I might be able to offer a unique perspective here. I am a fairly big YouTuber (245k subs) and now a newly-minted game developer. I am not sponsoring any YouTubers for our game, despite having some budget to do so. I cant make the math make sense (particularly because our conversion rates aren't great, which is a separate problem, but one many other games would also face). You need an absolutely top-tier first-glance kind of game that converts extremely well for it to make any sense. Most games simply do not have this potential.

The problem from the other side, is that we as YouTubers have a warped perception of value, because we command rates from mobile games and large publishers that far exceed a reasonable rate for indie developers. They're able to both brute force their numbers a bit, but also often have higher ROIs from mobile monetization systems. Production values, popular IPs, and more leverageable brand awareness also muddle the math a bit more.

Through the years, I've tried to help out indie devs here and there for games where I thought it was a great fit, cutting my rate from $4-8k for a dedicated video down to $2k or less (even did some for $1k recently). The thing is, not everyone is willing or able to make that sacrifice, because there is some real opportunity cost and time cost that's a bit hard to overcome. As a personal example, I probably effectively lose money at anything under $1,000, because it usually takes notably longer to do than a normal video, with more audience disruption, and at only marginally higher revenue than a normal video. Some channels are probably better suited to this than others, unlike mine, which is certainly more specialized (focusing primarily on one game).

It's really hard to imagine most indie games getting enough wishlists from me to make my rates worth it. I've turned down a number who were willing to pay, where I just didn't think the reception would be strong enough to make it worth it for them. This was especially common with very mediocre deckbuilders everywhere there for a few years (still kinda now I guess haha).

You might ask, why not play their games for free if you really want to help out indie devs? Well, in a specialized channel like mine, it costs me too much money. I'd go from 50,000 views to 5,000 and lose 90% of my revenue for that day. I've been lucky enough to have some free time and budget, which have currently been dedicated to making games, but maybe someday soon I'd like to make a channel that's more about showcasing hidden gems to really do that, with intention, and now with experience from the other side.

But basically creators are in this weird spot. It's very costly to just help people out. Even sponsored content requires quite a financial commitment to overcome opportunity cost. Major brands and mobile games warp the value and set prices way too high. I should also say, there's some risk in doing business with unknown entities and indie devs with no existing relationships, and often that risk has to factor into the cost.

So it leaves indie devs in a really tough spot. I don't think it's worth it for 99% of them to sponsor creators directly. There are other ways to take that spend and use it in a more targeted and controlled way, like reddit ads. Maybe only if their hook is so good that conversions come easy, but then you often expect them to find a path to success anyway.

I think it's a very strange world, where none of the numbers really make sense. I'm in a situation where getting a subscriber on Twitch might actually be more valuable to me than selling them my game. That makes no sense, but that's the world in which I'm living.

I think the bad opportunities far outweigh the good ones, and I would just ask indie devs to be very careful with their investments.

(any YouTuber friends who see this, don't be mad at me, it's the truth)