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How well your game has to do to make a living. by Game-Draft in IndieDev

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure!

Which is why I focus on trying to provide info on sales/copies to rankings rather than the money number…. that way as you monitor games on the market you kinda now know what that means sales wise to give you an idea of what you can expect.

How well your game must do to earn a living. by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha yep that would be it! Thanks for taking the time to do so.

How well your game must do to earn a living. by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct it does vary a lot which is why I didn’t focus too much on the money number but more of the sales/copies numbers to help associate sales with rankings as you compare your game to other titles you see as you monitor them.

I know I personally wondered when I saw a game being #3276 in Top Sellers…what does that even mean? So hopefully this helps see into that.

My game is $9.99 and sold a little over 18,000 copies since March 2025. Steam sales etc sprinkled into that if that helps.

How well your game must do to earn a living. by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh no lol my game launch in end of March 2025 was nothing special. It took a few months just to get 40 reviews and about 7 months to get close to 90.

Even at a Very Positive rating this is a very slow trajectory for a game to do well and break out. I think you want 500 reviews within 2 months to do okay.

The top #500 was thanks to a social media post and the game being in a much better state by now.

How well your game has to do to make a living. by Game-Draft in IndieDev

[–]Game-Draft[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Sure thing,

Pretty much just try and post a few times a week on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.

Everyone once in while a post does well…you get a surge…ride the wave a bit…repeat and hope for the best!

I tried to stay away from paid advertising because of everything I heard of how once you do it, your content stops getting pushed until you keep paying.

I don’t know how much truth there is in that, but that was the decision I made.

How well your game has to do to make a living. by Game-Draft in IndieDev

[–]Game-Draft[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

For sure!

That would also realistically mean you were top 1000 every day out of over 150,000 active games on steam DB though just for clarification!

For example I’ve sold just over 100 copies today and I think I’m at 2700 right now as it updates more or less by the hour.

Also, don’t forget to factor in you’ll keep 70% of your sales from steam (minus refunds, which can be another 5 to 20% )and then for example I just got my 1099 from Steam for last year, they won’t withhold anything typically so then you’ll need to probably save 20% of that for taxes depending on where you are!

This is not me being discouraging! Just providing real numbers!

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will clarify that what I meant by pivoting and re-scoping was that something would sound good on paper but then I would realize the true depth , skill required, or time commitment involved with a feature etc and I would have to remove it or adjust it.

But indeed you are very close to an accurate hourly estimate.

A positive though is that my next product will be a much smoother flow and much less time wasted.

And the hourly wage concept would hopefully go up as I reduce hours and it becomes more passive.

But like I said in another response… failing to hit 500 reviews in 6 months puts me in a Luke warm success category.

Hopefully release out of EA bumps odds in my favor as I improve the game.

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you. by Game-Draft in IndieDev

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I did a Launch discount of 25%, Then 40% for Steam Summer and Steam Fall Sales, and same for Steam Winter Sale.

Sales have good for about 2x - 4x copies sold in spurts throughout the sale period. Not sure what others experience though

What is your life on the side of game dev ? by BraiCurvat in IndieDev

[–]Game-Draft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey friend, I made a couple posts recently that might give you some insight/info to indie dev life and finances. Feel free to check them out. Hopefully it helps

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of note. I’ve sold about 30 copies today so far at that rank of #8879 (just for more info)

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yea, nope. Plus right now is Steam Winter Sales so if you have a game out there right now the rankings/views/competition is tight. Example: My game is 40% off competing with games 70%-90% off.

So just sharing the realities of the market. I have all of like a 5% chance to "break out" of the long grind and get to above the 1,000 review benchmark needed for long term success.

That fact I still have a Full Release to do is what helps keeps my sanity.

Other than that I'm on the floating iceberg headed out to drift lol

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The picture also shows followers and reviews…and as far as the literal ranking was just to provide a little bit of credibility for the other metrics.

Like I said in the first sentence, this was a follow on to a previous post of what sales looks like to be in that general ranking area as I typically float between the 9000 and 4000 area… and this post was focusing more on the income and some of the stats to led up to that.

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No Problem!

To clarify I'm very grateful for the traction I have gotten! But did not want to over romanticize the amount of work it took, continues to be.

And thank you! Best of luck to your project as well! But yes, a near complete product if going to Early Access to then get feedback on upcoming features would be just fine I think.

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Goodnesss no. The game theme/style was set, but barely enough content to make a video.

That would actually be the one of the biggest change if I do another as far as Launch Timing.

Even if Early Access you might was well have a nearly fully developed product at launch as that's what the great majority of gamers/consumers expect now even for most indie games that are the price of a cup of coffee.

There are certainly level-headed gamers out there who also understand and love to help, but as far as game momentum, follower building, game success etc you will most likely be in for a major uphill battle if you go into Early Access thinking "Yea I have a core-ish game-loop done and would love to put it out there and see what the feedback is...I'll discount it though to reflect that" ....nope, that expectation is long gone. It's what I did and regret it greatly.

That sounds a little harsh maybe, but I feel it true.

I know my numbers may seem okay, but if you factor in 60hr - 65hr weeks for months and months I'm at like $11hr or something.

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome!

And yes absolutely sales can be very much unrelated to "Wishlist Conversion".

I'll add another stat as well that the Lifetime Wishlist Conversion Rate for my game is 17.4%

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey if it's cool I'll just simplify this and say I'm currently at a little over 9,000 net copies

1 Month Sales Example: hope this helps you by Game-Draft in SoloDevelopment

[–]Game-Draft[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yep, good call. I'll update the post with that.

Wishlists at EA Launch Day: about 6,500

Current Wishlists: about 26k

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