Sharing thoughts about Sales results so far
Hello dear members,
As always, I want to be open with you about the development process, and that includes sharing the sales results.
After about one month of sales on Steam, the game has generated approximately $11,000. From this amount:
Steam takes a 30% cut,
I’ll pay about $200 in state taxes.
This leaves me with a net income of around $7,500 for the month.
As some of you may know, visual novels typically earn around 50% of their lifetime revenue (or at least revenue over 2–3 years) in the first month. So, it's reasonable to expect around $15,000 total revenue over the next few years.
Now, let’s talk about expenses:
About $500 was spent on marketing, which unfortunately had very little impact.
Around $2,500 went to a designer who created the animations and renders.
I also plan to spend an additional $1,000 this year on new animations and renders.
Taking all this into account, the net realized income so far is approximately $4,500.
Development began in November 2024, so it’s been about 10 months of work, with one more month to go before the full release. That means roughly a year of development, equating to about $400 per month in income so far (not accounting for future sales).
This is roughly the average monthly salary in my country, but of course, it’s considered quite low in Europe or the US. So, for someone from a wealthier country, developing a visual novel might not be financially viable given the time and energy required. However, for me personally, and considering this is my very first game, I would call it a moderate success.
To be honest, the current version on Steam is significantly less polished than what we have now—and far behind what the final release will look like. The mini-game is too easy, there are only about 10 discussion topics in the ministry room, and key features like executing or selling characters, and major events, are missing.
The upcoming full release will introduce much more depth:
Dynamic events (e.g., letters from rival kings, diplomatic offers, natural disasters),
Moral challenges with harem girls,
And more engaging gameplay mechanics overall.
The current Steam version lacks that depth, which likely explains the higher refund rate. I believe this will improve significantly with the full release.
That’s all for today!
I’ll share another update after the full release and hopefully bring even better news.
Thank you all for your continued support!