What Three Games Actually Cost

With all three games built and published, Adil finally answers the question he'd been holding back: what did this actually cost?

He asked Claude to pull the full credit breakdown — every generation, including the failed ones he isn't hiding. The total for all three games, start to finish: $68.

From there he lays out how the business model behind the marketplace actually works, as a funnel:

• The marketplace is the free top of the funnel. Hosting costs nothing, and real players show up on their own. If people keep coming back, that's a signal you've built something worth pursuing.
• You own the code Claude wrote. That means a proven winner isn't stuck on the marketplace — you can take it straight to digital distribution platforms, where it can actually scale.
• The marketplace tells you what to bet on. The distribution platforms are where that bet pays off.

Adil is upfront that his own opinion of the three games doesn't count for much — he built them, so of course he likes them. To get an honest read, he sent all three to a studio that ships games professionally: Smilegate.