IndieDevTool / Profit Calculator
Indie Game Profit Calculator
In beta · launching soonHow many copies do you actually need to sell to break even on the time you put into your game? This calculator answers that question, factoring in Steam's revenue share, regional pricing, and the fact that most indie revenue happens during discount periods.
What it does
You give us four numbers: total dev hours, your honest hourly rate, your planned Steam price, and your expected launch discount. The calculator returns:
Break-even point, exact copy count that pays back your time at 100%.
Profit ladder, what you actually take home at 1×, 2×, 5×, and 10× break-even.
Time-to-payback, at typical indie sell-through rates, how long until you cross break-even.
Marketing budget headroom, how much you can spend acquiring sales before each one becomes a loss.
Honest hours valuation
If you'd otherwise be making $40/hr at a day job, those hours have a real opportunity cost. We make you face it.
Steam-aware math
30% Valve cut, regional pricing, ~86% of sales at discount, refunds. Same model as our Wishlist Cost Calculator.
Multiple scenarios
Conservative, expected, optimistic. See the full range, not a single hopeful number.
Auditable formulas
Every number shows the math behind it. Plug in your own assumptions and check our work.
Get notified when it launches
We'll email you the moment the Profit Calculator goes live. You'll also hear about new tools I build for myself and share here, plus the occasional case study I write up from working with indie devs. No spam, easy to unsubscribe in any email.
Why we're building this
Most indies underestimate the number of copies they need. A reasonable hourly rate (say $30-50/hr), 1,500 hours of dev time, and a $14.99 game with a 15% launch discount means you're looking at 5,000+ copies just to cover your time. That's before profit. Before marketing. Before the months of post-launch maintenance.
Knowing this number ahead of time changes how you think about scope, pricing, and which projects deserve the next year of your life. The calculator surfaces it in 30 seconds.