Steam wishlist calculator
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First week: about 1,000 copies (likely 500 to 2,000). The table below is the first year.
| Low | Typical | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copies sold | 1,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 |
| Gross revenue | $14,990 | $44,970 | $149,900 |
| Refunds | −$1,199 | −$3,598 | −$11,992 |
| Regional pricing | −$1,103 | −$3,310 | −$11,033 |
| Discounts | −$965 | −$2,896 | −$9,654 |
| Steam's cut | −$3,517 | −$10,550 | −$35,167 |
| Net from Steam | $8,206 | $24,617 | $82,055 |
How this is worked out
- First-week copies = wishlists × 0.1, from 0.05 to 0.2. GameDiscoverCo's 2020 survey found a median of 0.2 (0.16 in Early Access), and How To Market A Game found in 2026 that games from 2023 to 2025 sell about half as many copies per wishlist, so we halve it.
- First-year copies = first week × 3, from 2× to 5× (GameDiscoverCo: a first year usually brings 2 to 5 times the first week).
- Gross = copies × list price.
- Minus refunds (8%), regional pricing (8%) and discounts (7%), then Steam's cut (30%, 25% above $10M and 20% above $50M). What's left is what Steam pays out.
- Then your publisher's share and income tax, if you set them, give what you keep.
- Regional pricing assumes about 1 in 6 copies sell where prices run about 50% of the US price ("Typical" in Advanced settings). Discounts cover launch and seasonal sales.
- US sales tax is added at checkout, so it isn't taken out. Where the price includes VAT (Europe, the UK, Japan), Steam pays you the price minus VAT, which this doesn't take out yet, so those sales can bring in 10 to 15% less than shown.
- This is a ballpark from published wishlist benchmarks. Conversion varies a lot: press and streamer buzz push it up, festival-only wishlists pull it down.
Wishlists to sales, answered
How many sales does a Steam wishlist turn into?
Recent Steam games sell about 0.05 to 0.2 copies per launch-day wishlist in their first week, typically 0.1. GameDiscoverCo's 2020 survey found a median of 0.2, and How To Market A Game found in 2026 that games from 2023 to 2025 convert about half as well, so we use 0.1.
How many copies will I sell in the first year?
A first year usually brings 2 to 5 times the first week's sales (GameDiscoverCo). So 10,000 wishlists at launch typically means about 1,000 copies in week one and 3,000 in the first year.
How many wishlists do I need?
Pick the Wishlists I need tab and enter your price and the money you want to keep. The calculator works back from Steam's cut, refunds and regional pricing to the copies and the launch-day wishlists that goal needs.
Does launching in Early Access change it?
Yes. In GameDiscoverCo's 2020 data, Early Access launches sold about 27% fewer copies per wishlist in week one (a median of 0.16 against 0.22). Tick Launching in Early Access to apply that.
Already released? Estimate sales from reviews with the Steam revenue calculator.