Visual Novel gameplay
Every paid Steam game tagged Visual Novel, ranked by our estimated lifetime revenue. 11,944 games in the catalog, 7,597 with a sales estimate.
Games
11,944
Active paid titles tagged
Total Gross
$2.6B
Sum of estimated lifetime revenue
Median
$4.7K
Half earn less, half more
Hit Rate
19.4%
1,473 games earned $100K+
Revenue share - top 5 vs rest
- Dispatch 11.1%
- Disco Elysium - The Final Cut 10.3%
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2.6%
- Persona 4 Golden 1.6%
- Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation 1.3%
- Other (7592 games) 73.0%
Top 25 earners
The highest-earning Visual Novel games by our estimator.
| # | Game | Released | Reviews | Peak CCU | Est. Units | Est. Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dispatch AdHoc Studio | 2025-10-22 | 184,126 | 216,338 | 9,735,210 | $291,934,610 |
| 2 | 2019-10-15 | 131,191 | 8,081 | 6,781,566 | $271,194,824 | |
| 3 |  The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series Skybound Games | 2020-10-29 | 47,217 | 7,806 | 1,394,105 | $69,691,309 |
| 4 |  Persona 4 Golden ATLUS | 2020-06-13 | 87,425 | 29,984 | 2,098,200 | $41,943,018 |
| 5 | 2018-04-09 | 57,129 | 7,920 | 1,371,096 | $34,263,689 | |
| 6 |  Library Of Ruina ProjectMoon | 2021-08-10 | 45,112 | 7,211 | 1,082,688 | $32,469,813 |
| 7 |  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | 2019-04-09 | 45,059 | 4,663 | 1,081,416 | $32,409,710 |
| 8 |  Senren＊Banka YUZUSOFT | 2020-02-14 | 37,154 | 2,992 | 891,696 | $31,200,443 |
| 9 |  What Remains of Edith Finch Giant Sparrow | 2017-04-24 | 52,911 | 550 | 1,519,495 | $30,374,705 |
| 10 |  The Walking Dead Telltale Games | 2012-04-24 | 80,619 | 12,067 | 1,934,856 | $29,003,491 |
| 11 |  Firework Shiying Studio | 2021-02-03 | 44,451 | 338 | 2,667,060 | $26,643,929 |
| 12 |  NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD WSS playground, xemono | 2022-01-21 | 57,984 | 3,627 | 1,391,616 | $22,251,940 |
| 13 |  SUPER ROBOT WARS Y Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc. | 2025-08-27 | 2,815 | 14,716 | 220,740 | $20,966,621 |
| 14 |  Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | 2017-09-25 | 23,342 | 4,667 | 513,524 | $20,535,825 |
| 15 |  Sora no Kiseki the 1st Nihon Falcom | 2025-09-19 | 9,679 | 14,265 | 338,765 | $20,322,512 |
| 16 |  STEINS;GATE MAGES. Inc. | 2016-09-08 | 27,076 | 3,507 | 649,824 | $19,488,222 |
| 17 |  Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games | 2016-02-18 | 38,653 | 10,945 | 927,672 | $18,544,163 |
| 18 |  完蛋！我被美女包围了！ intiny | 2023-10-17 | 45,891 | 64,868 | 1,835,640 | $18,338,044 |
| 19 |  The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- Too Kyo Games, Media.Vision Inc. | 2025-04-23 | 8,687 | 8,928 | 277,984 | $16,676,260 |
| 20 |  BlazBlue Centralfiction Arc System Works | 2017-04-25 | 12,322 | 4,733 | 401,181 | $16,043,228 |
| 21 |  Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games | 2016-04-18 | 32,842 | 3,327 | 788,208 | $15,756,278 |
| 22 |  Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition h.a.n.d., Inc., Media.Vision Inc. | 2019-10-17 | 13,280 | 3,408 | 297,256 | $14,833,074 |
| 23 |  Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut Black Tabby Games | 2023-10-23 | 34,103 | 2,546 | 818,472 | $14,724,311 |
| 24 |  The Wolf Among Us Telltale | 2013-10-11 | 40,258 | 14,130 | 966,192 | $14,483,218 |
| 25 |  Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! Team Salvato | 2021-06-30 | 32,351 | 6,912 | 886,618 | $13,290,404 |
Releases per year
Is Visual Novel trending up or fading? Bars show new paid Steam releases with this tag each year. Green flecks are hits (≥$100K est. lifetime).
2
2011
5
2012
10
2013
56
2014
121
2015
227
2016
260
2017
353
2018
415
2019
510
2020
574
2021
691
2022
826
2023
1,019
2024
1,612
2025
1,623
2026
Top upcoming
Highest-wishlist unreleased Visual Novel games.
| # | Game | WL Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Danganronpa 2x2 Gemdrops, Inc. | 147 |
| 2 |  Pal♡world! ~More Than Just Pals~ Pocketpair | 171 |
| 3 |  N1RV Ann-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action Sukeban Games | 216 |
| 4 |  The Enigma Cases Red Core Interactive | 275 |
| 5 |  The Witch's Bakery Sunny Lab | 282 |
| 6 |  The Wolf Among Us Remastered Telltale | 328 |
| 7 |  Sally Face 2 Portable Moose | 329 |
| 8 |  Beastfolk Barber Safe Flight Games, GameWorks Ventures | 330 |
| 9 |  Am I Nima HO! Games | 351 |
| 10 |  Annihilated デス組合 | 388 |
Top recent (12 months)
Highest-earning Visual Novel games released in the past year.
| # | Game | Est. Gross |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | | $291,934,610 |
| 2 |  | $10,405,453 |
| 3 |  | $9,526,724 |
| 4 |  | $8,748,539 |
| 5 |  | $8,395,811 |
| 6 |  | $7,679,677 |
| 7 |  | $7,531,376 |
| 8 |  | $6,424,929 |
| 9 |  | $4,542,771 |
| 10 |  | $4,461,768 |