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Mumbai man laid off in Germany now close to earning ₹9.5 lakh a month: 'Racism, internal mismanagement led to this'
The man said that his decision to return to India and focus on independent game development has started paying off.
Being laid off can be a career setback for many professionals, especially those working abroad. However, for one Mumbai-based game developer, losing his job in Germany turned out to be the beginning of a new entrepreneurial journey.
In a post on X, Anul Agarwal, an independent game developer from Mumbai, shared how he rebuilt his career after being laid off from his role as a Game Producer in Germany around 3.5 years ago. “I was laid off from my job in Germany as a Game Producer 3.5 years ago. Racism +internal mismanagement led to this,” Agarwal wrote.
He said that the opportunity to work in Germany had been a significant milestone, particularly as someone who came from a Tier-2 town in India. “Coming from a T2 town in India it was a great opportunity and learning experience but then I decided to come back to India and build my own games,” he said.
Agarwal added that his decision to return to India and focus on independent game development has started paying off. He revealed that he is now close to earning $10,000 (approximately ₹9.52 lakh) a month in profits through his apps, games and content creation efforts.
The developer also highlighted the role social media played in his growth, saying that sharing his work publicly helped him secure collaborations and freelance projects through LinkedIn.
“Building in public earned me good collaborations and freelance work via LinkedIn,” he wrote.
He further said that he began posting actively on X about 6 months ago and was quickly able to monetise his account, earning around $5,000 (around ₹4.76 lakh) from the platform.
“Building in public is always good if you have an interesting way to tell your stories. 70 million+ players across my various web/mobile games. Building more solid games this year, stay tuned!” Agarwal concluded.
In a follow-up comment, Agarwal also called Germany “one of the most racist countries. “I have lived in Scotland/England and travelled to most of Europe, but never faced anything like I did in Germany as an Indian,” he wrote.
How did social media react?
The post quickly gained traction online, with several users praising Agarwal’s comeback story.
One user wrote, “70+ million player is an amazing number bro I never thought people actually play games outside of few games like pubg , cod.”
“Crazy comeback. From getting laid off to hitting $10k/mo and 70M players is wild. Respect for turning it around instead of quitting,” commented another.
“Having a job is the biggest mistake a man can make. When you are free you can build whatever you want how you want when you want. Best thing to happen,” wrote a third user.
“That’s amazing dude! It’s experience like these that keep give hope to a lot of builders here,” expressed another.
“What a comeback! Turning a layoff into a portfolio reaching 70M+ players, $10k/mo from apps and games, and another $5k from X is seriously impressive. Excited to see what you build next,” wrote one user.
