Breakeven Calculator
How many units to recoup your development investment
Salaries, contractors, assets
Trailers, ads, outreach
Legal, localization, QA
Base retail price
Valve's 30% revenue share
~10% for refunds + VAT/GST
Blended avg across all sales
Effective rate on revenue
Cost Breakdown
Development
Marketing
Other
Total Investment
Breakeven: units
010K20K35K50K+
Breakeven Analysis
Avg selling price ?Base price minus average discount. Represents the blended price across launch, seasonal sales, and full-price purchases over the game's lifetime. $
Net per unit (after tax) ?What you actually keep per unit sold: avg price × (1 − Steam cut) × (1 − tax rate). This is the amount that pays back your investment. $
Pre-tax breakeven
After-tax breakeven
Wishlists needed ?Pre-launch wishlists needed to hit lifetime breakeven. Formula: breakeven units ÷ 1.35 (Birkett 0.15 × Y1 3x × LT 3x = 1.35 lifetime units per wishlist).
2x ROI targetDouble your investment
3x ROI targetTriple your investment