Meet Joseph Distler, also known as XraiDev, a game developer and Youtuber who was able to make over $100 000 with his first-ever game published on Steam called Roll.
In this article, we are going to look through his story of how he built the game, how he was able to monetize the game, and his creative method of promoting the game to get sales. He also shares more insights that we believe game developers and tech enthusiasts will be pleased to learn.
So read this article to the end.
Joseph Distler
The Challenge
This is someone telling me my game will be a complete and utter failure, even if free or just a dollar:
And this is my Steam revenue page a few months later:
The reason I'm sharing this case study is not just because of the number of revenue but actually I've been wanting to make it for a long time. Over the first seven months, I only made $103 979 by developing and selling my first commercial video game on Steam.
I'll quickly share with you how I did it, and what I learned along the way, and break down some of the sales figures so that you can get a better idea of everything that goes into a project like this.
The Story Behind the Game
To start off, the nice big beautiful $103 979 is clickbaity because it was revenue, not profit. I actually only made a profit of $59 223 because the big number doesn't count sales tax, chargebacks, or Steam's massive 30% cut. And I think I still have to pay income tax on this $59 000, so I better not buy the Ferrari yet.
In all honesty, I just don't want it to seem like I'm flexing on anyone in this case study. But now with all of that out of the way, we can finally get into how this actually happened in the first place.
Developing the Game
After a short three months of development, I published "Roll" to Steam on May 13th, 2021, and unleashed my beautiful relaxing masterpiece onto the world, letting the masses of eager fans roll in.
I did manage to convince a lot of my friends and family members to buy the game and leave reviews. However, not much happened after that.
So, I decided to beg for clout — wait, no, that can't be right. I wanted to get some feedback on the game from some experienced eyes, so I sent the game over to some of my favorite YouTube gaming content creators. And basically begged for clout.
But one day, I was just binge-watching YouTube videos as usual, and I saw my own game show up in my subscription feed. Wonderbot made a video on my game.
And just like that, the sales started to take off. I went from selling about 25 units per day to 225 units in a single day.
And a few days later, Alexa made a video on my game, and right after that, Retromation. I couldn't believe some of my favorite channels to watch were playing my game. It felt like having a TV show about me or something. And I'm honestly so lucky that such talented creators showcased my game because, at that point, the game was still ridden with bugs.
Improving the Game
Due to the shoutouts I was getting on YouTube, people seemed to really enjoy watching, and more people watching meant more people buying. Sales were doing great, but with all these new players came an overwhelming wave of feedback, criticism, and pressure on my game that was just a quick build held together by band-aids. I made the whole thing in three months, and now thousands of people were playing it. So, I went to work tirelessly, trying to improve the game.
Sales dipped off for a long time while I continued to fix bugs and add additional features and content.
The Comeback
Then, out of nowhere, boom, another YouTube video pops up in my subscription feed, this time by the YouTuber Aliens Rock, and on my birthday. Sales absolutely skyrocketed due mostly to Tyler's incredible videos and fanbase, but I also felt people were really responding to a lot of the improvements I had made.
This singular event drove a good chunk of my sales, but it brought an even bigger wave of feedback and attention to the game.
So, back to work I went, and I've been hard at work on improving "Roll" ever since then. Not necessarily waiting for another big jump in sales, but really just trying to make the game better every day.
I've made over 84 updates and patches to the game over its lifetime, but I still hardly feel like my game is worth all the success it has gotten, and I don't know if I'll ever feel that way. But I'm gonna continue to work on it until I do. That's pretty much how I've done it up to this point.
Results
I made about $103 000 on my first indie game by just making the game better every day and showing it to as many people as possible. It was a process of continual updates, engaging with the community, luck, hard work, and help from so many wonderful individuals.
Shout out to the YouTube content creator Gothic Lord UK, who has made over a hundred videos on the game. These are the things that define the project and what I think you should take away from this video.
Final Say:
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my Patreon supporters, as well as anyone who has bought and played "Roll." You guys are really the ones who have made this whole thing possible. And if you haven't tried "Roll" yet, consider checking it out. It's a relaxingly deep strategy game with a developer who really cares about the game. You can find it on Steam or get a free copy through my Patreon.
With that said, thank you so much for your time. I won't take any more of it, and I'll see you in the next one.
