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Comment by arriu | Hacker News Reader

This is a serious amount of effort for what I imagine is little payout. I really enjoy work like this and hope that he is able to make a living off it.

Anyone have thoughts on how to make projects like this more sustainable?

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Someone on HN once said, if you want to build a reputation and a brand, do interesting things and talk about it. This is the perfect example. No, this will not make him money because there is not a large market for superior Mario 64 performance, but you sure as hell know who he is now, don't you?

And I will say his youtube skills are top notch. The video is very entertaining and informative. I just cannot imagine this person will have trouble making money in the future.

EDIT: Added a missing word

This seems to clearly be a passion project. The author is being paid in the satisfaction that he gets in improving this famous game way beyond what the original creators managed to do, all while being bound by the same technical limitations. He also gets to show off his skills to a fairly large (in absolute numbers at least) global audience of people who are also really into this particular game. I doubt you would see someone going to such great lengths for an obscure title that few other people would appreciate or care about.

People often do things for their own merits and not just in exchange for money.

But the guy has a Patreon and this video already has a half a million views which should be at least $1000 in revenue, possibly 2-3x and it's still quite new.

You can give him money using Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Kazestuff

He does have a Patreon so it's not entirely volunteer work.

Art doesn't need to have a payout or be sustainable.

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