It's rewarding, but also exhausting. Either you put months/years of your life into something that pretty much no one plays, so it almost feels like why did you

It's rewarding, but also exhausting. Either you put months/years of your life into something that pretty much no one plays, so it almost feels like why did you bother (other than you gained some skills along the way), or it gets some success and then you get bombarded by neverending expectations from entitled gamers. Among Us: "I definitely burnt out. It was tough because during all of this, we weren’t able to see friends and family. Being so tired from working, I couldn’t even go visit my family during covid and had to spend holidays alone...That was definitely the hardest time.” [1] Minecraft fans getting angry at Notch for daring to take a vacation I remember, and here's one about a fan getting PISSED at an update with only one new thing to play with: [2] Stardew Valley fans mad for how long multiplayer update took "I love you ConcernedApe and your game, Stardew Valley, but people are getting impatient. I am getting impatient. You've had your vacation, your space and your earnings." [3]. Or Shovel Knight "We wanted another Shovel Knight game, but we didn’t want to make it. We’re sick of making Shovel Knight games." [4] The book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels goes into this more, especially for Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley. I worked on several games in the industry, a few small free ones on my own were popular but every game I worked on for a company failed to be successful or enter the gaming zeitgeist at all. It almost feels like a waste of my time when that happens, and often lead to layoffs. I got out of the industry after the third company in a row where that happened. [1] https://kotaku.com/among-us-developers-say-they-burnt-out-after-twitch-suc-1847122851 https://kotaku.com/among-us-developers-say-they-burnt-out-af... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/iaeqj/dear_notch_are_you_fking_kidding_us/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/iaeqj/dear_notch... [3] https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/rip-stardew-valley.117396/ https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/rip-stardew-vall... [4] https://www.fanbyte.com/features/shovel-knight-dig-interview/ https://www.fanbyte.com/features/shovel-knight-dig-interview...