Steam Sales & Revenue Estimator

How this calculator works

1. Copies = reviews × copies-per-review (the Boxleiter method).
2. Gross = copies × price, reduced by your average discount and regional pricing.
3. Net = gross minus refunds and VAT/sales tax.
4. Steam's cut: 30% up to $10M, 25% to $50M, 20% beyond.
5. Engine royalty: Unreal Engine charges 5% on revenue above $1M per product. Unity and most other engines charge none.
6. Withholding tax on what Valve pays you, depending on your tax treaty.

Choosing copies per review

The Boxleiter method started from industry observations that each Steam review represents roughly 20 to 50 sales, and current estimates range from about 20 to 80. Some guidelines:

• ~20: a conservative floor, useful for worst-case planning.
• ~30: typical for indie, narrative and niche games.
• ~50: an average across many games.
• ~70: broad-audience games where fewer buyers leave reviews.

Older games, cheaper games and games often bundled tend to have more copies per review. The method's typical error is 30–50%, which is why the calculator always shows a range.

Using it to plan your game

Work backwards: decide what income makes the project worth it, use the target box to see how many reviews that takes, then look at similar games on Steam. If successful games in your genre rarely reach that number, rethink scope, price or genre before you build.

Also use it to look at competitors: enter the review count of a game like yours to get a feel for what the genre earns.

What this calculator cannot tell you

• How many wishlists you need, or how many will convert at launch.
• Sales outside Steam (consoles, other stores, bundles, subscriptions).
• Your real tax situation. Check with an accountant.

Check the official Unreal Engine licence and Unity pricing for current licence terms.

FAQ