Almost two months after its Early Access launch on Steam, Paralives has crossed 1.1 million copies sold, according to a detailed analysis published by GameDiscoverCo and reported by Sims Community. For a small indie studio competing in a genre long dominated by The Sims, the numbers tell a clear story of player trust paying off.
Revenue and refund numbers
GameDiscoverCo's breakdown puts Paralives' gross Steam revenue at $39.1 million, with net revenue landing at roughly $32.9 million after returns, chargebacks, and taxes. The game's refund rate sits at 6.5%, which is notably below the 9.5% median that GameDiscoverCo found in a 2025 industry survey. That translates to around 72,000 refunded units out of the 1.1 million sold.
For an Early Access title priced higher than some players expected for an unfinished game, that low refund rate suggests most buyers are sticking around. GameDiscoverCo spoke directly to Paralives' Gabrielle Boyer-Antoni and other team members for background on the game's performance since launch.
Player reception on Steam
As of today, Paralives holds over 13,000 Steam reviews with a "Very Positive" overall rating, meaning more than 90% of reviewers recommend the game. A subset of roughly 2,000 recent reviews maintains that positive trend.
Players consistently praise the art style, the depth of customization available even in Early Access, and the studio's commitment to free updates and DLC for the life of the game. On the negative side, reviewers point to active bugs, features that feel bare or incomplete, and the price point for an unfinished product. These are familiar Early Access growing pains, and the game's recent patches have already addressed some of the biggest technical complaints.
Where players are buying from
The country-level breakdown skews heavily toward the United States, which accounts for about 400,000 units (38% of total sales). The United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada round out the top tier, followed by France, Brazil, China, Australia, Poland, and Spain. Roughly 269,000 units came from countries grouped as "Other," each individually accounting for around 1% or less of total sales.
This US-heavy distribution mirrors patterns seen across other life simulation games on Steam.
Streamer and content creator impact
GameDiscoverCo's streamer analysis highlights an important overlap: audiences who watch The Sims 4 and Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream content are also watching and engaging with Paralives streams. While Paralives Studio is most directly competing with EA's The Sims franchise and Krafton's InZOI, its audience intersects with a broader pool of life-sim players, including Nintendo's fanbase.
Live streaming continues to be a significant discovery channel for the game, driving wishlists and purchases as creators showcase the building and character customization systems.
Wishlists still climbing
Even after its Early Access release, Paralives continues to pick up thousands of new Steam wishlists per day, with very few wishlist deletions. While wishlists typically drop off sharply once a game gets a release date, the sustained interest here suggests a large pool of potential buyers waiting for either a sale, more content updates, or the eventual 1.0 launch.
For context on where the game stands feature-wise, our earlier coverage of the five-week reception and roadmap breaks down what Paralives Studio has committed to delivering next. These sales figures give the team a substantial financial runway to deliver on those promises.
Source: Sims Community