Our companion piece followed a publisher-funded sale in Australia, where the largest deduction is recoup against an advance. This is the other case: no publisher, no advance, no marketing budget, and the developer keeping the rights.
The waterfall is shorter. It is not as short as it looks.
The List Price Is Not the Average Price
The single biggest gap between what people assume an indie earns and what it earns is that almost nobody pays list.
Storefront sales run more or less continuously, and a game’s discount deepens as it ages. Bundles sell it for a fraction. Regional pricing sets a lower figure in markets where the list price would be unreasonable. Add it up over a lifetime and the average selling price drifts a long way below the number on the store page.
This matters for planning because developers model revenue on list price and audiences model it on list price, and the actual figure is meaningfully lower. A game “selling for $20” may have a lifetime average nearer half of that.
The Storefront Cut
The standard share on the major PC storefront is 30%, dropping to 25% above US$10 million and 20% above US$50 million in per-title revenue as at September 2026.
For a self-published indie those tiers are effectively theoretical. Almost no self-published game reaches the first threshold, so the practical rate is the top one. It is worth being clear about that, because the tiers get quoted in discussions of storefront fairness as though they are widely available.
Regional Pricing Is Not a Discount
Setting a lower price in a market with lower purchasing power is standard and sensible — the alternative is not selling there at all, or selling to a grey market.
But the revenue consequence is often misread. A unit sold at a regional price is a real sale and a real player, and returns considerably less than a domestic one. A game with a large share of its units in low-priced regions can have impressive sales numbers and modest revenue, and neither figure is misleading. They are measuring different things.
Refunds and Chargebacks
Storefront refund policies are generous by the standards of most digital goods, typically within a short window and a small number of hours played, and that is on balance good for the medium — it lowers the risk of trying something unknown, which is exactly what an unknown indie needs.
It is still a real deduction. Refunds cluster in the first days of release, which is also when a game earns most of its money, so the refund rate hits the peak of the revenue curve rather than being spread evenly across it.
Engine Royalties
Unreal’s standard licence takes a 5% royalty on gross revenue above a lifetime threshold of US$1 million per product, waived for revenue through Epic’s own store, as at September 2026.
Unity took a different route and it is worth remembering why. Its 2023 Runtime Fee — a charge per install — was announced, met with an industry revolt, walked back, and then cancelled outright in September 2024, returning the model to seat-based subscriptions. The lesson small studios took was not about the fee itself but about the precedent: engine terms can change under a game that has already shipped.
For most self-published indies neither royalty applies, because most never cross the threshold. The engine cost is the subscription, paid whether the game sells or not.
The Deduction Nobody Plans For
Cross-border withholding tax is the one that surprises first-time developers.
When a storefront in one country pays a developer in another, the paying country may be required to withhold tax at source before the money leaves. Where a tax treaty exists between the two countries, the withholding rate can be reduced — but only if the correct documentation has been filed with the payer before payment. File it late and tax is withheld at the full rate on everything paid until then.
Recovering over-withheld tax afterwards is possible and unpleasant. The rate depends on the specific treaty and the paperwork, so check your own position with the ATO or an accountant rather than assuming a number; the point here is simply that the deduction exists and is avoidable through admin done in advance.
What Is Left, and What It Has to Cover
Work a nominal $20 sale down. Discounting and regional pricing bring the realised average well below list. The storefront takes roughly 30% of what is realised. Refunds remove some. Payment processing and withholding take more. Engine royalty, for the small number of games that reach the threshold, takes a little more again.
What arrives is a fraction of the sticker price — and that fraction has to cover the entire cost of making the game, because there was no advance. Everything spent during development came out of savings, other work, or a loan.
The Trade the Indie Made
Self-publishing is not the cheap option. It is the option where you keep the rights and carry the risk.
No advance means no recoup, so revenue reaches the developer from the first sale rather than after an account clears. That is a genuine advantage and the main reason to do it. The price is that there is no marketing budget, no publisher relationship with platforms, no one else absorbing a failure, and no floor under the outcome.
A publisher deal caps your upside and puts a floor under your downside. Self-publishing removes both. Which is better depends entirely on whether you can survive the version where the game does not sell.
If you are working out what your own game needs to clear, our free break-even calculator takes net-per-copy rather than list price, which is the number that actually matters.
On the numbers: commercial rates and statutory figures here are the published position as at September 2026. They change, sometimes more than once a year. Check the primary source named before relying on any of them for a decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage does the storefront take from an indie game?
The standard rate on the major PC storefront is 30%, with reductions above US$10m and US$50m in per-title revenue. Self-published indies almost never reach those thresholds, so 30% is the practical rate.
Why is an indie game’s average selling price lower than its list price?
Continuous storefront sales, deepening discounts as a game ages, bundles and regional pricing all pull the realised average well below the store page figure.
What is withholding tax on game revenue?
Tax withheld at source by the country the storefront pays from. A tax treaty can reduce the rate, but only if the correct documentation is filed with the payer before payment is made.
Is self-publishing better than signing with a publisher?
It removes recoup so revenue arrives from the first sale, and keeps the rights — but there is no advance, no marketing budget and no floor under a failure. It suits developers who can survive the downside case.