Steam tag
Estimated revenue, market economics, and the top games tagged Text-Based on Steam.
Share of Text-Based games by estimated lifetime revenue. Averages hide this — a few hits pull the mean far above what a typical game in the genre makes.
For developers
Total estimated revenue of Text-Based games, grouped by the year they launched — a release-cohort trend, not a live time-series. Recent years are still accumulating revenue after launch.
Modeled estimate, not reported sales
| Year | Releases | Median rev | $100k+ | $1M+ | Total genre revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1K | approximately $348 | approximately 3% | approximately 0% | approximately $16.3M |
| 2025 | 816 | approximately $526 | approximately 4% | approximately 1% | approximately $20.9M |
| 2024 | 669 | approximately $415 | approximately 4% | approximately 1% | approximately $21.6M |
| 2023 | 490 | approximately $890 | approximately 5% | approximately 1% | approximately $18.9M |
| 2022 | 415 | approximately $777 | approximately 5% | approximately 1% | approximately $20.8M |
| 2021 | 348 | approximately $876 | approximately 7% | approximately 2% | approximately $24.8M |
| 2020 | 233 | approximately $756 | approximately 4% | approximately 1% | approximately $10.1M |
| 2019 | 122 | approximately $1.5K | approximately 7% | approximately 1% | approximately $9.3M |
| 2018 | 127 | approximately $2.7K | approximately 3% | approximately 0% | approximately $2.8M |
| 2017 | 94 | approximately $4.7K | approximately 7% | approximately 1% | approximately $4.8M |
| 2016 | 48 | approximately $6.6K | approximately 8% | approximately 0% | approximately $1.9M |
| 2015 | 34 | approximately $12.1K | approximately 9% | approximately 3% | approximately $4.4M |
Median beats average here: genre revenue is hit-driven, so the median shows what the typical Text-Based launch actually earned. Recent years accumulate revenue for a while after launch.
Leaderboard
| # | Game | Est. revenue | Reviews | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | approximately $5.3M | 19.6K | 94% | $9.99 | |
| 2 | Digimon SurviveSteam | approximately $5.1M | 3.1K | 79% | $59.99 |
| 3 | FireworkSteam | approximately $4.7M | 44.5K | 98% | $9.99 |
| 4 | approximately $4.4M | 21.3K | 97% | $14.99 | |
| 5 | approximately $4.2M | 13.1K | 88% | $19.99 | |
| 6 | SuzerainSteam | approximately $4.1M | 11.9K | 92% | $19.99 |
| 7 | BOOK OF HOURSSteam | approximately $4M | 4.5K | 89% | $24.99 |
| 8 | Citizen SleeperSteam | approximately $3.7M | 10.6K | 92% | $19.99 |
| 9 | approximately $3.5M | 9.6K | 96% | $9.99 | |
| 10 | 60 Seconds!Steam | approximately $3.4M | 10.5K | 85% | $8.99 |
| 11 | approximately $3.3M | 7.3K | 95% | $9.99 | |
| 12 | approximately $3M | 9.5K | 94% | $39.99 | |
| 13 | approximately $2.8M | 4.5K | 88% | $49.99 | |
| 14 | approximately $2.8M | 22.4K | 97% | $8.99 | |
| 15 | approximately $2.3M | 6.1K | 96% | $11.99 | |
| 16 | approximately $2.2M | 12.7K | 98% | $11.99 | |
| 17 | approximately $2.1M | 3.1K | 95% | $24.99 | |
| 18 | approximately $2.1M | 4.9K | 97% | $39.99 | |
| 19 | HomicipherSteam | approximately $2M | 8.3K | 97% | $13.99 |
| 20 | approximately $1.7M | 2.7K | 95% | $17.49 | |
| 21 | approximately $1.7M | 6.3K | 88% | $17.99 | |
| 22 | Home Safety HotlineSteam | approximately $1.7M | 3K | 91% | $14.99 |
| 23 | approximately $1.5M | 2.4K | 91% | $24.99 | |
| 24 | Desktop ExplorerSteam | approximately $1.5M | 2.3K | 96% | $17.99 |
| 25 | approximately $1.4M | 3.3K | 97% | $11.99 | |
| 26 | Buddy Simulator 1984Steam | approximately $1.3M | 4.4K | 93% | $9.99 |
| 27 | approximately $1.3M | 1.5K | 96% | $19.99 | |
| 28 | approximately $1.3M | 1.3K | 84% | $39.99 | |
| 29 | approximately $1.2M | 2.1K | 99% | $14.99 | |
| 30 | BladesongSteam | approximately $1.2M | 1.6K | 95% | $19.99 |
| 31 | approximately $1.2M | 10.7K | 96% | $6.99 | |
| 32 | NoctuarySteam | approximately $1.2M | 2.6K | 94% | $29.99 |
| 33 | approximately $1.2M | 6.8K | 90% | $9.99 | |
| 34 | Grey HackSteam | approximately $1.1M | 1.9K | 90% | $19.99 |
| 35 | approximately $1.1M | 2.3K | 88% | $14.99 | |
| 36 | 风信楼Steam | approximately $1M | 3.7K | 94% | $11.99 |
| 37 | approximately $942K | 4.3K | 94% | $16.99 | |
| 38 | approximately $929.3K | 3.3K | 95% | $9.99 | |
| 39 | UplinkSteam | approximately $900.9K | 2.4K | 91% | $11.99 |
| 40 | Emily is Away TooSteam | approximately $888.2K | 6.2K | 93% | $4.99 |
| 41 | Stories UntoldSteam | approximately $874.6K | 5.5K | 87% | $9.99 |
| 42 | 月华辉映之刻Steam | approximately $868.7K | 4.7K | 89% | $11.99 |
| 43 | Who Needs a Hero?Steam | approximately $862.5K | 1.5K | 91% | $19.99 |
| 44 | approximately $816.3K | 3.5K | 88% | $7.99 | |
| 45 | approximately $810.4K | 2.2K | 96% | $9.99 | |
| 46 | approximately $809.1K | 1.7K | 83% | $12.49 | |
| 47 | approximately $795K | 1K | 86% | $22.99 | |
| 48 | CaseCrackerSteam | approximately $750.2K | 3.5K | 89% | $9.99 |
| 49 | 60 Parsecs!Steam | approximately $721.6K | 4.1K | 89% | $9.99 |
| 50 | Timeflow – Life SimSteam | approximately $709.4K | 1.6K | 93% | $14.99 |