Cash Cleaner Simulator was purchased 100,000 times in a week. The game had 2.4 times fewer wishlists
On May 8, another crime simulator was released on Steam—Cash Cleaner Simulator by indie studio Mind Control Games. The game about money laundering caught the attention of gamers, and by the end of its debut week, sales surpassed 100,000 copies.
Cash Cleaner Simulator
This figure was reported on social media by Andrey Podoprigora, CEO of the publishing company Forklift Interactive.
According to analyst Simon Carless from GameDiscoverCo, sales of Cash Cleaner Simulator have grown even further, making it the second best-selling title on Steam among May's new releases. Only DOOM: The Dark Ages sold more copies in the store.
Carless estimates the game’s current net revenue at $1 million. He also suggests that over time, Cash Cleaner Simulator could earn at least $5 million net on Steam, i.e., after commission and taxes.
Interestingly, according to Podoprigora, Cash Cleaner Simulator launched with only 42,000 wishlists. It was not easy to achieve this—the game team spent no less than six months focused on marketing. In a conversation with Carless, the head of Forklift Interactive revealed that the first significant spike in wishlists occurred after releasing a themed Christmas demo, though TikTok videos did not generate much viral effect. Playtests also became an important part of the promotion strategy.
How the wishlists of Cash Cleaner Simulator grew in response to the game team's actions
It’s noteworthy that players who purchased Cash Cleaner Simulator are actively playing it. The peak concurrent players for the money laundering simulator reached 10,747, with a median gameplay time of 8 hours and 22 minutes. This is quite high; for instance, according to GameDiscoverCo, Supermarket Simulator has a median of 10.7 hours, Gold Mining Simulator has 12.08 hours, and PowerWash Simulator has 15.16 hours.
Cash Cleaner Simulator's online player trends on Steam
As for the user rating on Steam, as of the time of this writing, Cash Cleaner Simulator has over 2,000 reviews, 87% of which are positive.
Currently, Cash Cleaner Simulator is available only on PC, but there are plans to release it on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series in the future. The tentative release date for the console versions is by the end of 2025.