Tools
Publishing Break-Even Calculator
Run the deal through the chain of deductions. See what actually lands as net per unit, and how many copies you need to sell to recoup.
Paste the figure from the Publisher's Game Budget Calculator, or type a number directly, to see how many units you need to sell to recoup.
$
The headline price you'd see on a Steam page or a store shelf. The starting point. Everything below this number chips away at it.
$
Average Net Per Unit
What's left after the store's cut. Steam standard is 70% to you, Steam after revenue tiers can climb to 80–88%, consoles are typically 70%. Default 0.70.
×
Accounts for regional pricing, sale discounts and currency conversion. A game listed at $29.99 in the US sells for much less in Brazil, Turkey, Argentina, and at every sale. A working average across the lifecycle is around 0.80.
×
Some deals carve a top-line license fee off gross before recoupment. Default 0%. Anything above 20% is aggressive.
%
Withholding tax, VAT washout, and similar deductions before money lands in your account. A working average is 0.90.
×
Refunds, chargebacks, fraud reversals. Industry default is around 0.95, meaning roughly 5% of sales come back.
×
$0.00
Units to Break Even
1x budget · developer breaks even
Add a budget above
Selling that many copies before you see a cent? Worth a second opinion on the deal. Get in touch.
2x Budget · Publisher break-even
Awaiting budget
3x Budget · Publisher growth target
Awaiting budget
Hi, I'm Michele (or Miki for short).
Ran the numbers and something feels off? That's where I usually come in. Tell me about your game.
Notes
- Full price is optimistic. Most copies sell at a discount, through seasonal sales, launch discounts, bundles and discounted keys, so a game rarely earns its full SRP across its lifetime. Run the tool a second time with a slightly discounted price to see a more realistic net per unit.
- The chain matters. Net per unit = SRP × regional adjuster × platform share × tax retention × return retention × (1 − license fee). Each multiplier compounds, which is why a $29.99 game rarely returns more than $14 to the developer, and often much less.
- Defaults are not your deal. The values pre-filled here are working averages across genres, regions and platforms. Your actual deal will move every slider. Pull the real numbers from your contract, your distribution platform reports, and your accountant.
- Recoup tiers. 1× is the developer's break-even, 2× is roughly where the publisher breaks even at company level once their overhead and risk are accounted for, 3× is the growth bar. Publishers usually green-light deals they believe can clear 2× comfortably.
- Estimation only. This is a directional tool, not a contract model. Real revenue planning requires real numbers, real contracts, and real lawyers.
- Next step. Take the recoup unit target into the Steam Wishlist Target Calculator to convert it into the wishlist count you need on launch week.
- Previous step. Don't have a budget total yet? Build one with the Publisher's Game Budget Calculator first.
- Comparing offers. Break-even for one deal only tells you half the story. Run two offers through the Publisher Deal Comparison to see which structure actually pays you more, and read what '50/50' actually means before you weigh the split percentages.