Is This Unusual Game Launch Strategy a Win? ( My Thoughts / Analysis )
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- Опубліковано 24 тра 2024
- A Deep Analysis of an Unusual Steam Launch strategy
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Thank you for covering my game :) I'm happy to talk more on it if that interests the viewers :)
@LostRelicGames Here he is. ^^^
Yeah man lay it on us :D
PLEASE!!!!! PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE... tell us what lays behind this strategy... cause this really made me into travolta.
That would be amazing!
The question is, how do you get by financially without charging people for your projects? Is there a huge patreon following? Did you inherit a bunch of money or buy bitcoin at $100 a pop? :D
I'm self-funding a project right now (I have no idea how to code... I have 3D modeling experience but having to produce assets myself would take too much time and I wouldn't be able to make any money to survive. Instead I kill it in another business and use most of my income to hire people to work on my game.)
Maybe you can take a interview with this developer? It can be very interesting.
@@BindingForceDevelopment what’s the game?
@@BindingForceDevelopment Maybe the guy spent the last 10 years working on Wall Street or as a lawyer, and now that he's got a big nest egg, he's chasing his passion :P
I would watch it for sure 🙋♂️
There’s a couple of things I think this could be, the guy is learning the engine (as a university project? Or hobby?) and these games are the results of this, put them out there rather than sit on them. The one that creates the most buzz, work on and release a paid version with extras. Or it could just be a very good CV to get in with a developer, post education…
Either way a win win situation. While many talk about "that game they are working on", some just go ahead and release what they have.
I think you might be on something here. It definitely seems like he made these in past, and just recently decided to put them out, and probably started to work on last one by the time he released first two.
Doki Doki Literature Club did something similar. They released the game free, then released a paid plus version with additional content and music a few years later. Made a tonne of cash.
actually the supporter edition with artbook also made a lot of money initially as well.
unfortunately not always the case. I followed the dev auden for a while after his very successful release of his VN Find Love or Die Trying and his sequel project was not successful in getting a kickstarter... not sure what happens next but success does not automatically carryover perhaps as a matter of cause and effect...
Great analysis. If you have an email address form to "sign in" to the game immediately when you start the free game, you can then market to that list. Potentially could have been a 200,000 user list. Then, when the full game, or sequel, is released at $10, and 10% convert, that's a $200,000 launch
Here, we made this game for free. Imagine what we can do with some money.
Math. It's a thing that shouldn't be ignored. There is so much potential in building a permission-based marketing list, and access to the email inbox holds up surprisingly well even here into the 2020s for potential players/customers outside of social media channels.
(EDIT: Clint in response below claims that dev in question is a beast and made each game in 2-3 months. Wowza)
I think he actually made those gladiator and pirate games in past, and just recently decided to put them out to Steam. And probably started to work on last one by the time he released first two or shortly after he saw how much downloads those two games got. I think it would be probably smart to make the third game paid for a small price, if its any good, and direct people from those free games there (it might not have great conversion rate, but with this large base it might not matter).
Also I can see scenario where he used some bought assets (or even projects) and just improved them. Those types of games are not rare, and if you dont really care about putting all original content into game, or are willing to accept this rough-edges look, it seems like viable way. And maybe also reason why he actually put it on for free.
I've spoken to him on a Discord game dev group I'm in - he took 2-3 months to make each game, the reason he's so quick, he's made many games in Unity over a number of years and gotten quite quick at it. Now he's making his splash.
@@Domarius64 Wow, that sounds insanely fast. I guess, if you just know exactly what to do, and just do it. But even then.
Its definitely inspiring that its even possible (if true), and humbling to know how much I have to learn yet.
Thanks for the investigation :)
@@BlackStarForge yes, very quick, I even asked if he used a prebuilt framework and he said no. But when you use Unity you get to use the built in stuff like ragdoll physics.
I believe the main idea is to get used to one engines system (like unity) specifically.
If online multiplayer is an important element of the game, having it free early on can be a smart move, so that you get a big enough player base to support it.
It might be his long term strategy to build a big fan base with frequent good and free games. The MP encourages you to tell your friends giving him more fans and more buyers when he inevitably releases a payed game.
I'm a hobby game programmer since retiring (wasn't a game programmer in my career). I've written a few games over recent years, and even wrote a few back in the old Amiga days. However, I've never released a game. Partly because it seemed too daunting, partly the perfection syndrome, never believing they are polished enough, fear of failure, worried about having to form a company name, creature feep, etc. It all just seems too much. I enjoy the game making process, and it keeps my brain active, and scratches an artistic itch. So, if I was to attempt to put my current game up as early access, I could potentially put 2 other games out at the same time, so 3 in a short space of time, but I've worked on those games a long time. One of those games I've probably written in about 7 or 8 different engines or languages to learn them. I am thinking I might at some stage put a game on steam, free, just to learn the ropes of that side of things, and get over those fears and hurdles.
I think you should do it, you will probably learn a lot with the feedbacks of people.
Best Emperor voice... "DO ITTTT!"
please dont stop chasing your dreams man. now that ur retired u got no excuse for not taking that leap! 😄
@@TESkyrimizer I have at least submitted 2 game jam entries now, so that is at least one hurdle of putting stuff into the public domain for criticism. :) Baby steps. Thanks
LOL. SO interesting.
John is so impressed by the amount of work of the other developer that he seems to be "in panic". He even blushes. "A new world of possibilities is now in front of you".
Actually, I am also impressed and confused.
Very interesting review and thanks for having found this "UGO" and sharing analysis of it.
("UGO" means Unidentified Game Object. I invented lol)
I can definitely believe he *assembled* these games, but make all the art assets for them as well? No way.
This game was covered by some famous youtubers (I cant remember which, maybe it was penguinz0) and he had quite some fun. That's why it has so many downloads/attention (and probably so many positive reviews too, because some people tend to like whatever "their" youtuber likes).
This is cool. Thanks for doing this sort of in depth look at another developer.
This guy is demoralisingly prolific... and all with no revenue??? We have to tie this guy down and squeeze out his secrets
Congrats on 50k subs. Keep going strong man.
I really loved this breakdown John! I would have completely missed this game otherwise.
Thank you for this video!
As a hobbyist gamedev I don't have much free time to spend doing my research on the tendencies and interesting cases in the indie game market, but this kind of videos help me discover them, and do some thinking about what strategies I will adopt when the time comes to publish a game myself.
Cheers!
Hello! He is not alone to make all the stuff : For example the 2d design are made by David Braumgart. And it is not free budget since David Braumgart sells those assets.
It's totally possible to work at more than one game simultaneously. I also have several projects at the same time so I don't get into a rabbithole. It helps me prevent feature creep.
If you pause the video @13:23 one of the comments mentions "I came after the Iron Pineapple's YT video". Seems like they either paid a UA-camr or just won the jackpot with free promo. Either way, good on the gamedev for gaining a following. :)
I liked this strategy and thank you for sharing it the way you did! I learned a lot and laugh a lot with you when you realized the "one man team". I am wondering, he could had the first two projects earlier but launch both later maybe... Anyway, what I most liked in his strategy is releasing the game for free, and making an improved and more complete version based on feedback and then starting to monetize. I think this is more interesting than a temporary DEMO, that is a piece of the same game...
so happy to see u made a new video
Cool video, I like your stuff. Maybe his strategy is to attract publishers to finish a game. If that works, that's a very brilliant idea.
Personally, I speculate that (this person is a very talented developer) he is probably gaining attraction to get the attention from larger companies to employ him as part of their team.
What a better way of showing what you're capable of than showing it to the public. 👍 👌
This is a very interesting take on publishing a game. I looking forward to see if he will put a price on the game or not. I am not entirely sure how Steam works but releasing the full game as a DLC could bring back all those people that already downloaded the game for free. I am sure with all the positive reviews most of them might buy the DLC to play the full game. That is just my thought on it. Very interesting video indeed. Take care. :)
The dismal Twitter and Steam Follow stats suggest that the interest generated from all those free downloads doesn't go very deep, which is in line with what you would expect from "free as a strategy". In general, customers who flock to "free" stuff are probably low quality, low engagement, high turnover - unless your game becomes enough of a hit that this base audience drags in more worthwhile clientele. I have to say though, those games look shockingly/depressingly well polished!
"low quality" customers and non-worthwhile clientele. What quaint ideas! This is a game, not software as a service. You also seem to think there is a correlation between the success of the game and the 'quality' of its players.
@@ChoiceOfIllusion Not sure what youre getting at. Low engagement and high turnover players on a free game will very, very rarely end up generating any revenue. They dont spread the word and they dont stay around long to contribute to a growing concurrent playerbase. In that regard, yes, the success of a game financially does depend on the quality of its players. Successful f2p games have people spending money or investing time/engagement into the game, not people who download, play for a couple hours, and completely forget about the game.
I really like the idea of spreading joy through your work and focusing on that.
Obviously, a lot of people want to be able to do this full time and they need money for that purpose. But if we can focus on the joy first and foremost, we'll be doing good.
Just to clear things a little bit up, I think many people came to his gladiator game due to IronPineapples second to last souls-like video. It got about 1.35 mio views and this game was presented as a very fun game to play. Just my thoughts, but I think this is definitely one of the factors that played in here.
Anyways, great and interesting video as always!
Thanks for the analysis
Let me know in the comments what you guys think of this situation.
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It helps that Iron Pineapple covered this game in his 'finding indie souls-likes' / 'steam dumpster-diving' series
Honestly, by the looks of it, the games are produced really fast and thrown onto steam without much polish. The physics from the first game you showed, looked like the characters were ill balanced and awkward. Almost as if they were made of clay and had a hard time even building momentum. Based on all of the games he's released so far, plus how quickly he seems to pump them out, they don't look like he is putting much effort into them. So sure, he has a lot of downloads but that means very little when his games wouldn't even be considered Alpha in my book and are released for free.
I agree with your assessment. Seems like the strategy could work, but it seems like a gamble. It's legit something to think about.
Does this have a different outcome than the Free Prologue separate app and then paid full game? I am curious to investigate which one is better
Interesting strategy. I'm also very keen to see how this goes if/when it comes out of early access with a price tag. I wonder how it compares to attaching a price tag and then doing free weekend sales now and then.
To provide a little more information on why Gladio and Glory is doing so well:
1. It has had a significant amount of traction from UA-camrs, including IronPineapple's video with over 1.3 million views alone.
2. The genre is open-ended to a degree where you could say that Dark Souls PvP, WWE, Chivalry, Quake and Super Smash Bros all have a gladiator game in common.
3. People love the gladiator experience. They are searching for "gladiator games" in search engines. And when they do, they're not finding those games I mentioned in point 2, they're finding a game like Gladio and Glory.
As you mentioned I recalled TES Oblivion days, I really looked forward to Arena matches which happens every week. I felt empty when I became a champion.
It'll be interesting to see where this game goes. I would think it's exhausted it's potential users but maybe the steam reviews will swing it the other way.
I think many old games used to do similar things, with a F2P with a subscription model. Just think the glory days of web MMOs like RuneScape, Club Penguin, etc.
The music in all his trailers play a huge part in getting people impressed.
It's a nice strategy, hope it works out for them.
It could also be used to build good will, for a future game with a small price tag of say a dollar with a lot of people wanting to thank the developer for the previous games.
I've actually played this game before, quite fun tbh.
Many thoughts...
re: Free - He might just be building a portfolio of free games for exposure
re: Business model - His business model may not be software sales but DLCs or micro-transactions. In that case, having 300,000 captive users would be an overnight windfall for him.
re: multiple games - I've been developing games and all kinds of other content for 40 years as a hobby. I took a formal game design course in the late 2000s and there was an expectation that we'd do some exercises in the first third of the course and then a new protoype every two weeks exploring a new game design theme from our readings. The upshot is that it was easiest (and encouraged) to use previous work as a starting point and at the end, 20-30 students each had 4-6 prototypes. A handful of us were so inspired by our own progress and the work of others that we banded together for about a year afterward and we "drafted" other developer's prototypes and kept banging out new variants using peer review and the book as a guide. Meanwhile, I tried to find a educational partner in the School of Business to pick up the other end of game design using our output as their input to apply focus groups, work out marketing, and all the other efforts necessary to bring things to market. It made sense to try to incubate little startups with whatever we learned.
We lost steam as people graduated but we generated some really cool and polished stuff.
It makes sense to me that someone could come to a platform like Steam and have a portfolio of novel games requiring only a certain level of polish to release every 6 months. BUT, obviously that would not be sustainable as a one-person operation... you'd eventually run out of legacy content to leverage unless you had a sweatshop like what I described above cranking out seed ideas for you.
If he is financially set and doesn't need to care about money, awesome for him!
Think for most people though the UA-cam / Kickstarter publicity strategy is more feasible. Especially if you want to do it full time and want to eat.
Very good idea. He increased his chances threefold of success, trying to succeed at in least one game and then potentially earning revenue from it.
If that's not enough, one game can bring attention to another. So mathematically you could argue the total chance of success is (unrealistically) 9 Times higher on One game.
One of the reasons is popular is of course free but this game was played by a big youtuber which is looking for new indie games which are very low with reviews etc and after that video launched people finish the video and go straight to the steam and start downloading and playing so ye that's a interesting strategy...
(Old video, I know). The answer is the marketing decision. It looks like a roguelite with waves. It means this genre sells better than platforms, puzzles, indie FPs and bullet hell genres. Marketing is not the same as advertisement, and all decisions a dev takes before starting the project can decide if it will sell well or not. The other stuff like social media, ad campaigns, and other stuff just leverage what you have. If a dev really is after sales figures, they should start with the marketing (decisions based on the market and audience. Market is not an advertisement and people usually mix the things).
Jhon, you need to interview this guy
It reminds me of the Minecraft strategy -- when they went paid, the price was only 10.00, then later on, it was 15, and later on 20, an finally 25.00 -- the thing is -- they advertised that the the cost would increase as they added updates -- and what the final cost would be -- so they leveraged FOMO to get people to purchase it early.
The pirate game looks like Alva Majos game called "Shipped" but with better graphics. The gladiator game looks pretty fun.
My question would be how he gets so many reviews, even if its a free game, you have to make people to see it from a steam ocean of games
It can be a bit risky. Since everyone who actually got it free cannot be charged after any original release. Only a DLC or an episodic approach it could be riskless for a máximum earning strategy.
Is like a demo but does not feel like a demo cause is a full product but under development, it works as a nice strategy. The state of mind will change and will be seen differently.
Making a game completely free, damn that was going to be my strategy in a couple months.
Looks like it works pretty good so far for them :)
The reason why I'm going to be going the free game approach is due to my lack of exposure.
If I can grind away at a game even if it costs me more than I'll likely make back; I want people to be able to play my games. I remember being poor as a kid and rarely seeing a new game due to the lack of money. I'd rather people just enjoy what I make.
How I plan to make money is add a DLC called "Indie Hero!" that'll allow people to pay what the game would be priced at to get their name in the credits and maybe some cosmetic stuff for them. It's not meant to be a DLC as much of a "Donation" of sorts. That way I can hopefully keep my games free and still make enough off them in the long run.
if the game is really good and can keep players interested to play in, it can always be added in internal shop allowing players to buy something others will not have... maybe the plan somewhere...
I think this strategy would be worth trying, but only if it wasn't my only project I was banking on. For example, if I already have a game that's released and bringing in revenue, then maybe I would try this strategy if the game wasn't going to take too much time to develop.
Saw a review saying the game was showcased by Iron Pineapple(popular youtuber) I would say that's probably a big reason for its success, but that's just my opinion
I've read the opposite: people reviewing free games can make more frivolous comments since they're not invested. Whereas paying customers are invested and their feedback can be more positive and supportive. It's an interesting juxtaposition.
Look at the success of the free game Crab Game, like him or loth him Dani did create a hit with that one.
I think this could be a neat strategy for building a follower base. I can't really guess how many people would buy the game if it switches from free to paid but I do know that building a relationship with a gaming community through making games can be important. Deltarune still gets talked about because Undertale was a huge hit, and there's more obvious examples like Mario, Call of Duty, and pretty much any other popular AAA franchise. Its not a guaranteed way to distribute lots of games but I think its something that helps.
I saw a few others comment on this and I do things its a little weird that they are bragging about selling well as a solo dev when it isn't exactly the most unique thing this day and age BUT i'll take the benefit of the doubt and just say that its a marketing phrase that they picked because it was something they are proud of. But if I were to give them some advice I'd say avoid looking too copy-and-pasty. The games look fun but when a creator kind of reuses the same phrases and ideas over and over they start to feel more like a marketing machine then a person that's trying to get people to look at a project they just finished and think is good. that's not a perfect way to describe how it feels but it gives off an artificial vibe.
Cool new video! It's not even a bad idea if you just want a great portfolio piece. Release a free game, you're down 150 bucks but if it's successful that's not a lot of money for the amount of feedback you could get + you can show future employers you have a highly downloaded and reviewed game on steam. If I'm dreaming big you could even have a patreon, put the game up for free with the only kind of monetisation strategy being an ingame link to your patreon, don't know if that's been done before?
I don't think Steam will allow you to release a free game, use their platform as a distributor and directing people to an outside optional pay wall. They would consider that as using their platform for exposure by bypassing their 30% cut of sales despite having to pay the $100 fee.
@@TheMeanArena I mean this guy from the video we watched literally did it, plus there are a bunch of F2P games, and while they make money I cant imagine steam charges them a minimum amount, but maybe I am wrong
@@deantjewie I didn't see that but I'm just going to assume this business wise as it seems like something someone would do as a loophole to bypass giving Steam any profits from sales. A dev would be paying the $100 fee only then Steam would be distributing and hosting the content for free while the dev is profiting 100% from an outside source all while Steam is collecting $0. Maybe they would but I see why they would not allow that.
Hi. It's strange how can he build so fast. I'm impressed. About the strategy it's more less like yours! Free content (yt videos) to gather a potential audience to at a latter date release something with more value. I know free food always taste better but, at least in your case, it's more of a relationship than just tasting the product. Bad reviews can be in two fields: Constructive or destructive. In my opinion, when you build your audience first, you are in fact planting the seeds to later have constructive reviews and that's the strategy here. Create an audience positively engaged and when the time comes, the connection will be stronger even if there are some problems with the product. On the other hand, if he is doing this "just to create audience" imagine what we could build knowing he is going to get payed!
In fact Rocket League and Fall Guys were free on playstation store the first month after the release. That's how they became so popular. That didn't work with Drawn to Death though.
3 games at once dang thats really cray
Steam does state if reviews were made during early access.
i think the game wouldnt last long in the positive side of review if it had a price tag. The jank of it outrun by far the production value/perceived value, its fun for like 5-15 min the refund rate would be insane.
Cool vid....I see your last name is Stejskal - greetings from Czech Republic :)
this is sort of like what I was planning. Release a few games free (no paid content or even ads) on google play, and get reviews on them, then once my skill is higher, make a game for profit.
300.000 downloads is good for the CV.
Maybe they wil go the route of base game being free and then paid dlc. I dont know how much free customers translates to paid customers either. I generally dont have any free games in my library of 300 games. I have a couple of free ones on GoG (lords of midnight, doomdarks revenge) but they're OLD OLD games from 35+ years ago.
I just realised this video is 1 year old. All 3 games are still free on steam.
At first I thought these might be asset flips because that boat game looked a LOT like Windward from Tasharen Entertainment. But then I checked out his linkedIn and I see that he's still listing himself as a Senior Game Designer and Producer at Gram Games (a company of 131 employees) -- so maybe he's just been doing his own thing on the side and he's just now able to release them due to contract renegotiations or something. No idea what's going on here. Feels like it is marketing though -- as he keeps pushing the "300,000 organic downloads with no budget" like he's getting ready to sell me a class on how to make my indie game get those same kinds of numbers or something.
Would love to hear from Adi though. Maybe you can get him on the channel as an interview?
Made the same research. Looks like this indie dev is not a new born or a solo artist. It is like a pro tennis player calling himself an amateur when playing with his neighbours. Those games do not come from nowhere by a lone genius brogramming in his basement. Every day he works into a company that makes pay to play mobile games all the day. Where is the indie dev mindset? It really is misleading people with miracle strategy. That never ends well.
Just because they're released around the same timeline doesn't mean they're being developed at the same time. You could be making a bunch of prototypes or games for years without releasing, especially if you're a hobbyist or new to development, then choose to finish and release a few in a short period of time.
Adi Is talented no doubt about it .
Making a game free might be a good way to build an audience, but is it the audience you want? How many of these players are playing the kinds of games you want to make and sell at full price? Or are they the kinds of players who will play a game just because its free? Are players who usually value quality in games turned off by the free price tag?
It makes me wonder if he's using the "solo dev" story as a marketing tool while actually using contractors or having a small studio behind him, because I agree that working on 3 games and doing all the 2D art, 3D art, audio, code, networking, marketing, maintenance, community engagement etc solo is unfeasible.
Thomas Brush does his games alone. Sames as David Wehle, to name just two. It's not the formula but the creativity and inspiration. marketting plays only a part.
@@diliupg there are lots of good solo devs out there, but even the guys you mentioned contract out work, use assets, and make single player games. And they aren’t releasing 3 per year.
Actually you don't have to wonder. That game "Home Wind" in the list is using asset sold in the Unity Asset Store. And the music from the ship game is clearly an Envato "style" music.
So he's a solo dev but some of the asset are produced by 3rd party.
I might release mine for free as early access since it's a sandbox game :)
this is the same release idea i had, with payed dlc later
I think this might be a CV or portfolio move.
canons? In Ancient Rome? located entirely in the gladiator arena?
I would like an update on your game you are making
im getting ready for todays global game jam just to make one game and there is a dude making 3 at the same time on steam xD
So is better to make free demo of game as another application in steam with same name puls some postfix, usually "prologue", it will cost 100$ but this is some form of marketing
A DLC could be a solution. A lot of games make more money with dlcs than the main game.
Sounds like a classic loss leader strategy… As you say he’ll be building trust in his ‘brand’ also goodwill.
IMHO this is not a really new thing, and not even "smart". Having a free version of your game, and then making a version that is paid - is still the general idea here. The only difference is that on steam this game has already lost its "free" players. While it could have been done differently with either a prologue, or the same game with a smaller scope, or the totally same game but played in a browser, or the same game without multiplayer or whatever. Many are doing that.
But... having all those games at the same time is cool indeed (if he is the developer for all of them really).
He could be working on the games on his free time and doesn't care about the money, because, he must love games. Remember guys? We love videogames, not the money it makes!
I think a free prologue would work better. People tend to think if it's free it must not be any good. And with the early access release, you've already used up most of the game promotion steam is going to give you.
He can be working on a expention pack type of paid content. Like Destiny 2 and similar games does that. Base game free, deep content is paid.
Whether or not it's just one guy producing this much, the sales strat makes sense to me. One thing about capitalism that most people overlook is that trust a huge factor. By making his games free during development, he's building trust in the competency of his games which will likely lead to people being ok with paying him down the line. Big companies can sell games upfront simply because they've already created some level of trust with the consumer on a wider scale. Of course, I think this is waning as bigger companies are producing lower quality games. Won't be long before gamers turn their focus primarily to small devs if the big companies don't change.
There is no way this guy is making these games by himself.
It’s because of iron pineapple and his souls like series
Totally doable outsourcing work and with lots of assets.
Definitely too early for me to think of selling strategies. But I don’t know if I’d release mine for free 🤔
He's a programmer. Likely he's custom built many functions and can edit variables and inherited classes from actor constructs to change the application.
E.g. so far I've made about 10 different games in learning process ( not games I'd release obviously ) I spent a LOT of time modeling my charactors hit boxes and variables regarding angles of impact / collision events .. you'd never know that my a.i , dumb as it is currently is the same root program.
Copy/paste/edit.. is a time saving tool.. nobody cares if you've re used an asset that exists in the background as long as the game is fun and it doesn't scroll by too often and is not identical.. goodgameplsy will bury these minor things :)
Plot twist, He is a publisher
Easy. Free game, don't raise the price. Just charge for DLC. If the games good enough the DLC will sell. If friends want to play together make it a requirement to have the same DLC, double sale, or even free key for a friend as a promo.
I'm convinced the dev is really three adults in a very large trench coat.
So everyone that tries the game keeps it? Then does that not mean that you basically lost most potential customers and your sales will be crap unless you make new content
100%
Just seems like a modern version of the shareware games of old
Except back in the day, you couldn't just refund a game to the tune of thousands of dollars like jackasses love to do today just because they can.
It would be nice, if he watch this video, to contact you. Maybe an interview/conversation.
Once I had played a game with Gangbeast type (physical) animations, the old style of character movement seems a bit stiff n' janky. Just my opinion ☮️
I don't think you can make a game free and then later on make it paid, people wouldn't be happy about that. I think if you're gonna use that method it would be to have a free game to build a user base for your future paid games.
If I was one of these trust fund kids who didn't need to make money to survive I would definitely do this, more people would ultimately see my work.
There are also a lot of modders who work for free, not really sure I understand why, I dabbled briefly then decided if I'm working on a game I may as well make something I might make some coin on. But it could be something like that?
Improbable but not impossible.
you forgot about some ingame purchases - like skins etc
this might be sufficient to the dev for income
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and he might not actually need an income, there are people doing such stuff besides their actual work.
I would never recommend to make it a free game and increase price later on - it will feel like a smash in the face for everyone interested in this game.