How much does an AVN cost?
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This is a post I wanted to publish months ago, but unfortunately couldn’t because, for legal reasons, I had to wait for a response to my tax return for 2025. Last year, I was forced to turn my hobby into a small business, and before publishing any figures, I wanted to make sure for myself that they had been verified as correct by my local tax office.
So, for everyone who wants to know how much an AVN costs - at least my AVN - here are a few figures for you.
A quick note up front so you can put this into context:
tl;dr:
I could spend less and earn more, but I don’t feel like it because that would take the fun out of it and would slow down the progress.
Longer version:
Although I’ve had to turn game development into a small business, it remains a hobby for me. I do have a certain obligation to generate revenue, but maximizing profits isn’t a requirement and will never be a goal of mine. As long as the development costs are covered until completion, that won’t change. As some of you may have noticed, my subscription tiers and prices have hardly changed since the beginning of development in October 2024, and I also do not offer any additional services such as special renders, voting power, etc. For me, my personal enjoyment is the top priority, and under no circumstances do I want any outside influences in my office in the evenings to interfere with that. At the end of the day, I sit alone at my desk in the evenings, working on the game, and I don’t want any type of money to make me feel obligated to change how I spend my free time. Therefore, from start to finish, my sole focus will be on completing the game. Everything else is, fortunately so far, a positive bonus.
I started this whole project in September 2024 with no prior experience, an empty product database, and no idea how much effort or money the whole thing would cost. This led, especially in the beginning, to me buying many things that I’ll either use far in the future or, in some cases, not at all. This also led me to the uninformed decision to go with the newer G9 models from Daz rather than the tried-and-true G8/8.1. For those who, like me at the time I started, are unaware, this has implications for the required hardware, since G9 models consume significantly more resources, and for the selection of assets such as clothing, third party 18+ assets, etc., which naturally aren’t as extensive as with older models due to their shorter lifespan.
Here’s a rough breakdown of the figures by year:
2024
Revenue: 150 euro
Expenses:
- Hardware: 1625 euro
- Digital Assets, music, software licenses, Patreon/Payment provider fees, energy, etc.: 2217 euro
- Taxes: 0 euro
2025
Revenue: 7989,61 euro
Expenses:
- Hardware: 5135,97 euro
- Digital Assets, music, software licenses, Patreon/Payment provider fees, energy, etc.: 4701,50 euro
- Taxes: 649,04 euro
2026 (so far)
Revenue: 5957,78 euro
Expenses:
- Hardware: 0 euro
- Digital Assets, music, software licenses, Patreon/Payment provider fees, energy, etc.: 2613,72 euro
- Taxes: 157,89 euro
Overall, I’m currently still slightly over 3000 euros in the red. With the release of Chapter 6 at the latest, I should reach the break-even point, at which I should turn a profit for the first time after nearly two years.
For those who don’t want to look at the numbers, here’s a summary:
Especially at the start of development, if you’re trying - like I am - to achieve high quality and a corresponding rendering speed, the hardware costs are very high. Also, don’t underestimate the cost of acquiring licenses for the graphical assets if you haven’t done any development work beforehand. If this were my second game, these costs would naturally be lower, since common assets like poses, facial expressions, and even some clothing, etc., can be reused.
The first months in which revenue exceeded my expenses occurred one month before the release of Chapter 3, in July 2025. So it took almost a year before I no longer had to invest my own money on a monthly basis. As of April 2026, however, the entire game has still not turned a profit. This is meant to illustrate just how long it can sometimes take to be able to approach development with a more “relaxed” mindset in regards to spending.
I’d like to wrap this up with a few personal words.
Of course, due to the many platforms through which AVNs are distributed, I can’t be 100% certain of the accuracy of this estimate, but based on the numbers I’ve been able to collect , as well as the figures from my
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account, approximately 1,7% of the people who download the game ultimately decide to support the game’s development via Patreon/itch. This figure includes returning users. The bulk of it comes from Patreon.
I’m aware that this figure is influenced by my decision to release the game for free after a two week early release on Patreon, but I don’t think the difference would increase significantly in the long run until I have a finished game.
To these 1,7% of people I’d like to say the following. Without you working on the game wouldn’t be possible in the way I’m currently able to do it. Yes, the big money may come in later through stores like Steam/GOG/etc., but what good is that revenue later on if you don’t even make it that far in the first place because you can't finance it all by yourself?
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight that many developers never reach the stage in the development process where their income covers all the costs. It takes a lot of hard work to develop, maintain and ultimately finish a game. This is especially true in terms of the time you have to put in, and most do it the same as me, while working full time. I have a lot of respect for every developer who puts themselves out there, often without receiving the appreciation that their time investment deserves. I hope that, like me, you can find all the motivation you need within yourself and in the enjoyment you get from working on your dream game.
For me personally, if I stay above 500 euros per month and rise to 1,000 euros in release months, then the game’s funding remains secure without me having to rush a Steam release or slow down development.
