Why 90% of Indie Games Fail

This Article

Most indie games on Steam fail due to oversupply, low sales, and cheap pricing. Nearly half sell under 100 copies and most earn under $10,000. Higher prices, more reviews, and smart choices like console releases or localization improve survival. Passion helps, but business sense is essential.

A top-4%-in-the-world failure

Steam is the #1 platform for PC gaming. Many game developers see it as the only target to release on (even if both Epic and GOG are slowly growing). But Steam is brutal to those who go in with nothing but a dream to make a game. My indie game (Yaengard, the Personality Trait RPG) sold about 6,000 copies. It was around our expectations. We decided early that Yaengard was a passion-first project. “Business is secondary” was said multiple times. We needed about double to justify building game #2, which would have been exciting. But life happens, and whop-bam I go into commercial cross-platform gaming instead.

I felt like Yaengard was a failure on the business side (even if that was the intention!). Yet, Yaengard was in the top 4% of games released on Steam during 2022. That makes me think: “If I think Yaengard was a failure, what happened to the 96% of games that had worse releases?”

Ouch.

Let’s break down what happens to most games on Steam.

Some truths about Steam

Releases & Sales

• In the span of 2023 to September 2025, 42,126 games were released on Steam.
• 42% (~18,000 games) never sold 100 copies.
• 66% (~28,000 games) never made $1,000.
• 83% of games in this span make less than $10,000. This becomes $5,600 after sales tax, local pricing, and Steam’s 30% cut ($312 pre-tax salary per month for an 18-month development cycle).
• On average, 16% of bought games are refunded on Steam (Yaengard was ~17.2%).

In large part, this is due to game development being accessible, and many gamers dreaming of adding their creation to Steam. But for those of us not just dreaming, but trying to build games for a living, it becomes a sobering truth.

More and more games are being released as gaming grows, kids grow up dreaming of making games, and it is easier now than ever. Additionally, both tools and distribution are much more accessible than they once were (including the arrival of coding LLMs).

Pricing Mistakes

• ~95% of games on Steam cost less than $20.
• 16% (~7,000 games) were free (2023–2025).
• 58% (~23,000 games) cost $4.99 or less.
• 22% (~9,000 games) sold for between $5 and $10.
• Only 1.5% of these games cost $40 or more.
• Less than 0.2% of these games have AAA pricing (>$60).

For each Steam review (positive or negative), about 50–60 copies are sold (funnily enough, my indie game sold EXACTLY 50 copies per review in its first year). You need about 500 reviews for a game release to sustain a tiny indie development team. Double it if you have a publisher, which generally takes a 50/50 revenue split these days for indie game companies.

Consider your business options. Don’t go in blind.

Most indie games will fail. That is a truth, and it is okay. We all build games because we love games. Solo developer, pair, or a team; the data is fairly clear. For many, that is alright. They want to create a game, and in most cases 5–20 people try your game. Steam gives you the platform to do that for only $100 and a few hours of work to get going.

But did you know that if you release your game on consoles, the median result is a 1:1 sales ratio between PC and consoles (very region- and game-dependent)? In many cases it is much higher, with console sales dominating, for example, in Europe. Yet, 95% of games are single-platform games. To build an indie game development studio, you need to re-adjust your thinking. It can’t be all passion projects. You have to learn how the game is played, and then decide what % should be business and what % should be passion.

Facts to consider

Making some basic assumptions of income and development time (~12–16 months), here are some facts to consider:

• For a 1–2 person game studio, you need to reach ~40,000 wishlists and hit ~200 reviews.
• For a 4–5 person game studio, you need ~90,000 wishlists and ~500+ reviews.

Scout around for games in these ranges, and find out what your benchmark must be!

• As a business guideline, higher price is nearly always better on Steam. However, your game must match the tier of its pricing.
• If you release with a publisher, these number requirements will double (40,000 / 200 -> 80,000 wishlists / 400 reviews).
• If you release on major console platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch), these required numbers are cut in half (canceling out the publisher).
• Releasing on mobile can be a game changer.
• Localizing your game and pricing can nearly double your sales and player base, once again cutting the benchmarks in half.
• If you cut your development time in half (by reducing the scope), your required sales are also reduced by the same amount.

This means that the target numbers (40,000 wishlists on Steam, ~200+ reviews) — if you release without a publisher, localized, on all the consoles — become just 10,000 wishlists and ~50 reviews. In reality, it’s likely a bit higher than that. After all, you need viable marketing and a following. But it helps to illustrate how much is in your control if you plan for it.

What you can do as an indie dev

If you want to have a chance to build a future in the gaming industry as an independent game developer, you need your eyes open. As I am once again considering building a game, I will document my journey and thoughts to share with others. My white whale in game development has always been the game that does fine in sales, but ALWAYS puts the players first. I believe it can be done.

I come from business, product, and have a lot of experience from the “evil” side of game development. But it isn’t really evil. It is just business. That’s alright. Knowing the business and industry can let passion projects bloom into something that changes the industry we love. I wish more indie game developers could learn just enough of the business side that they thrive, and build the next generation of fantastic, blows-AAA-out-of-the-FUCKING-water indie games.

Upcoming Articles on Indie Game Development

• How to begin building an indie game (Wishlists!)
• Picking the right genre
• Where most games fail (It is failure of scoping and maintaining that scope!)
• Where released games fail (It is in business and marketing!)
• Becoming the best in the world at your fun
• Player feedback and engagement (plus reviews & refunds!)
• Being an indie gaming company (by funding game #2)
• Signing publishers & investors
• Localizing your game, marketing, and pricing

As I am myself planning to exploring a potential game idea, I’ll go through these from the lens of an actual fresh indie game developer.