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How did ‘Tyler’ sell $125M dollars of his solo-developed video game?
Schedule 1 is a ridiculous (and fun) video game where you climb the ranks from corner dealer to drug kingpin. One guy (Tyler) made it.
It had almost no marketing budget.
Tyler didn’t buy a Superbowl commercial.
But he did build a small group of True Fans during Schedule 1’s beta release.
He made a great product and got it in the hands of a few True Fans.
The result? Over 8 million copies sold and $125M+ in sales.
Not bad for one guy selling a $20 game.
Meanwhile, here’s a what ‘AAA Studios’ with thousands of employees are doing:
The New Math
The Industrial Age was about scale. You made the most things as cheaply as possible to get rich.
But the internet has changed that. And you probably need fewer people than you think.
Kevin Kelly laid it out perfectly in his article 1,000 True Fans.
The idea: 1,000 True Fans times $100 in profit equals a $100K income.
The average disposable income in the US as of April 2025 is right around $20,000. You just need 5% of that.
True Fans are also bound to create ‘regular’ fans. These people might not give you $100 in profit every year. But you can count on them for about 50% of what your True Fans pay.
That means we’re now up to $150k.
This is an order of magnitude thing. Not a scientific formula.
But framing things in terms of profit per True Fan helps you actually ‘see’ what a business should look like.
Let’s Make It Real
Let’s say you want to make a half million dollars per year as a coffee roaster.
The average coffee drinker is buying 52 bags a year.
A bag of Black Rifle Coffee grounds goes for about $16.
A DTC coffee company probably sees anywhere from 40-70% margins.
So $16 times 52 bags at 50% margins equals $416 profit per True Fan.
1,000 True Fans = $416,000 a year.
Add 50% for casual fans = $624,000 a year.
Not bad.
Niches Scale Now
5.5 billion people are online now. That number goes up every day.
Even if your interest or product is “1 in a million”…
That’s still 5,500 people. 5.5 times more than our True Fans model requires.
That’s the power of the internet. It connects obscure passions with global demand. It lets you win by being weird, specific, and consistent.
Final Word: Resonance > Reach
The message is clear.
Old game = mass appeal.
New game = deep appeal.
Resonance builds trust, spreads organically, and creates leverage that compounds.
“Code and media are permissionless leverage. They’re the leverage behind the new rich.” - Naval Ravikant
You don’t need everyone.
You just need your thousand.
Schedule 1 is a ridiculous (and fun) video game where you climb the ranks from corner dealer to drug kingpin. One guy (Tyler) made it.
It had almost no marketing budget.
Tyler didn’t buy a Superbowl commercial.
But he did build a small group of True Fans during Schedule 1’s beta release.
He made a great product and got it in the hands of a few True Fans.
The result? Over 8 million copies sold and $125M+ in sales.
Not bad for one guy selling a $20 game.
Meanwhile, here’s a what ‘AAA Studios’ with thousands of employees are doing:
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
- Cost = $200M+
- Sales = $15M
- Loss = $185M
- Concord
- Time = 8 years
- Cost = $200M - $400M
- Sales = 25,000 copies (all refunded)
- Loss = Over $200M
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Time = 10 years
- Cost = $200M
- Loss = I dunno. But lots of people got laid off.
The New Math
The Industrial Age was about scale. You made the most things as cheaply as possible to get rich.
But the internet has changed that. And you probably need fewer people than you think.
Kevin Kelly laid it out perfectly in his article 1,000 True Fans.
The idea: 1,000 True Fans times $100 in profit equals a $100K income.
The average disposable income in the US as of April 2025 is right around $20,000. You just need 5% of that.
True Fans are also bound to create ‘regular’ fans. These people might not give you $100 in profit every year. But you can count on them for about 50% of what your True Fans pay.
That means we’re now up to $150k.
This is an order of magnitude thing. Not a scientific formula.
But framing things in terms of profit per True Fan helps you actually ‘see’ what a business should look like.
Let’s Make It Real
Let’s say you want to make a half million dollars per year as a coffee roaster.
The average coffee drinker is buying 52 bags a year.
A bag of Black Rifle Coffee grounds goes for about $16.
A DTC coffee company probably sees anywhere from 40-70% margins.
So $16 times 52 bags at 50% margins equals $416 profit per True Fan.
1,000 True Fans = $416,000 a year.
Add 50% for casual fans = $624,000 a year.
Not bad.
Niches Scale Now
5.5 billion people are online now. That number goes up every day.
Even if your interest or product is “1 in a million”…
That’s still 5,500 people. 5.5 times more than our True Fans model requires.
That’s the power of the internet. It connects obscure passions with global demand. It lets you win by being weird, specific, and consistent.
Final Word: Resonance > Reach
The message is clear.
Old game = mass appeal.
New game = deep appeal.
Resonance builds trust, spreads organically, and creates leverage that compounds.
“Code and media are permissionless leverage. They’re the leverage behind the new rich.” - Naval Ravikant
You don’t need everyone.
You just need your thousand.
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Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
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