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My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

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content creation

Independent creators using gaming engines for animation

Timeframe: Already happening - Amazing Digital Circus got 400M views in 2024

What's Changing

Creators bypassing traditional Hollywood animation pipelines by using game development tools to create animated content for YouTube

Driving Forces

Gaming engines becoming more accessible and powerful

YouTube's monetization making independent content creation viable

Traditional animation requiring huge teams and budgets

Global audiences preferring serialized content over movies

Winners

  • Independent animation creators who learn gaming tools
  • Gaming engine companies (Unity, Unreal)
  • YouTube as platform for premium content
  • Merchandise companies serving niche fandoms

Losers

  • Traditional animation studios with high overhead
  • TV networks losing to YouTube for young audiences
  • Hollywood gatekeepers who controlled animation distribution

How to Position Yourself

1

Learn gaming engines for animation instead of traditional tools

2

Build direct audience relationship vs seeking network deals

3

Focus on merchandise and licensing vs just ad revenue

4

Create serialized content that builds fandom over time

Early Signals to Watch

More gaming engines adding animation-specific featuresHollywood talent leaving to start YouTube channelsMerchandise sales from animated YouTube showsGaming engine companies investing in creator tools

Example Implementation

“Amazing Digital Circus creators used Unreal Engine instead of traditional animation software, built massive YouTube audience, signed Netflix/Amazon deals while keeping YouTube rights, generated tens of millions from merchandise alone.”