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.
