Passive Income Ideas For Game Developers [2024]

Updated: September 19th, 2024

Are you a game developer looking to boost your income without sacrificing all your spare time?

For game developers, leveraging your skills to generate passive income can be a game-changer, pun intended. With the right strategies, you can turn your expertise into multiple streams of revenue, allowing you to bank on your talent while focusing on your next big project. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just getting started in the world of game creation, there are numerous passive income opportunities that can complement your main gig and provide financial stability.

We’ve curated a list of exciting and achievable passive income ideas tailored specifically for game developers like you. Ready to learn how you can start earning while you sleep? Let’s dive in and explore each idea in detail.

1. Make passive income with a mobile app ($70.3K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $1 — $500,000/month

How long does it take to build: 180 days (?)

We Started A $6M/Year Bachelorette Party App

BACH, an app that plans and books bachelorette parties, has grown from $0 to >$1M net revenue run rate in less than 6 months, gained over 100,000 users in their first 60 days, and has over 40,000 parties using the app this month.

Read by 10,950 founders

2. Make passive income with an online course sales business ($85K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $100 — $300,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $2,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 180 days (?)

I Make $120K/Year With My Print On Demand T-Shirt Side Hustle

A multipreneur shares how she built a successful print on demand side hustle, generating $120,000 per year through multiple brands spread over various platforms.

Read by 11,980 founders

3. Make passive income with a YouTube channel ($72.1K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $2,000 — $333,333/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,250 (?)

How long does it take to build: 30 days (?)

How A Young Entrepreneur From Nigeria Started A Profitable Blog

This case study follows the journey of a young entrepreneur from Nigeria who started a profitable blog generating a monthly revenue of $1,500+ through sales of advertising space, sponsored posts, and information products, and shares his strategies for success including a Twitter growth challenge and guest post pitches.

Read by 12,279 founders

4. Make passive income with an employee training business ($49.3K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $3,000 — $160,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 62 days (?)

How We Created A $35K/Month Sustainability Online Course

Sustain Academy is an online sustainability academy that offers a 10-week LIVE online sustainability course followed by 1:1 mentorship, taught by the world’s best field experts; so far, more than 100 companies from over 10 different countries have trained their employees with them.

Read by 4,601 founders

5. Make passive income with an ai based business solution ($55.8K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $4,000 — $120,000/month

How long does it take to build: 125 days (?)

How We Launched A $120K/Month Audiobook Publishing Course

Mikkelsen Twins grew an online education company from scratch with over 800 students, making over 6-figures in profit every month thanks to their successful program, Audiobook Income Academy 2.0.

Read by 21,935 founders

6. Make passive income with a wordpress plugin business ($33.4K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $120 — $120,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 120 days (?)

Time commitment per week: Min. 5 hours/week

How I Coded A Website Plugin Making $600 Per Month

Wheely Sales CEO Josh created a lucky wheel popup that has grown revenue from $0 to $600/month in just 4 months since getting started and has attracted over 1.1 million users to his customers’ websites, all while proving that when it comes to creating a product, competition is validation.

Read by 18,935 founders

7. Make passive income with a niche website ($107K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $400 — $250,000/month

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

How I Leveraged My LinkedIn Network To Create A $1.8M/Year Procurement Conference

DPW (Digital Procurement World) is a fast-growing conference and community in procurement that has more than tripled in revenue since launching in 2019, capping out the year at €1.8 million, with 95% of their growth coming from inbound traffic leveraging LinkedIn and applying social selling techniques.

Read by 3,583 founders

8. Make passive income with an oil spillage cleaning business

Here's the full list:

9. Make passive income with an online survey tool ($304K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $40 — $1,600,000/month

How long does it take to build: 180 days (?)

On Starting A $160K/Month CRM & Automations Company After A US Air Force Career

GreenRope, a self-funded CRM and marketing automation platform with over 1,000 customers in 20 countries, was built organically and focused on creating a positive, customer-centric culture without outside investment, with an all-in-one interface solving challenges in managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations.

Read by 11,991 founders

10. Make passive income with a social media automation business ($148K/month)

Here's the full list:

How much you can make: $4,000 — $400,000/month

How long does it take to build: 50 days (?)

How I Bootstrapped A Social Media Automation Tool To $2MM/Year

MeetEdgar, a bootstrapped social media automation tool founded in 2014 by Laura Roeder, has grown to $4 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 5,000 customers, with a team size of two dozen, achieved through content marketing, social media marketing, and organic search.

Read by 15,163 founders

11. Sell laundry machine parts

Here's the full list:

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.