You definitely DONT need to be a part time streamer to be a successful dev. Most devs don't do any YouTube or Twitch or anything and plenty of them find success. It is one path to success but not the only one. For example the devs behind Meccha Chameleon have no social presence and they still made a hit game becasue they came up with a really awesome idea and coupled it with excellent execution. Then people whose job it is to stream games, like Ludwig or Splattercat, played the game and shared it to players. Or one example in the middle is Jonas Tyroller, he has a channel that is pretty successful, but nowhere near the $10 million he made from Thronefall. 99% of that success came from the Steam algorithm from making a genuinely awesome game that blew up as soon as people got their hands on the demo. The dev doesn't have to be the one doing the sharing, they just have to make awesome games that people genuinely want to play. So if you don't want to become a streamer/YouTuber, that's fine! Make awesome games that people want to play.

@UnityCodeMonkey Thank you, Monkey-wan Kenobi, you are very wise.

@UnityCodeMonkey I have a question. Where do modern code monkeys get their TAB? Mountain Dew is available in abundance, of course, but sometimes that alone just isn't enough.

@UnityCodeMonkey Focus on making great games! This sounds bs, but it really is the only way to be successful gamedev. Think about your player and make a game they will love. No, you don't know better. No, you can't ignore their feedback. REALLY understand YOUR GAME's ideal PLAYER

@UnityCodeMonkey 99% of that success is a pure luck)

Very true. I think gamedevs shoudln't try to check every theoretical “must-do” box (streaming and YT being main examples) instead of identifying the few things that actually move the needle and executing themwell. And above all, the first thing a game developer has to execute well is... the game itself. Everything else is there to amplify a good game, not compensate for the lack of one.

@UnityCodeMonkey true. just make social media pages just for the handle and update announcements and focus on creating. sooner or later the skills will develop and improve, and the algorithm will detect the work done and self promote your game