2025 Wrap Up: Letter from the Producer

Hello everyone! Executive Producer Matt DeWinkeleer here. Quarter 4 isn't over yet, so some of these final numbers are very close estimates. But here are our finances for 2025.

Income:

• We raised $101,488.85 through Patreon subscriptions.

• YouTube revenue amounted to roughly $24,000.

• Licensing and commission work brought in around $48,000.

• And miscellaneous income was $12,500.

Expenses:

• Total crew pay for 2025 was roughly $149,000.

• Contractor pay was $7,305.

• Business expenses for VDR were $6,940.84.

• The total we paid on subscriptions and licenses was about $5,000.

• We spent about $3,800 on art and design.

• On research, materials, and references, we spent around $3,500.

• We paid $556.33 in postage for perks and such, $117.41 in remaining model-ship refunds, $139.16 in misc. stuff, and paid out $3,910.28 to previous team members.

• All the fees and such we paid this year totaled $536.15.

Our total expenses were about $180,000.
Our total income was about $186,000.

Breaking it Down

One of the expense categories I'd like to take some time looking into is crew pay. VDR is still made up of a few volunteers, but mostly paid crew. And each year, we've been able to compensate more and more people for their talents.

A total of 27 people were compensated over the course of the year, excluding the handful we consider outside contractors ($7,305). We have five different "departments" that people are in: Creative/Core, Modeling, Programming, Research, and Behind the Scenes. Some of these roles overlap: modelers being researchers, researchers being programmers, and some of the core fall into multiple.

But as we read, the total crew pay for everyone at THG was $149,000 this year. Or, in other words, if everyone were paid the same (which they were not, as some joined later in the year), that's only $5,500 per person for the whole year. Here in the United States, the amount we need to live on per year is estimated at (a minimum) $40,000 for a single person. No one on THG makes this amount a year.

So even though people are getting paid for their work, they are still technically volunteers because we can only pay them so much.

Let's break it down a bit more.

The creative/core team consists of eight people. These guys (including myself) are the ones with the direct creative control over THG and how Titanic will look and feel. Some core team members are compensated for their time and effort; others volunteer. The total spent on the core team (excluding the two members in the categories below) was $53,000.

Our animation director, Jack, who creates all our YouTube visuals and works on any outside projects we have been commissioned for, is paid exclusively with funds generated by those two methods, which I mentioned totaled $24,000 and $43,000 this year, respectively. Jack is also considered part of the core. The writers for our content, Boris and David, have also been paid with YouTube revenue. The total paid to these three was $27,000.

Derek and Tyler run the programming side of THG and P401. Derek is the lead and part of the core team, so he has been paid more. Combined, they have been paid $24,000. For context: a full-time salary for a programming lead working on an indie video game usually starts at at least $40,000 a year.

We currently have fifteen modelers working on assets for THG. Many of these modelers showed up halfway through the year. The majority are being paid per model they create, while a few are new volunteers working on their first pieces. Some are lead modelers, and others work on specific assets like NPCs, so the ship itself is constantly being worked on. For the first time in THG/VDR history, all modelers currently working on the project are being paid. The total pay for the modeling department was $23,000.

The research team is mainly made up of volunteers. Thanks to VDR's think-tank mentality, all of them work together, providing each other with input, materials, and resources. There are several research leads, and the pay for those has amounted to $12,000.

We have others working behind the scenes on our website, servers, UI/UX design, and legal advising. These essential team members have been paid a total of $9,000.

James, a core member and our creative director, is not paid.

Our historical art directors and core members, Gio, Chris, and Nico, are not paid.

Our wreck expert, Peter (who helped find Diana), is not paid.

And I am not paying myself to work on THG.

99% of the team relies on a primary source of income outside THG.

The meme we hear most is that THG begs for money, trying to drain our fanbase for as much as possible, and then someone, usually me, pockets the money without us delivering anything. We get at least one of these comments per Facebook post, it's all over some Reddit threads, and we've heard through the grapevine that those we previously worked with and paid are saying it too.

The truth, as you can see from our financials above, is that we barely have enough money to pay the team for their work. We are super grateful to everyone who is still supporting THG, and I am happy to let you know that your contributions go directly to people working on the game.

Over the past two months, I have been selling off Olympic wood and artifacts from both the THG and my personal collections. We had bought these relics in the past for measuring and reference. Selling these pieces was done to help pay the team, as Patreon and YouTube weren't quite covering everything during a few months. We even had to take out a small business loan in October. But it's all a good thing — having these many people to pay for working on THG.

It's also why we must constantly look for commissions and licensing (gasp! outside projects!) to offset rough months. Hopefully, with our current agreements, we'll be in a better place in 2026.

THG Licensing Projects for 2025

Speaking of licensing, the THG team helped out with several other projects this year. Like I said, licensing our Titanic material has always been important to us — and not just because it brings in income to pay modelers, researchers, and programmers to work on the main game.

Our most fundamental cornerstone has been the sharing of accurate Titanic knowledge in beautiful, detailed mediums. When we are approached by a company requesting our visuals, models, and expertise, we always keep a few things in mind. If we don't assist them, they will go elsewhere to get what they need, and Titanic might look bad. And the other consideration, which is worse in our opinion, is that THG material will still be used without our permission, either through their own decision or by hiring another company to create content for them. We've seen this happen several times when a 3rd-party company is hired instead; they find our models, demos, or images, modify them a bit, and present them as their own finished work.

So if we want to ensure Titanic's legacy is shared in respectful, accurate ways, and also protect our work, we need to be involved.

As I mentioned, we helped with several significant projects in 2025. One we can't talk about yet, as it is still in development. But we provided models from Demo 401, ensuring that their project is at least visually correct.

Another big one was Titanic Sinks Tonight: a four-episode documentary coming out in a few days that tells the story of Titanic's final hours. We provided the production company with almost all of our interior and exterior digital models. Sets were constructed based on our models, and the cast filmed scenes in front of a digital wall (usually called the Volume) that displayed our Titanic. Our research team also answered many questions the crew had regarding facts, figures, and events. While we have helped with documentaries before, this is one we are very excited about and are sure everyone will enjoy.

But a brief disclaimer: we've worked with documentary teams before, providing visuals, research materials, and, sometimes, being interviewed. At the end of the day, these programs are designed to entertain, and historians never really know what will make the final cut. THG was not present at filming, and it is not our production. We provided as much research and as many facts as we can, as we do with every production team that contacts us. No documentary or movie can be perfect nor 100% accurate, no matter how much you try. So as the saying goes: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

Titanic Sinks Tonight trailer

THG helped to create brand-new content for RMST, Inc.'s exhibit, which opened in Poznan, Poland, last month. The immersive wall exhibit and the VR tour development was primarily led by Jack, with help from other key researchers. We can't wait for it to open in more locations next year so even more people can check it out!

Regarding immersive and virtual reality Titanic exhibits, we have something to address. Titanic seems more popular than ever: exhibits and shows have appeared around the globe, featuring artifacts, room recreations, and immersive displays. Often, we get a Facebook message or email from someone who has just been to one of these, asking whether we helped out, since they believe they saw some of our work in the exhibits.

One of the many constant rumors about THG is that we are involved in multiple lawsuits. The claims are that we are being sued or that we are suing others. It is a running joke among some online, and in some cases, former team members have even made these accusations.

Fortunately, all those rumors are false. While we have sought legal action to protect our work when it's stolen, we haven't needed to do so in the past five years. Nor have we received any cease-and-desist letters, lawsuits, or letters from angry attorneys.

However, with the influx of Titanic exhibits worldwide, things might change. We have created immersive visuals and VR content for one company: EM Group (RMST's parent company). You might find a random THG image printed and displayed at other, smaller exhibits, but you will not find anything similar to what we just created elsewhere.

As I said, we have seen our content used in places without our permission. These are not free exhibits, and the visuals (chiefly the VR add-ons) are helping generate significant income for these companies. We want everyone in the community to know that we are considering all our legal options. Licensing visuals is one of the main ways we generate funds to work on the game. If our content is being used without our permission, i.e., stolen, that means we have lost out on an income stream to pay the team.

Plus, many of these exhibits are full of fluff "artifacts." This fluff are things somewhat related to Titanic but not actually her: Olympic furniture and fittings (still cool), photos of the ship you can see online, props from the various films, and bad room recreations.

On top of this, a lot of them advertise their exhibits with terrible AI-slop creations. Unlike so many other Titanic content creators lately, Titanic: Honor & Glory has never used AI for art (we can't promise that we've never used AI since it has been implemented into so many programs.)

So when you are deciding which Titanic exhibit or museum to check out, be wary: most of them have videos online from others who have been, so you can see if it's worth your time (and your mind!)

Looking Ahead

Finally, I want everyone to know that the team has more enthusiasm and steam than ever. Seeing progress on all fronts: modeling, programming, and funding is giving us all excitement to keep up the momentum. There's a lot of great Titanic content coming next year, and we hope you will join us to be part of it all!

We'll be doing our livestream event on the Queen Mary again in 2026, and we hope it is bigger than ever. This upcoming April marks ten years since we released our first real-time sinking video, so it is an anniversary for us. You won't want to miss it, trust me!

And perhaps the most anticipated even coming is the release of the Alpha. Please remember that we have a date set but we won't let everyone know publicly until we are absolutely certain we will meet it! We have experience in the past of announcing dates only to miss the deadlines.

But having played some early builds of the Alpha, along with the updates from Tyler, Kyle, and the modeling team, I can say with confidence that it is going to a beautiful and fun first release!

Thank you all and have a happy and healthy 2026!