Two Steam games made $560,000 across 135,000 sales, but co-creator took home just $15,000 a year

Northend Games co-founder Omer Develioglu broke down the economics of his two Steam titles: $560,000 in revenue from 135,000 sales over five years shrank to $73,000 in personal income, or about $15,000 a year. The losses came from a 22% refund rate in China, Steam's 30% cut, 5% US withholding tax, a $115,000 publisher share and 15% Thai tax.

• $560,000 revenue from 135,000 sales of Northend Tower Defense and Deepstone Rift
• China refund rate hit 22% versus the usual 10-15%; China was 53.3% of sales
• Steam took 30% ($127,000), plus 5% US tax and a $115,000 publisher cut
• After 15% Thai tax and a 50/50 split, $73,000 remained over five years