The gaming business is more competitive than it ever was. The days are gone when one developer used to publish a hit game out of sheer passion. Success in games nowadays is a result of a mixture of creativity, business, and data-informed decision-making.
From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire is your guide to success through the constantly evolving games industryâfrom bootstrapping your initial project to building a multi-million-dollar games business. Authored by an industry veteran, the book distills the practical techniques employed by leading developers to transform their games into successful businesses.
Learn how to:
đŽ Create addictive gameplay loops that pull players back in
⥠Quickly test ideas to prevent expensive development errors
đ° Intelligent monetization via in-app purchases, advertising, and subscriptionsâwithout frightening off your users
đ Promote your game appropriately with App Store Optimization, influencer collaborations, and paid adverts
đ¤ Utilize AI tools to accelerate development and improve game mechanics
đ Grow worldwide and establish a thriving game studio
The gaming business is more competitive than it ever was. The days are gone when one developer used to publish a hit game out of sheer passion. Success in games nowadays is a result of a mixture of creativity, business, and data-informed decision-making.
From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire is your guide to success through the constantly evolving games industryâfrom bootstrapping your initial project to building a multi-million-dollar games business. Authored by an industry veteran, the book distills the practical techniques employed by leading developers to transform their games into successful businesses.
Learn how to:
đŽ Create addictive gameplay loops that pull players back in
⥠Quickly test ideas to prevent expensive development errors
đ° Intelligent monetization via in-app purchases, advertising, and subscriptionsâwithout frightening off your users
đ Promote your game appropriately with App Store Optimization, influencer collaborations, and paid adverts
đ¤ Utilize AI tools to accelerate development and improve game mechanics
đ Grow worldwide and establish a thriving game studio
CHAPTER 1: SETTING THE STAGE
Why Game Startups Fail (and Why You Should Try Anyway)
In the gaming world, success can feel like a lottery ticket. One title goes viral, earning enough for years of development; another flops in a week, leaving its creators deep in debt. Despite the odds, new teams launch every day, hoping their app or hidden-object concept might be the next big thing.
In 2009, I found myself in that same hopeful crowd. I had taught myself C++ using tattered textbooksâno formal education, no video tutorials. By the end of the year, I released a simple iPhone puzzle game that, to my astonishment, earned $1,000 in its first month. That sum doubled my monthly expenses at the time. If one puzzle can pay my bills, maybe gaming could actually be a career, I thought.
Early Hope, Swift Failure
Buoyed by that initial success, I joined a friend to co-found a small studio called There Is No Spoon Games. We hired four junior employeesâno one owned drawing tablets, so we scanned pencil sketches into Photoshop, coloring them with a mouse. We launched three $0.99 puzzle games on the App Store. One, Junkmobile, earned a brief feature from Apple and a mention on Pocket Gamer, which seemed like a golden ticket. However, recognition did not translate into sustainable revenue. By March 2010, we had to close our doors, and my co-founders left the industry entirely.
Suddenly, I was alone. The dream that once felt so achievable was evaporating. Should I give up, too? A little voice inside insisted otherwise: If a single iPhone puzzle can net $1,000, there has to be a bigger opportunity lurking around. That conviction drove me to sell my apartment for $35,000âa radical move in my hometown of Simferopol. I used every dollar to start a new studio called Komar Games, renting a small office and hiring five inexperienced team members to chase a bigger dream: hidden-object games on PC.
The Office That Became My Home
To save money, I lived on-siteâliterally sleeping in that cramped office for six months. The couch was lumpy, the hot water limited, and the furniture often half-built. But that near-constant proximity to my project forced me to code or check art assets first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It was stressful, but it gave us a fighting chance. And as youâll see throughout this book, extremes can sometimes spark creativityâor at least keep the lights on long enough to iterate.
A Lean Approach to a Tough Market
My next hidden-object game, The Secrets of Hildegard, was designed in haste, pegging unrealistic hopes on a big launch. When it earned a fraction of our target, we were back on the brink of failure. That triggered a desperate pivot toward free-to-play on mobileâa pivot that, ironically, saved us. By reusing art assets and limiting scope to a two-month prototype, we validated a new revenue model quickly. When JoyBits offered to publish our hidden-object F2P, monthly revenue rose to $30,000.
The pattern was consistent: every time I tried to make a grand leapâbanking on a single big productâI nearly sank. When I tested smaller ideas, gathering data fast, I spotted which concepts could be tweaked for success. That was when the gaming business started making sense.
Why Your Game Deserves to Exist
This book will walk you through a process akin to âBuild-Measure-Learn,â a cornerstone of lean principlesâapplied specifically to the gaming industry. Itâs for anyone whoâs dreamed of launching a game, pivoting an existing one, or scaling a small studio without losing their soul (or their life savings). Youâll see my own misstepsâfrom a PC hidden-object misfire to a massive but doomed MMOâand how I adapted each time.
The takeaway? You donât need a huge budget or a perfect plan. You need a system for testing assumptions, adapting to feedback, and knowing when to pivot. In the chapters ahead, weâll explore how to:
Define and track key metrics like retention and ARPU.
Rapidly prototype game concepts without blowing up your budget.
Determine the moment to pivot or push forward.
Attract the right publisher or investor by showing real traction.
Survive external shocksâpolitical upheaval, market shifts, or personal burnout.
What follows is a guide to iterating in the gaming worldâcombining the lean philosophy with the real ups and downs of building hidden-object titles, hyper-casual apps, and beyond. Like me, you may start with a tiny puzzle that earns $1,000 in month one. But if you keep refining and learning, you could end up working with major studios, signing million-dollar deals, or even launching your own gaming empire. Letâs find out how.
Next Up (Chapter 2): Weâll dig into the why behind making games and outline how to identify your core audienceâessential steps before you build a single feature. Just as the lean startup starts with a vision, your game needs a clear direction if you want to validate it efficiently. Letâs get you there.
I have one grandson who seems to be super obsessed with gaming, so of course, when I saw this book, I was drawn to it. I wanted to read this book to see the other side of things. In From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire: The Ultimate Guide to Building A Multimillion Dollar Mobile Game Business, Serhii Komar shows readers how to turn their passion for mobile games into a profitable business. This book is a treasure trove for anyone wanting to enter and dominate the mobile gaming industry.
I love that the author does not sugarcoat his journey. Serhii Komar is candid and motivational throughout the book so others can get an accurate picture. He documents his journey from humble beginnings to scaling a multi-million dollar gaming empire. From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire: The Ultimate Guide to Building A Multimillion Dollar Mobile Game Business is broken down into well-structured chapters mirroring the journey of an entrepreneur. Komar discusses finding your niche, assembling the right team, game development fundamentals, monetization models, marketing strategies, scaling operations, and navigating investor conversations.
Each section of From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Multimillion Dollar Mobile Game Business includes examples and actionable steps. The examples and steps are done so that it is easy to grasp even complex business concepts. He does not just share the highs but also the lows of his journey, so most readers will appreciate the author's honest storytelling. Komar offers a backstage pass to what happens when you are launching a mobile game. Being so vulnerable about the journey will build trust while providing valuable lessons to readers with limited resources or doubts.
Serhii Komar discusses monetization strategies like in-app purchases and ad networks. He skillfully guides readers through metrics and analytics while showing how to balance creativity with commercial success. Komar gives the reader the tools to make data-driven decisions without losing their creativity. The writing is adaptable and approachable, so readers at every level can enjoy From Indie Studio to Gaming Empire: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Multimillion Dollar Mobile Game Business. This is more than a business book; it is also for those dreaming of building a gaming empire.
I will reread this with my grandson to show him what is possible.