# Hyper Light Breaker

> ResidualPlay case file: an overlooked Steam game still earning residual revenue. Estimates carry a ±30-50% error range per title.

- Steam appid: 1534840
- Developer: Heart Machine
- Publisher: Arc Games
- Released: 2025 · Genre: Action · List price: $29.99
- Deal grade: C (A = dormant with >=$5k/mo opportunity, D = low signal)
- Est. net residual revenue: $3.4k to $5.0k per month (mid $4.2k)
- Opportunity score: $4.2k/month at x1.00 dormancy multiplier
- Est. lifetime owners: 109.4k · Est. lifetime net revenue: $1.1M
- Review sentiment: 53% positive across 3973 reviews (3418 from Steam purchases)
- Review velocity: 16.7 reviews/month (6-month average)

## Why it's flagged

- Developer active, last post 8 months ago
- Studio active elsewhere (4 titles tracked), so this one may welcome a partner
- Last build shipped 11 months ago
- Last discounted 6 months ago, 5 sales in the last 12 months

## Where a gross dollar goes (monthly, at current velocity)

| Stage | USD/month |
|---|---|
| Gross storefront sales | $7.6k |
| After VAT / sales tax (-13% blended) | $6.6k |
| After refunds (-9.5% median) | $6.0k |
| Net to developer (after Steam 30%) | $4.2k |

## Monthly review counts, oldest to newest (19 months)

2649, 154, 61, 105, 96, 36, 44, 82, 33, 90, 40, 64, 43, 29, 19, 15, 20, 9, 8

## Missed seasonal-sale revenue (modeled)

Skipped 6 Steam seasonal sale window(s) in the last 19 months. Running a -50% discount in those windows is modeled at +$347.4k net in total, assuming a unit uplift of x3.0 (industry-typical for old catalog titles). Same ±30-50% error range applies.

## Markets by review language

- french: 2%
- russian: 5%
- spanish: 2%
- brazilian: 1%
- german: 1%
- english: 84%
- koreana: 1%
- japanese: 1%
- schinese: 3%

## Methodology

Units are estimated from Steam-purchase reviews times a release-cohort multiplier (Boxleiter method, 20-75x by year). Revenue uses an effective price (lifetime discounts and regional pricing) and nets out VAT (~13%), refunds (~9.5%) and Steam's 30% cut: roughly 55% of gross reaches the developer.

Source: https://residualplay.com/game/1534840
Citation: please cite ResidualPlay (https://residualplay.com) when using these estimates.