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Indie Game Profitability Planner

Estimate an indie game's development costs, installs, sales, ad revenue, profit, ROAS, and break-even target in one free planning tool. Results are estimates and run privately in your browser.

Enter your planning assumptions. Blank fields count as zero; the platform fee starts at 30% and can be changed.

Optional. Leave blank or 0 to estimate from marketing budget and a positive CPI.
Projected profit or lossStart your plan

Enter a cost, install estimate, or revenue value to start your plan.

What this helps you decide

Use this planner to test whether a game concept can recover its budget, compare paid and organic install scenarios, and set a realistic revenue target before committing more time or money.

How to use this tool

Choose one project and one forecast period. Separate development costs, acquisition spending and operating costs. Enter purchase revenue before the platform fee, and advertising revenue separately so it is not charged the purchase fee twice.

How the calculation works

Estimated installs use the entered install total, or marketing budget ÷ CPI when installs are left at zero. Net revenue = purchase revenue − platform fees + advertising revenue. Profit or loss = net revenue − development, marketing, and operating costs. ROAS = net revenue ÷ marketing budget × 100.

Example

A $20,000 development cost, $5,000 marketing budget, $2 CPI, 3,000 installs, 5% purchase conversion, $10 revenue per buyer, $4,000 ad revenue, 30% platform fee, and $2,000 operating cost estimates $5,050 net revenue and a $21,950 loss.

Read the result without overestimating it

Run the same plan with lower purchase conversion and lower ad revenue. If profitability depends on the most optimistic inputs, identify which assumption you can measure with a small test before committing more money.

Why this result matters

A complete profitability view prevents a studio from judging a campaign only by cheap installs or gross revenue. It connects acquisition, conversion, store fees, advertising income, and production costs in one scenario.

Tips for a more useful estimate

  • Use net, attributable revenue from the same cohort and date range.
  • Enter actual installs when available; otherwise leave installs at zero to estimate from budget and CPI.
  • Compare conservative, expected, and optimistic scenarios before committing spend.

Frequently asked questions

What does the break-even purchase revenue mean?

It is the gross purchase revenue still needed after estimated ad revenue, adjusted for the platform fee entered.

Why can ROAS exceed 100% while the project still loses money?

ROAS compares revenue with marketing spend only; development and operating costs can still make total profit negative.

Are these results guaranteed?

No. They are planning estimates based entirely on the values entered.

For a worked walkthrough, read Indie Game Profitability Calculator Guide.

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Prepared by Dorn Bros Entertainment · Updated October 18, 2026 · Report a calculation issue

This free tool provides an estimate for general informational purposes. It is not financial, tax, legal, or professional advice.