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Can you name an example of a child video game prodigy who made millions making a game by themselves? I knew that it was much easier to make a fully formed game

Can you name an example of a child video game prodigy who made millions making a game by themselves? I knew that it was much easier to make a fully formed game as an individual developer back then obviously, but I've never heard of anyone who profited from it like that. I thought independent developers were much better off today with the ability to make a game like "Flappy Bird" and have it distributed and advertised for you by companies like Apple.

WillPostForFood 9y ago
Andy Gavin & Jason Rubin who created Naughty Dog started in high school, though the millions may not have come until later.
mistrial9 9y ago
this post may supply [0] some context http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_View/Entries/2010/3/27_TMON.html http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_V...
gwern 9y ago
I seem to recall seeing a number of examples on filfre.net, and other games like _Prince of Persia_ were largely one-man jobs (he got some help with animation and whatnot, but it was essentially a one-man thing, judging from the famous developer diary). One problem is that people don't always cite exact dollar amounts, and when they do, they don't inflation-adjust - if you made 'only' $300k off a computer game in 1980, well, that's a million dollars now right there.
jcl 9y ago
One example might be Jordan Mechner, who wrote Karateka between the ages of 18 and 20, which went on to sell 500,000 copies. One of his journal entries mentions he got 15% royalty, and one of his videos mentions that the original retail price was $34.95, so he may have made a couple million from it.
daodedickinson 9y ago
http://archive.beefjack.com/features/matt-smith-the-fall-of-video-game-royalty/index.html http://archive.beefjack.com/features/matt-smith-the-fall-of-...
mayoff 9y ago
Richard Garriott?
djmips 9y ago
Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember. Not sure how much they made but they did evetually parlay the start into millions (at least for Don) http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/video-games-video-kids-strike-it-rich http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/video-games-video-kids-stri...

WillPostForFood 9y ago

Andy Gavin & Jason Rubin who created Naughty Dog started in high school, though the millions may not have come until later.

mistrial9 9y ago

this post may supply [0] some context http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_View/Entries/2010/3/27_TMON.html http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_V...

gwern 9y ago

I seem to recall seeing a number of examples on filfre.net, and other games like _Prince of Persia_ were largely one-man jobs (he got some help with animation and whatnot, but it was essentially a one-man thing, judging from the famous developer diary). One problem is that people don't always cite exact dollar amounts, and when they do, they don't inflation-adjust - if you made 'only' $300k off a computer game in 1980, well, that's a million dollars now right there.

jcl 9y ago

One example might be Jordan Mechner, who wrote Karateka between the ages of 18 and 20, which went on to sell 500,000 copies. One of his journal entries mentions he got 15% royalty, and one of his videos mentions that the original retail price was $34.95, so he may have made a couple million from it.

daodedickinson 9y ago

http://archive.beefjack.com/features/matt-smith-the-fall-of-video-game-royalty/index.html http://archive.beefjack.com/features/matt-smith-the-fall-of-...

mayoff 9y ago

Richard Garriott?

djmips 9y ago

Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember. Not sure how much they made but they did evetually parlay the start into millions (at least for Don) http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/video-games-video-kids-strike-it-rich http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/video-games-video-kids-stri...