2026: Can Indie Developers Still Make Money?

So, Can You?

We've come all the way around, and I owe you the direct answer I dodged at the top.

Can indie developers still make money in 2026? Yeah, some of them can, and the proof is public. Pieter, Marc, Tony, Danny. Real people, real numbers, links above. I've checked them myself. And no, most of them won't, because the median is a thousand dollars and the graveyard is full. I won't sugarcoat that for you.

But you didn't come here for the median. I know I didn't. You came here for the honest version of the question, the one hiding inside the polite one. Can you, with your schedule, your attention span, and your pile of half-finished ideas, actually pull this off? That's the one I'm asking myself too.

That one I can't answer for you. Only you can, by running the experiment yourself, and only I can for me. Ship one small thing and watch what happens. Write down the wins and the zeros, because the zeros are the part nobody shares and the part that actually teaches. If it fails, you get an honest post-mortem out of it. If it works, you'll have watched it happen, one small boring ship at a time. That's what I'm doing next.

So no, I can't tell you it'll work. But I can tell you the question was never about the year. I'm pretty sure of that now.

The year was never the bottleneck. (´･ᴗ･`)

You were always the bottleneck, I've learned, and you're always the way through.