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Side Hustle School

Ep. 3142 - Q&A: “What’s the business process for releasing an indie game?”

Side Hustle School

Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers

4.83.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Thinking about launching your own video game? In today’s episode, we explore how solo developers can publish on Steam—one of the biggest game distribution platforms—and what it really takes to turn a project into profit.

Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.

Show notes: SideHustleSchool.com

Email: [email protected]

Be on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questions

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Visit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.com

Read A Year of Mental Health: yearofmentalhealth.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0

A big thank you to ShipStation, our long time partner. If you run an e-commerce business, you already know the best way to be successful is to keep your customers happy. And you can do that by automating shipping tasks, managing orders in one simple dashboard with ShipStation. Lead your business into the future with smart features and automations that boost efficiency and save you time.

0:21.4

In fact, over 130,000 companies have grown their business with ShipStation.

0:26.3

When shoppers choose to buy your products, turn them into loyal customers with cheaper, faster,

0:30.0

and better shipping. Go to Shipstation.com and use Code Hustle to sign up for your free trial.

0:35.3

There's no credit card or contract required and you can cancel any time. That's shipstation.com code hustle.

0:45.1

Lemonada.

0:49.8

What's the business process for releasing an indie game, like an indie video game on Steam?

1:00.2

Steam is one of the biggest game distribution platforms.

1:03.1

It's actually very simple, at least in the technical sense, to upload a game and release it to market for a solo developer, a small team to put their creations in front of millions of players. Of course, it's also a competitive environment, just because it's simple to do it. Doesn't mean it's going to be simple to make it a big success. There are over 12,000 games released on Steam each year. So standing out and making money is a whole different challenge. But let's talk about it.

1:46.1

We got a question from a listener in Salt Lake City. He's working on a solo game. He dreams of publishing it on Steam. So what's the actual business process there? Like how much does it cost? What marketing does he need? Can a one person game really make money? Let's break it down. Detailed question and my answer coming right up. As an e-commerce business, you build trust with your customers one package at a time.

1:51.4

That's why smart retailers use ShipStation, including many of our longtime listeners.

1:57.0

We've been partnering with ShipStation for eight years now, and so many of our listeners over the years have emailed me to say they're using ShipStation for their e-commerce business.

2:05.8

I know it's a great service just because I only hear good things about them.

2:09.9

With ShipStation, you can seamlessly integrate with services and selling channels you already use.

2:14.8

You get to manage orders on one easy dashboard and deliver a better

2:18.7

customer experience with industry leading scalable features that help ensure accuracy. Oh, and you also

2:24.9

save money. You get discounts up to 88% off UPS, DHS Express, USPS rates, and up to 90%

2:32.1

off FedEx rates. It really is a no-brainer. As I say, I've only heard good

2:36.9

things over the years. When shoppers choose to buy your products, turn them into loyal customers

2:41.0

with cheaper, faster, and better shipping. Go to shipstation.com and use code hustle to sign up for

2:46.5

your free trial. There's no credit card or contract required, and you can cancel any time. Again, that's

2:52.5

Shipstation.com, code hustle. Hi, Chris. This is Evan from Salt Lake City. I've been working on a

...

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