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Omer Develioğlu, co-founder of Northend Games, revealed that his two Steam titles, Northend Tower Defense and Deepstone Rift, generated $560,000 in gross sales across 135,000 units sold over five years. According to Develioğlu, approximately 53.3% of these sales originated from China. He noted that Chinese customers have a high refund rate of 22%, which is significantly above the industry standard of 10-15%. This resulted in $134,000 being lost immediately to refunds.

After accounting for Steam’s 30% fee, totaling $127,000, and U.S. withholding taxes at 5%, the remaining amount was $287,300. Develioğlu also stated that an Asian publisher handled marketing and distribution in China, Japan, and South Korea. This publisher took a cut of $115,000, which Develioğlu estimates represents roughly 35-40% of the net income from those regions. Following these deductions, the pre-tax take-home amount stood at $172,000.

Thailand’s office then took a 15% cut, reducing the total to $146,000. Develioğlu split this final sum equally with his co-founder, resulting in an annual income of roughly $15,000 for both men. Despite earning more than the average Thai wage of $5,280 per year, Develioğlu continues to drive a 2012 Mazda rather than purchasing luxury vehicles like a Lamborghini.