How to price your indie game on Steam

Pricing your game is one of those decisions that feels enormous and has surprisingly little guidance. Most devs either pick $9.99 because it feels safe, or $19.99 because they think their game is worth more. Both approaches are guesses.

There's a better way to think about it. Not a formula that gives you the perfect price, but a framework that helps you make a reasonable decision based on actual data.

The $9.99 trap

The most common indie game price is $9.99. It feels safe. It's under the psychological $10 barrier. Players are used to it.

The problem: after Steam's 30% cut, regional pricing adjustments, refunds, and other deductions, you're looking at roughly $5-6 per sale in your pocket. If you need your game to generate meaningful revenue, you need a lot of sales at that price point.

A $14.99 game nets you roughly $8-9 per sale. That's 60% more revenue per unit. The difference between 5,000 sales at $9.99 ($27,500 net) and 5,000 sales at $14.99 ($42,500 net) is $15,000. Same number of buyers, very different outcome.

Does a higher price mean fewer sales?

The common fear is that a higher price means fewer sales. This is true, but the effect is smaller than most devs expect. Games priced at $14.99 don't sell 60% fewer copies than games at $9.99. The drop-off is more like 10-20% in most cases.

Why? Because the people who wishlist your game are interested in that specific game. A $5 difference rarely changes a purchase decision for someone who has been following your development for months. The wishlists you built are from people who want your game, not people comparison shopping on price.

Where price matters more: impulse purchases during Steam sales, and discovery queue decisions from people who have never heard of you. But those are secondary channels. Your core audience is price-insensitive within a reasonable range.

How to think about your price

Start with the content. How many hours of gameplay does your game offer? This isn't the only factor, but it's the one players use most. A 2-hour narrative experience at $14.99 gets more pushback than a 20-hour roguelite at the same price.

Look at comparable games in your genre. Not the top sellers. Look at games with similar scope, art quality, and content depth. What are they priced at? That's your range.

Then think about your revenue needs. If you need $30,000 from this game to justify the time you spent, and you expect 3,000 first-year sales, you need $10 net per sale, which means pricing at $17.99 or higher.

The wishlist-to-sale conversion matters here too. If you're launching with 7,000 wishlists and expect 15-20% first-day conversion, that's 1,000-1,400 day-one sales. The long tail multiplier for year one is roughly 3-4x, so 3,000-5,600 total year-one sales. Run the math at different price points.

Regional pricing

Steam suggests regional prices based on your base USD price. These suggestions account for purchasing power in different countries. Most devs should accept the suggested prices. Going higher than suggested in a region means fewer sales there. Going lower eats into your average revenue.

One thing to watch: some regions have very low suggested prices. A $14.99 game might be suggested at $3-4 in certain markets. This is normal. Those sales still contribute to your player count, review score, and Steam algorithm positioning.

Launch discounts

Steam allows a launch discount of up to 40%. A 10% launch discount is common and signals that the game is new without devaluing it. It also creates a minor urgency: "buy now or pay full price later."

Don't go above 20% at launch. A 30-40% launch discount signals to players that even you don't think the game is worth full price. Save the deep discounts for seasonal sales months after launch.

Just pick a number

Price your game at what comparable games sell for, then add a little. Most indie devs underprice. The fear of "too expensive" is almost always stronger than the actual effect on sales. A game that's worth playing at $9.99 is usually worth playing at $14.99. The players who care about your game will pay the difference.

If you're unsure, $14.99 is a strong starting point for most indie games with 5+ hours of content. Adjust from there based on your genre, scope, and comparable titles.