It used to be common in the games industry for developers to get royalties, back in the 80s and 90s. Quite a few famous programmers made small fortunes on hit g

It used to be common in the games industry for developers to get royalties, back in the 80s and 90s. Quite a few famous programmers made small fortunes on hit games. As a software engineer, I’ve had sales based bonuses on films and on games, which isn’t exactly the same as royalties, but it’s fairly close. > Why isn’t software the same? If I write code that is still producing value for the company after 10 years, shouldn’t I get royalties for that? It depends; there are multiple different answers. Some people do get royalties, so sometimes it is the same. Royalties are contractual, they typically get negotiated before the software is released. You can request royalties from your employer, and/or hire a lawyer or manager to ask. Employer might say no, but if you have a specialty or leverage, they might agree to it. Royalties are common for very small teams and solo contributors, and not very common for large teams. Continued employment, promotions, and bonuses can be considered a form of royalty. It’s not common anymore for a piece of software to get released and never change again, which is the only way royalties really make sense. If a company is continually upgrading software for those 10 years with new releases, and new people, then how can the company figure out your royalties? Best way to get passive compensation from future sales is to own the software or own the business.