Can PBBGs make money?
Although PBBGs may not always seem like much and they often may appear to be the hobby of a single person, there are many of which that are wildly profitable and would be considered fully fledged businesses by any measure.
Every game is different, but many larger game operators tend to have a core game that they re-theme with significantly different graphical styles and some unique flavor or minor mechanics to make them feel somewhat different to one another.
How much money do PBBGs make?
Solo operators can earn anything from nothing all the way up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from their games, with it entirely possible to rely on as your entire source of income as is the case of Lockdown Gaming's Prison Struggle.
There are mid-sized operators such as Torn Ltd with the game Torn employing well over 30 people and likely earning at least a few million dollars a year1, 2.
Then the upper end we have companies like Gameforge AG and Bigpoint GmbH each employing hundreds of people and earning tens of millions of dollars3, 4.
How do PBBGs make money?
Depending on the genre of game, the monetization methods used by PBBGs will often be grouped together.
Most games across all genres and mechanic types will have some variation of premium currency in use which usually allow the players to purchase game items that are exclusively available with it or to use when spending on other monetized purchase options in game.
As an example, games with idle mechanics (and/or those that rely heavily on action timers) will generally have paid mechanisms to skip or reduce timers.