How important is it financially today to engage in game development?

Question

3D

I am a designer at heart, I love to create, so this direction is very interesting for me. Here only interests, how much it is favorable from the point of view of recoupment and expenses of nerves for today.
Some write that on garbage written in 2 evenings they earn almost millions without worrying, while the latter spit, saying that the market is oversaturated and without sensible promotion (and investment) almost any brainchild is a place in a landfill. Still others say that without a job in a serious game development company, this idea is generally better to be abandoned.
In the case of "worth it" - which platform should I pay attention to? Unity + C# & mobile platforms (again, only games in the top of the Market pay off on Android)? UnrealEngine + C++ & desktop?
3D/2D? Again, I find conflicting opinions, up to Linux and pixel games on python / browsers on js.
Or is it worth going into the realm of 3D interior/exterior design modeling altogether? It seems that there is always demand there, and there is not much competition, the entrance age threshold is still higher, which gives hope for adequate customers and serious projects.
I'm interested in the opinion of people already involved in this business (While we are talking about "amateur development" in 2-3 pairs of hands, of which one and a half artists, and one and a half C # / C ++).

Answer 1

How relevant your game will be, how relevant you will be able to sell it.

Answer 2

At one time I was interested in game development, various conferences, talked with many people who make money on this and with those who left that direction. Those who earn, and say that this is luck. You can invest in a toy thinking that it will be a revolution, but in the end it will turn out to be of no use to anyone. Or maybe it's the other way around - some kind of cheap nonsense, but there will be a million downloads for a dollar. In general, gamedaving is a hard-to-predict thing in terms of earnings, and therefore one option is a conveyor, in anticipation that some will shoot.
Well, I'm talking about mobile development. If we talk about serious games, then alone and even 5 people are few hands, because. not even programmers are important for success, and in real projects they make up 10% of the entire team, the rest: scriptwriters, illustrators, designers, sound engineers, managers, etc.
And all this despite the fact that in recent years, game development has surpassed Hollywood in terms of turnover, i.e. there is a lot of money spinning there and you can try to snatch something for yourself. But again, from my communication, I learned that it is very difficult to get into it now, the market has settled down, the niches are divided and beginners, without the support of monsters, are doomed to failure. Young people now mostly do not sell to the consumer themselves, they sell to those who have established access to the markets.

Answer 3

This place is full of unpredictability. A lot of factors affect the game and its payback. Genre, novelty, plot, replay value, difficulty, graphics, etc. etc.
Here it depends on you. Will you make something simple, new, unforgiving like Getting over It, or something old and unpredictable at the same time, like Dusk, which is not yet released but is already popular. Here is your decision where to dig. Just select a genre and dig there, think about what you need to implement in your game, what you can bring new to the genre.