Co-founder & CPO at Level 26 Games (Grand Hustle RP, 30M+ installs). Game development, product leadership, AI.
Joined October 2026
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5 ways to make money in game dev in 2026 that barely existed a year ago 🧵
1. Make mobile games, starting from what's already working
• Open AppMagic and see what's trending right now
• Reverse-engineer one: the core loop, the monetization, what keeps players coming back
• Build your own take on it
• With AI tools, it takes weeks, not years
More in replies 👇
5. Help small studios with marketing
• Building a game is cheap now, getting it in front of players isn't
• Most indie teams have no idea how to promote what they made
• If you can run ads, make creatives or get them featured, they'll pay you
4. Make UGC videos for games
• Studios pay regular people to film short clips playing their game
• They often convert better than polished ads
• All you need is a phone and good lighting
3. Make and sell game assets
• Every studio needs characters, cars, buildings, icons and sound effects
• AI speeds up the rough work, you do the polish
• Sell them on asset stores or straight to studios
2. Build games on Roblox or Fortnite
• The players are already there
• The tools are free
• Small creators are finding real audiences without a marketing budget
The #1 skill right now is clearly explaining your idea to AI agents
Most people still struggle with that.
Even small teams or studios win by having one person who can direct the agents well instead of trying to do everything the old way
Everyone's vibe coding SaaS that nobody will ever find.
Meanwhile Google Play still hands games free installs every day.
Games are harder. Most of your tests will die. But once you have a pipeline that keeps shipping, the store does your marketing for you.