may vary and "success" is relative. This isn't a guaranteed windfall. You need to work, advertise, keep yourself out on social media and more... Only do this if you are ready to sacrifice...

 

[TheMagicalGurl]

Everyone else already covered the monetary aspect, so I'll mention something else.

If you aren't ready to spend thousands of hours on something that people will inevitably throw a fuck ton of hate at, then you can't be a AVN dev.

This as well. I had a troll in my game thread simply because dude didn't like me for some reason. And as the dev, its you against the world. Sometimes a mod or the place you host will step in, but sometimes shit can get super serious.

There is one super creepy guy on Itchio that makes multiple profiles and spams dislike of any non-Male MC Harem game.

Be prepared for drama for using AI, OP. There will be those jumping in your thread and taking a dump on you for that. "Well, I..." They dont care. You could do many other things but you chose AI. You are the devil incarnate to them. Prepare for 5-10 pages of anti-AI hate and anger. Maybe, but who knows... People are people.

 

[eaudecologne]

I'd say it's worth it. Don't let your memes be dreams bud. And if you're main goal is to make rent money then you can always scam people. Seen all those games with an update cycle of 3-6 months for 2 cgs? You're a smart guy, you could do that too.

 

[peterppp]

Sorry for my slangy american talk I guess... Benzo = A Mercedes Benz. Context clue was in the original statement.

yeah, i got it, was just having fun with you, sorry. thought it would be "benzes", but i'm not an american...

Be prepared for drama for using AI, OP. There will be those jumping in your thread and taking a dump on you for that. "Well, I..." They dont care. You could do many other things but you chose AI. You are the devil incarnate to them. Prepare for 5-10 pages of anti-AI hate and anger. Maybe, but who knows... People are people.

 

[Icarus Media]

yeah, i got it, was just having fun with you, sorry. thought it would be "benzes", but i'm not an american...


View attachment 5029728
View attachment 5029730

Okay that made me giggle.

 

[daibouken_]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Thousands of people create adult games, but only a handful actually make enough money to support themselves. This is definitely not a stable or reliable career path. You should start it as a hobby and have another job to pay your bills. If one day you start making good money from adult games, it can become your full-time profession — but that’s still a low-probability outcome. If you live in a Western country, your chances are even lower. However, if you’re from an Eastern country where the local currency is very weak against the dollar, then your chances are a bit higher — because even a few hundred dollars can mean a lot in that context.

 

[orellion]

Also ask yourself would you want to be a full time adult game dev. You lose out on a lot of life interactions, can't talk about your game, even if it is super successful, to real people in your life being it's a taboo subject. That could create some loneliness and possible mental health issues down the line.

 

[WillBennett]

> strong motivation
Asks peeps on the forum to determine his life path
> had played in a lot AVN and I know what people actually want
Aww man... You and half of the F95's population lmao
Talk is cheap and ideas ain't shit. You either do it or not