# Empire of the Ants

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

- Steam appid: 2287330
- Developer: Tower Five
- Publisher: Microids
- Released: 2024 · Genre: Strategy · List price: $39.99
- Deal grade: C (A = dormant with >=$5k/mo opportunity, D = low signal)
- Est. net residual revenue: $3.0k to $4.4k per month (mid $3.7k)
- Opportunity score: $3.7k/month at x1.00 dormancy multiplier
- Est. lifetime owners: 29.4k · Est. lifetime net revenue: $343.4k
- Review sentiment: 76% positive across 1153 reviews (918 from Steam purchases)
- Review velocity: 12.7 reviews/month (6-month average)

## Why it's flagged

- Developer active, last post 1 months ago
- Last build shipped 1 months ago
- Last discounted 1 months ago, 11 sales in the last 12 months

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

| Stage | USD/month |
|---|---|
| Gross storefront sales | $6.7k |
| After VAT / sales tax (-13% blended) | $5.8k |
| After refunds (-9.5% median) | $5.3k |
| Net to developer (after Steam 30%) | $3.7k |

## Monthly review counts, oldest to newest (21 months)

486, 125, 48, 24, 21, 13, 14, 12, 28, 14, 11, 3, 18, 35, 23, 14, 9, 13, 14, 16, 10

## Missed seasonal-sale revenue (modeled)

Skipped 2 Steam seasonal sale window(s) in the last 21 months. Running a -50% discount in those windows is modeled at +$72.8k 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

- schinese: 6%
- brazilian: 4%
- french: 12%
- german: 10%
- english: 55%
- koreana: 1%
- russian: 6%
- spanish: 3%
- japanese: 2%

## 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/2287330
Citation: please cite ResidualPlay (https://residualplay.com) when using these estimates.