The game industry is one of those industries that looks very different from the outside.
From the outside, it is easy to see the games.
The trailers.
The big launches.
The millions of players.
The beautiful graphics.
The famous studios.
But behind every game is an industry with its own problems, risks, opportunities, and realities.
After working in software development for many years and eventually becoming part of the professional game industry, I’ve had the opportunity to see several sides of it.
And one thing I’ve learned is that making games is only one part of the business.
Games Are a Business
We love games because they are entertainment.
But for the people making them, games are also a business.
A studio needs to pay salaries.
Projects need budgets.
Publishers need to recover investments.
Marketing needs money.
Servers need to be maintained.
Companies need to make decisions about what to build, when to release it, and how much they can afford to spend.
A great game can fail commercially.
A mediocre game can become a massive success.
And sometimes a project can fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the game itself.
That’s one of the hardest things to accept when you work in this industry.
The Industry Is Extremely Competitive
There are thousands of games released every year.
Players have limited time.
They have limited money.
And there are more games competing for their attention than ever before.
For an indie developer, this can be especially brutal.
You can spend years developing a game and still struggle to get people to notice it.
Getting the game onto Steam is not the finish line.
It’s barely the beginning.
You need visibility.
You need wishlists.
You need marketing.
You need a store page that converts visitors into potential players.
And, most importantly, you need to give people a reason to care about your game.
Making a Good Game Isn’t Enough
This is probably one of the most difficult lessons for new developers.
You can make a good game and still fail.
I’ve experienced this myself.
I released Eternal Survival, and while I learned an enormous amount from the process, the game did not achieve the commercial results I had hoped for.
The development itself wasn’t the only challenge.
Getting people to discover the game was a completely different problem.
That’s when you realize that game development and game marketing are two very different skills.
Building the product is one challenge.
Getting someone to want the product is another.
Working for a Studio Is Also Unpredictable
Even when you’re working for an established studio, there are no guarantees.
Studios can close.
Projects can be cancelled.
Companies can be acquired.
Budgets can disappear.
Teams can be reorganized.
I’ve experienced this firsthand.
I worked for Square Enix Montréal and was preparing to move to Montréal when the studio was closed following Embracer Group’s restructuring.
The project, the team, and the plans could all change because of decisions that had nothing to do with the work we were doing as developers.
That’s part of the reality of the industry.
You can do everything right and still find yourself having to look for another job.
But There Are Incredible Opportunities
Despite all of this, I still believe the game industry is an incredible place to work.
I’ve had the opportunity to work on projects that I could only have dreamed about when I was younger.
I’ve worked with talented people from different countries and backgrounds.
I’ve worked on gameplay systems, tools, backend technology, multiplayer architecture, artificial intelligence, technical art, and many other areas.
I’ve worked on games such as Steel Hunters and Marvel Snap, worked with companies including Square Enix and Wargaming, and contributed to projects that I can’t publicly discuss because of NDAs.
Every project has introduced me to new technologies, new problems, and new people.
That experience is difficult to replace.
The Industry Is Changing Constantly
The technology behind games is changing rapidly.
Game engines are becoming more powerful.
Artificial intelligence is changing how developers approach some tasks.
Procedural generation continues to evolve.
Distribution has become more accessible.
Indie developers can publish games globally without needing a traditional publisher.
At the same time, competition has never been greater.
The barrier to creating a game is getting lower.
The barrier to getting noticed is getting higher.
That’s an interesting contradiction.
More people can make games than ever before.
But getting players to choose your game among thousands of alternatives is becoming increasingly difficult.
Developers Need More Than Technical Skills
This is something I strongly believe after spending years in both software and games.
Technical skills are extremely important.
But they aren’t enough.
A developer needs to understand the product.
Communication matters.
Understanding the business matters.
Understanding the player matters.
Being able to work with designers, artists, producers, QA, and other programmers matters.
And if you’re an indie developer, you may have to learn all of those things yourself.
You might be a programmer in the morning, a designer in the afternoon, a marketer in the evening, and a customer-support representative before going to bed.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
It can be exhausting, but it also gives you a much broader understanding of how games are actually made.
The Part Nobody Talks About
There is another side of the game industry that doesn’t appear in trailers.
The long hours.
The difficult deadlines.
The projects that don’t work.
The layoffs.
The cancelled games.
The financial uncertainty.
The pressure to perform.
The months of work that may never be seen by players.
And the fact that many developers are deeply passionate about what they do.
That passion is both the industry’s greatest strength and one of its greatest vulnerabilities.
People care deeply about the games they make.
Sometimes that makes them willing to accept conditions they wouldn’t accept elsewhere.
I think the industry needs to find a better balance between passion and sustainability.
Making games should be something people can build a career around, not something they have to sacrifice their lives for.
Why I’m Still Here
After everything I’ve experienced, someone might ask why I continue working in games.
The answer is simple.
I love making games.
I love the technology.
I love solving difficult problems.
I love seeing a system I built actually working inside a game.
And I love the idea that something I helped create can provide an experience for someone I’ve never even met.
There are very few industries where you can say that.
The Industry Isn’t Perfect — But It’s Worth It
The game industry has problems.
A lot of them.
It can be unstable, competitive, unpredictable, and sometimes frustrating.
But it is also full of incredibly talented people creating things that simply didn’t exist before.
People are building new worlds.
New ways to play.
New technologies.
New stories.
New experiences.
And despite all the challenges, I still want to be part of that.
I’ve worked in software.
I’ve built businesses.
I’ve released my own games.
I’ve worked for large studios and as a freelancer.
I’ve experienced success and failure.
And I’m still learning.
Maybe that’s the most important thing about the game industry.
It never really stops changing.
And neither do we.