Construct 3
👤 Ashley & Tom Gullen (Brothers. Ashley coded the engine to make his own game; its open-source community proved demand before they charged a cent.)🌐 siteLinkedIn
Ashley Gullen's open-source engine grew a fan community; the brothers turned it into a no-code browser subscription.
Will it work? · our read
Free funnel. Indie game-making is a small, fickle niche and the free tier is generous enough that most users never pay — growth leans on schools and the few who turn pro.
01How the money moves
Kid finds free Construct 3, ships a browser game with zero code
→
Free tier caps projects and events as ambition grows
→
Upgrades to about $130/yr Personal, or a school license
02The numbers
$100k/mo
revenue, Sept 2021
founder
200k+
monthly active users
3rd-party
400+
US schools, 48 states
GovTech
MAU and creator counts are third-party estimates, not confirmed by Scirra. Starter Story
Tom Gullen stated about $100k/mo in Sept 2021 (about $1.2M ARR), growing 30-40%/yr. Later third-party trackers estimate near $5M, but that is unverified.
🔒
The facts are free. The judgment is for members.
You've seen how the money moves, the numbers, and every source — free, on all 365 cases, always. Members get the part you can't look up: why it won · where the moat really is · how it dies · how it beats its rivals — plus the 🚀 launchpad prompt that turns any case into a plan for your business.
Sources stay public, always · cancel anytime · 14-day refund
(demo: preview the full teardown)Sourcesupdated · daily
Starter Story — Tom Gullen: "about $100k/mo" (Sept 2021)Wikipedia — Construct engine history (Classic to 2 to 3)Infinite Frontiers — Scirra interview (open-source roots, subscription)GovTech — Construct 3 in 400+ US schools, 48 statesConstruct — pricing and plans (free tier plus about $130/yr)
Revenue is first-party but dated: co-founder Tom Gullen said 'about $100k/mo' (about $1.2M ARR) in a Sept 2021 Starter Story interview, growing 30-40%/yr. Current scale is higher but only via unverified third-party trackers (roughly $5M revenue, 200-250k monthly active users, 1.9M annual creators) — I did not confirm these first-party, and Companies House shows only balance-sheet data (cash about 677k GBP, 6 staff), not turnover. The open-source-community origin and pricing are documented. No drama was invented; the win is patient community-building plus a freemium/education engine. We never score you.