How Do Indie Game Developers Make Money?

Indie game developers make money through game and DLC sales, crowdfunding, direct follower support, publisher advances, platform or subscription deals, grants, bundles, mobile ads and in-app purchases, merchandise, licensing, and memberships. Storefront economics vary: Steam starts at 70/30, itch.io lets sellers choose its share, and Epic offers 100/0 on the first $1M per product annually.

This page covers the three channels that publish a rate you can check — storefront sales, crowdfunding, and direct follower support. Publisher advances, platform and subscription deals, grants, bundles, merchandise, and licensing are negotiated per contract, publish no standard rate, and are noted here only where a public figure exists.

Where does indie game revenue actually come from?

Indie game revenue comes from three follower-facing channels with different published economics: storefront sales, where Valve's standard Steam split pays the developer 70% and Valve 30% (Valve); crowdfunding, where Kickstarter charges a 5% platform fee (Kickstarter — Fees); and direct follower support — tips, paid questions, project-goal contributions, and recurring memberships paid to the developer outside either system, including a named goal with a progress bar on the page your followers already visit.

• Storefront sales — a player buys a game, DLC, or in-game item through Steam, itch.io, the Epic Games Store, or a console marketplace. Depending on the store, the platform either sets its revenue share or lets the developer choose it.
• Pre-launch crowdfunding — backers pledge money toward a proposed game, usually in exchange for rewards such as a finished copy, Discord access, or physical merchandise. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are common venues.
• Direct follower support — a follower pays the developer directly for a tip, a private question, support toward a specific goal, or a recurring membership, independent of any storefront listing or crowdfunding campaign. The broader mechanics are covered in how to monetize followers directly.

Direct follower support platforms publish their own rates. Ko-fi Free charges 0% on one-time tips and a flat 5% service fee on everything else, including shop items, memberships, and monthly tips (Ko-fi Help Center — Does Ko-fi take a fee?). Buy Me a Coffee charges no monthly fee and a 5% transaction fee, leaving the creator 95% of earnings, with card processing of typically 2.9% + 30¢ handled separately. On Brillay, a paid question or custom request is one priced listing on your own page: the price, the scope and the delivery window are published, the brief is collected at checkout, and the follower pays upfront by card as a guest, so the work arrives already paid for and already specified.

These are not the only ways indie developers earn money, and several carry public, citable rates. Apple's App Store charges a 30% standard commission on paid apps and in-app purchases, reduced to 15% for developers enrolled in the App Store Small Business Program (Apple Developer — App Store Small Business Program). Google Play charges a 15% service fee on the first $1M (USD) a developer earns each year and 30% on earnings above $1M, for developers enrolled in the 15% service fee tier (Google Play Console Help — Service fees). Patreon-style memberships carry a 10% platform fee on Patreon's standard plan, before payment processing and taxes. Publisher advances, grants, game bundles, merchandise, and licensing are negotiated individually per contract or program, so they have no single public rate to cite and are excluded from the fee comparison below. A follower pays once for one question, one commission or one video, and nothing is owed afterwards — so the people who were never going to subscribe can still pay you, beside the Patreon you already run.

Storefront revenue generally begins with a game or related product that players can purchase through that store. Crowdfunding requires a campaign pitch. Direct follower support can begin earlier, including while a developer is sharing prototypes, devlogs, or work-in-progress builds. On Brillay, you can price a build critique, bug diagnosis, or design answer while the game exists only as prototypes and devlogs, instead of waiting for a finished build or DLC to list.

How much do Steam, itch.io, and Epic actually keep?

Valve keeps 30% of Steam sales until a title passes $10M in lifetime revenue, itch.io lets the seller set its platform share anywhere from 0% to 100% with 10% suggested as the default, and the Epic Games Store keeps 12% only after a product's first $1M in annual net revenue (Valve; itch.io; Epic Games Store).

Valve’s standard Steam split gives the developer 70% and Valve 30%, with the developer share rising to 75% after $10M and 80% after $50M in per-title lifetime revenue.

Valve charges a $100 Steam Direct fee per product sent to Steam; the fee is not refundable but is recoupable in the payment made after that product reaches at least $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue on Steam (Valve — Steam Direct). Valve sends Steam earnings monthly by electronic funds transfer only once a developer's products have exceeded a minimum $100 payment threshold for the prior month. Valve's revenue share is applied to Net Revenues — Gross Revenues less applicable adjustments — and Valve remits the sales tax and VAT it collects to the relevant tax authorities before that share is calculated.

itch.io allows sellers to set its platform share from 0% to 100%, with 10% presented as the suggested default. Setting itch.io’s share to 0% removes its platform cut, but most PayPal transactions on itch.io still carry a payment processing fee of $0.30 + 2.9% per transaction.

The Epic Games Store gives developers 100% of the first $1M in net revenue per product each year, after which its standard split is 88% to the developer and 12% to Epic.

What does crowdfunding an indie game cost?

Crowdfunding an indie game costs roughly 8–10% of the money raised on either major platform. Kickstarter charges a 5% platform fee, plus US payment processing of 3% + $0.20 per pledge; pledges under $10 use a micropledge rate of 5% + $0.05. Indiegogo charges a comparable 5% platform fee, plus payment processing of 3% + $0.20 per transaction.

Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model: supporters are charged and the creator receives the funds when a campaign reaches its goal (Kickstarter Help Center — Why is funding all-or-nothing?). A missed goal therefore returns $0 to the developer regardless of how much was pledged during the campaign.

Because the processing fee carries a fixed per-pledge component, the effective rate falls as pledges get larger. Applying Kickstarter's published US schedule, a $5 micropledge costs $0.55 (11.0% effective, $4.45 net), a $25 pledge costs $2.20 (8.8% effective, $22.80 net), and a $100 pledge costs $8.20 (8.2% effective, $91.80 net).

That produces a combined fee of roughly 8–11% for a typical campaign on either platform, depending on pledge sizes. The result is close to itch.io’s suggested 10% platform share, below Steam’s standard 30% share, and near Epic’s 12% standard share after a product exceeds its first $1M in annual net revenue. These are not identical transactions: crowdfunding funds a promised future reward, while a storefront processes the sale of a listed product.

Crowdfunding also creates work beyond the fee. A developer needs a campaign pitch, reward tiers, promotion, backer communication, and potentially physical or digital fulfillment. It can fund production when an audience is willing to pledge, but it is not simply a lower-fee substitute for distribution through a storefront. For a closer comparison with lighter-weight follower funding, see creator wishlist vs. crowdfunding.

What can indie developers earn before the game is finished?

Before a game is finished, indie developers earn through direct follower support rather than storefront sales: Patreon's standard plan charges a 10% platform fee before payment processing and taxes, while Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, with no monthly fee (Brillay pricing). A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

A developer may already have an audience before there is a purchasable game: devlog readers, Discord members, gameplay-clip viewers, or livestream followers. Tips and Goals let supporters fund a work-in-progress build one time, while Paid Questions and Custom Work let followers pay upfront for a defined answer or deliverable that you provide later.

If you do not want another monthly content promise, use Tips, Paid Questions, Custom Work, or Goals so supporters can help with no membership. None of the four requires a storefront listing, a submission fee, or an all-or-nothing goal.

The relevant entry costs differ sharply. Steam requires a $100 Steam Direct fee per product before a listing can go live (Valve — Steam Direct), and Kickstarter releases no funds at all unless a campaign reaches its goal, whereas Ko-fi Free charges 0% on one-time tips with no listing and no goal. The same pattern is covered in how to monetize followers directly.

Disclosure: Brillay is this site's own product, so the figures that follow come from Brillay's published documentation rather than a third party. Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, with no monthly fee, no follower minimum, and no finished-build or storefront-listing requirement (Brillay pricing; how Brillay works).

The table below separates each platform’s cut from card-processing costs so developers can see what is deducted from each payment; any chargeback comparison should be added only after its treatment is verified from each platform’s official documentation. These are not like-for-like revenue events — a storefront processes the sale of a listed product, a crowdfunding pledge buys a promised future reward, and a tip or paid question buys neither — and none of the figures account for refunds, chargebacks, or the income tax a developer owes on what they receive.

Applying the published rates, Brillay takes $0.80 from a $10 work payment or $0.50 from a $10 tip or goal contribution, and Stripe processing is deducted separately from the developer’s earnings; the final amount therefore depends on Stripe’s actual fee.

Scaled up, a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign funded by 400 US pledges of $25 pays $500 in platform fee (5%) plus $380 in processing (400 × [3% + $0.20]), returning $9,120 — an effective 8.8% cost — while the same campaign missing its goal returns $0 (Kickstarter — Fees; Kickstarter Help Center — Why is funding all-or-nothing?).

Developers who publish devlogs or stream work-in-progress builds can find additional audience-specific offer ideas in how gaming creators can monetize their audience.

How can you publish a direct offer before launch?

If viewers keep asking technical questions, offer Paid Questions at a fixed price; offer a $25 build review through Custom Work, accept a $3 contribution through Tips, or open a Goal for art, music, or testing costs. Any direct-support platform works; on this site's own product the process is documented in how Brillay works.

Frequently asked questions

Do indie developers need a certain number of followers before charging followers directly?

No. Ko-fi Free charges 0% on one-time tips with no follower requirement, Buy Me a Coffee charges a 5% transaction fee and no monthly fee, and this site's own Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, with no follower minimum. A small audience can therefore support a developer before the game has a storefront listing.

Is Steam’s cut the same for every developer?

Steam begins with a 70% developer / 30% Valve split. The developer share rises to 75% after a title passes $10M in lifetime revenue and to 80% after it passes $50M (Valve — Steamworks revenue share tiers).

How much does it cost to put a game on Steam?

Valve charges a $100 Steam Direct fee for each product sent to Steam, non-refundable but recoupable in the payment made after that product reaches at least $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue. Valve then sends money monthly by electronic funds transfer once earnings exceed a minimum $100 threshold.

Is itch.io free to sell on?

itch.io lets the seller set its platform share from 0% to 100%, so a developer can set itch.io’s share to 0%; the platform suggests 10% as the default. A 0% platform share should not be interpreted as a guarantee that every payment-related cost is zero.

Does crowdfunding replace selling through a storefront?

No. Crowdfunding raises production money through pledges for future rewards; it does not replace a PC storefront’s distribution and purchasing system. If the completed game is later sold through Steam, itch.io, or Epic, those later sales follow that storefront’s applicable revenue-share terms.

Neutral summary: an indie developer selling on Steam keeps 70% of Net Revenues until a title passes $10M (Valve); on the Epic Games Store, 100% of the first $1M in annual net revenue per product and 88% after; on itch.io, whatever share the seller sets, minus $0.30 + 2.9% on most PayPal transactions; and on Kickstarter, roughly 89–92% of a funded campaign after its 5% fee and processing. Direct follower support platforms publish platform fees of 0–10%, but payment processing of roughly 2.9% + 30¢ is charged separately on most of them, so the effective cost on a small payment is higher than the headline rate — a $10 Buy Me a Coffee payment nets about $8.91, an effective 10.9%, once its 5% fee and typical 2.9% + 30¢ processing are both applied.

Disclosure: Brillay is this site's own product. It charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, with no monthly fee and no follower minimum (Brillay pricing; how Brillay works). Create your free Brillay page and add a direct-payment option next to whatever you're already building.