Visual Novel gameplay
Every paid Steam game tagged Visual Novel, ranked by our estimated lifetime revenue. 13,158 games in the catalog, 8,758 with a sales estimate.
Games
13,158
Active paid titles tagged
Total Gross
$2.6B
Sum of estimated lifetime revenue
Median
$3.9K
Half earn less, half more
Hit Rate
17.9%
1,572 games earned $100K+
Revenue share - top 5 vs rest
- Disco Elysium - The Final Cut 10.6%
- Dispatch 7.6%
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2.8%
- Persona 4 Golden 1.6%
- Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation 1.4%
- Other (8753 games) 75.9%
Top 25 earners
The highest-earning Visual Novel games by our estimator.
| # | Game | Released | Reviews | Peak CCU | Est. Units | Est. Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019-10-15 | 132,538 | 8,081 | 6,830,179 | $273,138,858 | |
| 2 |  Dispatch AdHoc Studio | 2025-10-22 | 186,562 | 216,338 | 6,490,140 | $194,623,073 |
| 3 |  The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series Skybound Games | 2020-10-29 | 48,664 | 7,806 | 1,452,141 | $72,592,529 |
| 4 |  Persona 4 Golden ATLUS | 2020-06-13 | 88,222 | 29,984 | 2,117,328 | $42,325,387 |
| 5 | 2018-04-09 | 58,441 | 7,920 | 1,402,584 | $35,050,574 | |
| 6 |  Library Of Ruina ProjectMoon | 2021-08-10 | 46,164 | 7,211 | 1,107,936 | $33,227,001 |
| 7 |  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | 2019-04-09 | 45,708 | 4,663 | 1,096,992 | $32,876,518 |
| 8 |  Senren๏ผBanka YUZUSOFT | 2020-02-14 | 37,526 | 2,992 | 900,624 | $31,512,834 |
| 9 |  What Remains of Edith Finch Giant Sparrow | 2017-04-24 | 53,607 | 550 | 1,539,483 | $30,774,265 |
| 10 |  The Walking Dead Telltale Games | 2012-04-24 | 81,157 | 12,067 | 1,947,768 | $29,197,042 |
| 11 |  NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD WSS playground, xemono | 2022-01-21 | 59,021 | 3,627 | 1,416,504 | $22,649,899 |
| 12 |  SUPER ROBOT WARS Y Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc. | 2025-08-27 | 2,852 | 14,716 | 220,740 | $20,966,621 |
| 13 |  Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | 2017-09-25 | 23,713 | 4,667 | 521,686 | $20,862,223 |
| 14 |  STEINS;GATE MAGES. Inc. | 2016-09-08 | 27,415 | 3,507 | 657,960 | $19,732,220 |
| 15 |  Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games | 2016-02-18 | 39,728 | 10,945 | 953,472 | $19,059,905 |
| 16 |  The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- Too Kyo Games, Media.Vision Inc. | 2025-04-23 | 8,797 | 8,928 | 281,504 | $16,887,425 |
| 17 |  BlazBlue Centralfiction Arc System Works | 2017-04-25 | 12,481 | 4,733 | 407,939 | $16,313,481 |
| 18 |  Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games | 2016-04-18 | 33,385 | 3,327 | 801,240 | $16,016,788 |
| 19 |  The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty ้ถๅๆธธๆ(ZerocreationGame) | 2024-04-22 | 60,337 | 5,093 | 1,557,084 | $15,555,269 |
| 20 |  Slay the Princess โ The Pristine Cut Black Tabby Games | 2023-10-23 | 35,387 | 2,546 | 849,288 | $15,278,691 |
| 21 |  Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition h.a.n.d., Inc., Media.Vision Inc. | 2019-10-17 | 13,434 | 3,408 | 300,703 | $15,005,080 |
| 22 |  Sora no Kiseki the 1st Nihon Falcom | 2025-09-19 | 10,250 | 14,265 | 246,000 | $14,757,540 |
| 23 |  The Wolf Among Us Telltale | 2013-10-11 | 40,456 | 14,130 | 970,944 | $14,554,451 |
| 24 |  VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action Sukeban Games | 2016-06-21 | 38,875 | 1,554 | 933,000 | $13,985,670 |
| 25 |  Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! Team Salvato | 2021-06-30 | 32,894 | 6,912 | 904,450 | $13,557,706 |
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 (โฅ$100K est. lifetime).
2
2011
6
2012
10
2013
56
2014
120
2015
227
2016
264
2017
356
2018
418
2019
565
2020
707
2021
837
2022
996
2023
1,279
2024
1,828
2025
1,982
2026
Top upcoming
Highest-wishlist unreleased Visual Novel games.
| # | Game | WL Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Danganronpa 2x2 Gemdrops, Inc. | 123 |
| 2 |  Palโกworld! ~More Than Just Pals~ Pocketpair | 161 |
| 3 |  N1RV Ann-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action Sukeban Games | 206 |
| 4 |  Beastfolk Barber Safe Flight Games, GameWorks | 251 |
| 5 |  The Enigma Cases Red Core Interactive | 263 |
| 6 |  Sally Face 2 Portable Moose | 276 |
| 7 |  Annihilated Death Kumiai | 291 |
| 8 |  Am I Nima HO! Games | 293 |
| 9 |  Tulpa the Unseen Lover Horse Position | 370 |
| 10 |  TOUCHSTARVED Red Spring Studio | 390 |
Top recent (12 months)
Highest-earning Visual Novel games released in the past year.
| # | Game | Est. Gross |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | $8,395,811 |
| 2 |  | $7,880,078 |
| 3 |  | $6,169,731 |
| 4 |  | $4,461,768 |
| 5 |  | $4,447,983 |
| 6 |  | $4,285,215 |
| 7 |  | $3,876,391 |
| 8 |  | $3,793,252 |
| 9 |  | $3,699,826 |
| 10 |  | $3,567,095 |