How Valve actually takes its cut
Steam's revenue share is tiered per app, lifetime: 30% on the first $10M of net revenue, 25% on the next $40M, then 20% beyond $50M. Almost no game ever reaches the lower tiers — modeling at a flat 30% is realistic for everything except megahits.
- • Tiers are per-application, not per-publisher.
- • Revenue is counted net of refunds, VAT, and chargebacks.
- • Workshop and DLC follow the same tiers, attributed to the parent app.
Refunds, VAT, and the gap between gross and net
Steam's 2-hour / 14-day refund policy means 6–10% of indie revenue evaporates before Valve takes its cut. Regional VAT (especially EU 19–25%) is pulled out before payout. The number on SteamSpy is gross — the number that hits your bank is much smaller.
Regional pricing and VAT: why 'list price' is misleading
Steam supports regional pricing. A $19.99 US list price may convert to €17.99, ¥2,000, or RUB 600. Each region's VAT is pulled out before Valve's cut, so the effective revenue per copy varies even before refunds. A common mistake is assuming every sale contributes $19.99 × 70%.
- • US: no VAT, so $19.99 × (1 − discount) × 70% is close to net per copy.
- • EU: 19–25% VAT is pulled before Valve's 30%, so net per copy is much smaller.
- • UK: 20% VAT for most goods.
- • Brazil / Mexico / India: lower list prices, often 30–60% of US, but growing volume.
Bundles, sales, and long-tail revenue
Most indie games earn 60–80% of lifetime revenue in the first 12 months, but long-tail sales and bundles matter for sustainability. Discounting deeper than 50% rarely lifts total revenue unless it triggers algorithmic visibility.
- • Launch discount: 10–15% is typical for wishlist conversion.
- • Major seasonal sales: 25–50% can spike volume but compress net per copy.
- • Bundles: often 50–75% off, but can reach audiences who would never buy at full price.
Steam's 30% cut is famous; the other 30–50% of gross that disappears before you see a dollar is not. Returns, regional pricing, currency exchange, VAT/sales tax, and Steam Key giveaways all eat into the headline number. This calculator models actual developer take-home so you can plan a runway from real Steam data, not 'price × units' fiction.
What each input means
Get these inputs right and the output is reliable. Get them wrong and the calculator just multiplies bad assumptions.
List price (USD)
Steam store price in your home currency.
Typical range: $5–15 indie casual; $20–40 indie premium; $40–60 mid-budget; $60+ AAA.
Units sold (forecast)
Lifetime estimate, not first-month.
Typical range: 70% of indie games sell <500 units lifetime. Wishlists × 0.15–0.25 = realistic first-week sales.
Refund rate
Steam refunds within 14 days / <2 hours played.
Typical range: 5–12% premium indie; 15–25% early-access or short games.
Regional pricing weighted average
Effective price after Steam's recommended discounts for non-USD regions.
Typical range: Blended ~70–85% of USD list. CIS/LATAM/SEA regions are 30–50% discounted.
Steam revenue share
Steam's cut (drops above $10M and $50M gross).
Typical range: 30% under $10M; 25% $10–50M; 20% above $50M.
Worked examples
Real scenarios with the math walked through line by line.
Indie premium launch
Scenario: $19.99 list, 8,000 units, 8% refunds, 80% effective regional weighting, 30% Steam cut.
Math: Gross = 8,000 × $19.99 × 0.80 = $127,936. Refunds = $10,235. Net after refunds = $117,701. Steam cut = $35,310. Developer net = $82,391.
Outcome: ≈$82k pre-tax. Subtract publisher cut (if any, 30–50%), engine royalties, and platform-specific costs (Stadia/Switch ports) for real net.
Early access casual
Scenario: $9.99, 25,000 units, 18% refunds, 75% regional, 30% cut.
Math: Gross = 25,000 × $9.99 × 0.75 = $187,313. Refunds = $33,716. Net = $153,597. Steam cut = $46,079. Dev net = $107,518.
Outcome: Higher gross but refund rate triples the impact of a polish problem. Iterate refund-reducing changes before pushing for visibility.
Common mistakes
Where this calculation usually goes wrong in the real world.
- Using US list × units. Steam regional pricing typically lops 15–30% off blended ARPU.
- Ignoring chargebacks (separate from refunds, ~0.5–1.5%).
- Counting wishlists as preorders. Industry conversion is 10–25%, not 100%.
- Forgetting the 30% revenue-share tier resets per game, not per developer.
- Modeling launch revenue as steady-state. 60–80% of lifetime sales arrive in the first 30 days for most indie titles.
When to use this calculator
- Greenlighting a project — does the math support team cost?
- Pitching publishers/investors with credible forecasts.
- Setting a launch price vs. early-access price.
- Comparing Steam vs. itch.io vs. Epic vs. console margins.
Glossary
Wishlists
Number of users who added the game to wishlist. Best leading indicator; typical 10–25% convert to sales at launch.
Steam Key
Activation code generated free by the developer for external distribution. No Steam cut, but counts toward refund stats.
Revenue tier
Steam's tiered revenue share — 30% → 25% → 20% based on lifetime gross of a single title.
More questions answered
How accurate are SteamSpy / VG Insights estimates?
Directionally useful, numerically loose. SteamSpy uses public profile data that Valve made opt-in years ago; estimates can be off by 2–5×. Use them for relative comparisons (Game A outsold Game B), not as a basis for your own forecast. Better signal: Steam wishlists from games in your subgenre with similar follower counts.
Are Steam Keys 'free money'?
Almost. Valve doesn't take a cut on Keys, but the costs are: (1) keys count toward refunds, which can damage your refund rate visibility; (2) chargeback risk if you key-resell on grey markets; (3) opportunity cost of giving away copies that would have sold at full price on Steam. Most devs cap free Keys at <5% of expected first-month sales.
Should I launch into Early Access or wait for 1.0?
Early Access works if you have a strong gameplay loop and want to expand content based on player feedback — typical EA-to-1.0 timeline is 12–24 months and 2–4× the lifetime revenue of a 1.0-only release in the same genre. EA fails when used as 'beta with monetization' — refund rates double and reviews tank within weeks.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
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FAQ
What percentage does Steam take?
30% by default, dropping to 25% on lifetime revenue past $10M and 20% past $50M (per game). Almost no game ever hits those breakpoints — assume 30% for planning.
Does Steam take its cut before or after refunds?
After. Valve calculates its cut on net revenue (after refunds, VAT, and chargebacks), not gross sales.
How much do indie games typically net on Steam?
After Valve, refunds, and VAT, indie devs typically keep 50–60% of the gross list-price revenue. Discounting and high refund rates can push that under 45%.
Does regional pricing change my payout?
Yes. Regional list prices and VAT are applied before Valve's cut. A sale in the EU at 20% VAT and a lower regional price contributes far less than a US sale.
Are Steam tiers per publisher or per game?
Per game. Each app tracks its own lifetime net revenue. A publisher with two $6M games does not cross the $10M tier for a third game.
What refund rate should I model?
Indie games typically see 6–10%. Short games, games under $10, and titles with misleading store art tend to see higher refund rates.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last editorial review
May 2026. We re-check every figure on the platform on a rolling quarterly cycle.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.