A highly scientific calculator to tell you when it's time to take your dream project out back and put it out of its misery. Calculate the exact moment you'll need to go back to making enterprise B2B software.
Launch Wishlists
0
Includes 0 from SNF
Cash (After Gaben)
$0
Post-tax & refunds over 5-year lifetime tail
Bleeding Rate
$0
Food, rent, regret
The cold, hard math on how long you can pretend this is a viable business before you end up living in a cardboard box and eating ketchup packets.
Gaben's Toll (55% Ratio): Accounts for Valve's 30% cut, taxes, regional pricing (where your game is $2 in Argentina), and people rage-refunding your bugs.
Lifetime Tail (7.5x Multiplier): A standard industry estimate. Your total sales over a 5-year lifespan usually equal about 7.5x your Week 1 launch sales.
Steam Next Fest Slot Machine: Calculated purely on vibes and historical data. If you have under 1k wishlists, you get ~462 pity wishlists. Over 1k, the algorithm blesses you with ~1.5k.
The Starving Artist Model: Assumes you still need to pay rent. As a dev, working on this game actively burns a hole in your wallet.
Disclaimer: This tool is a joke built on sweeping industry averages. Game development is highly unpredictable. Your game might be the next Stardew Valley, or it might sell zero copies. Do not base actual financial decisions on this calculator.
Built with by Mohammed Marzouq