Look through the list of games tagged RPGMaker on Steam and scroll past the first page.

These games were made by people who already had an audience to begin with, not to mention years of experience, longer time frames and higher budgets.

There are plenty of ‘modern’ commercially successful games made with RPG Maker, such as LISA or One Shot or To The Moon, but they’re the exception, not the norm. That time has long passed, and while it’s still possible to make money from using RPGMaker, it’s a long, slow grind–definitely not for someone just looking to make a quick buck. Many of those games were released during the brief Steam Greenlight era, where the market wasn’t even a tenth of what it is now and your game could gain traction even without marketing. It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that, if those games made so much money and they look so simple, well surely I could make a better one and make even more money, right? Probably not. I feel that way because I started out with that exact thought. I feel like a lot of potential RPG devs find some of the older, more financially successful, ‘basic’ RPGM games on Steam, such as Cubicle Quest, Grayfox, or the Labyronia games, and tell themselves, “ I can do better than that! “. The problem is that, in terms of revenue, unless you’re able to make a smash hit on your first try (hint: unlikely), you’re looking at spending years learning the software and creating your first game, followed by many weeks of learning how to use Steam and how to market your game, followed by your big release, and finally the grim realization that your first game may not even gross $1,000 in its lifetime. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – the low barrier to entry allows more passionate game developers than ever to pursue their dreams. I say this because the market is absolutely flooded with low-budget indie games. If your primary goal of using RPGMaker is to make money, then unless you enjoy the process of making RPGs, I’d recommend you look elsewhere.

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