Steam analysts have found after measuring 98,555 priced games that sandbox titles are some of Steam's highest earners, with something like genre benchmark Palworld earning around $500 million on the platform since its early access launch in 2024. But sandbox games shouldn't get too comfortable – or maybe the genre should consider its stance on gun violence and action-RPG magic, as it's closely followed by first-person shooters and role-playing games.
These details come from a new report by We Love It, a Steam browsing platform that "leverages generative AI" to build "a feed of compelling, original content" that guides you to discovering new games. I think generative AI is the closest thing we have to proof that demonic entities exist, but We Love It is also a project of Totally Human Media's CEO Ichiro Lambe, who co-created Steam Labs, and, therefore, its study is the work of a Steam expert. Lambe, along with Totally Human's marketing lead Matt Martindale, and VaporLens engineer Dr. Tim Ermilov, compiled the report that shows 27.6% of all sandbox games will make at least $100,000.
In comparison, 21.8% of paid FPS make at least $100,000 in revenue, while 19.5% of RPGs hit that number, and just 19% of ARPGs reach the same milestone. These are impressive figures – but only for an exceedingly tiny scoop of games. Across the nearly 100,000 total games with at least one review that the We Love It team analyzed, the median lifetime earnings for a game was a meager $3,631 – "half of all paid games earned less," write the report's authors.
But the most popular sandbox games earned much, much more. Palworld, with its approximate $500 million revenue, sits at the "top 0.00% of all paid games on Steam," according to the report. Terraria and survival sandbox game Ark rank similarly, with lifetime earnings estimated at $540 million and $400 million, respectively.
Intriguingly, while the less flashy, more flesh-oriented visual novel genre failed to break the top five kinds of games that earn a minimum of $100,000, its median earnings came the closest to the average sandbox game; visual novels earn a median of $7,012 compared to sandbox games' $7,973 on Steam. So, if there's a lesson here, let it be that more sandbox games should include anime girls with knives.
