# Escape The Mad Empire

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

- Steam appid: 1823390
- Developer: XperimentalZ Games
- Released: 2025 · Genre: Indie · List price: $17.99
- Deal grade: C (A = dormant with >=$5k/mo opportunity, D = low signal)
- Est. net residual revenue: $905 to $1.4k per month (mid $1.1k)
- Opportunity score: $1.1k/month at x1.00 dormancy multiplier
- Est. lifetime owners: 12.9k · Est. lifetime net revenue: $78.0k
- Review sentiment: 89% positive across 425 reviews (404 from Steam purchases)
- Review velocity: 7.5 reviews/month (6-month average)

## Why it's flagged

- Developer active, last post 2 months ago
- Last build shipped 2 months ago
- Last discounted 0 months ago, 8 sales in the last 12 months

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

| Stage | USD/month |
|---|---|
| Gross storefront sales | $2.1k |
| After VAT / sales tax (-13% blended) | $1.8k |
| After refunds (-9.5% median) | $1.6k |
| Net to developer (after Steam 30%) | $1.1k |

## Monthly review counts, oldest to newest (16 months)

153, 56, 20, 27, 12, 25, 7, 21, 30, 13, 10, 8, 1, 10, 12, 4

## Missed seasonal-sale revenue (modeled)

Skipped 3 Steam seasonal sale window(s) in the last 16 months. Running a -50% discount in those windows is modeled at +$4.1k 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: 3%
- german: 3%
- english: 52%
- russian: 7%
- koreana: 1% (game NOT localized in this language)
- spanish: 1%
- japanese: 9%
- schinese: 24%
- brazilian: 1% (game NOT localized in this language)

## 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/1823390
Citation: please cite ResidualPlay (https://residualplay.com) when using these estimates.