Introduction
Future of GameArter - platform status update
GameArter continues in a limited operating mode after a major infrastructure rewrite and migration that reduced costs and keeps published games online.
Dear Developers,
GameArter will continue operating in a limited mode, with the possibility of restoring broader services in the future. The priority is to keep already published games and connected websites online while rebuilding the platform only where it makes practical sense.
September 2025
Revenue calculation stopped
Since September 6, 2025, the previous revenue calculation algorithm stopped working. Repairing it would require rewriting core parts of the old system, which was no longer practical to maintain in its original form.
October 2025
Temporary free-hosting model
GameArter switched to a limited model focused on keeping games online. Revenue shares were suspended and ad revenue has been used to help cover hosting and operating costs.
December 2025
A path to lower costs
In December, I found a way to reduce infrastructure costs by approximately 12x. To achieve this, the platform needed a complete infrastructure rewrite and migration in the following months.
April 2026
Migration completed
The rewrite and migration have now been completed. All games and all websites connected to GameArter have already been moved to the new infrastructure, and the lower operating costs will take effect from May 2026.
The rewrite was important not only for cost reduction, but also because it moved GameArter to a technology stack and codebase that I can fully maintain myself. The previous solution had been built by an employee and was no longer practical for me to continue developing or maintaining.
May 2026 and onward
Limited operation on modern edge infrastructure
GameArter now runs on modern edge computing infrastructure. This should improve global performance, especially when loading game pages and delivering game files.
GameArter has also had no personnel costs for over three years. During that period, the platform was effectively running without active team management. From now on, GameArter is a pure one-man operation, maintained without compensation. Together with the lower infrastructure costs, this makes it possible to keep the platform online.
Current priorities
My current priority is user growth and retention. As a result, developer-facing services such as revenue tracking, SDK development, new game submissions, and similar features are currently suspended. Their backend has not yet been rebuilt, because without users these services have little practical value.
Revenue data and payouts
I do intend to preserve the source data related to revenues from already published games. If GameArter gains momentum again in the future, I plan to implement revenue recalculation and process payouts retroactively. At current revenue levels, however, payouts do not meaningfully make sense.
The previous developer dashboard at developers.gamearter.com/sign will remain available until the end of April 2026. After that, it will be shut down together with the old hosting and infrastructure it still depends on.
The page showing both paid and unpaid revenue has already been moved to www.gamearter.com/account, and this information continues to be maintained there. Any unpaid revenue recorded so far remains available for future payout. Login credentials for the new dashboard are the same as for the previous one.
Games, updates, and removals
If you do not agree with this approach and would prefer to have your games removed from the platform, please let me know and I will remove them.
Uploading new games is currently not possible. However, if you would like to update an existing game, I can still handle that manually by agreement over email.
Thank you for your patience and for being part of GameArter.
Sincerely,
Vlad