Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim started out as an “obscure game with max 28 concurrent players,” but became a breakout hit thanks to “makeover” by publisher

Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim started out as an “obscure game with max 28 concurrent players,” but became a breakout hit thanks to “makeover” by publisher

Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim, a dystopian sci-fi shopkeeping simulator,launched on October 28. The game currently has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam (with 96% of 6,180 reviews rating it positively) and an all-time concurrent peak of 164,471 players (source: SteamDB). Probably Stolen’s success caught many people by surprise, including publisher tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik.

Developer Questing Goose Studio initially worked on Probably Stolen under a different name: Deepspace Emporium. Deepspace Emporium features some of Probably Stolen’s core elements, including the dystopian space station setting, the shopkeeping gameplay, and the questionable choices your character makes when conducting business. A demo for the game was released in 2025, with a max concurrent player count of 28 players (SteamDB).

As Nichiporchik explains, despite the low player count, tinyBuild loved the concept and gameplay so much that it decided to reach out to Questing Goose Studio for a publishing deal, working with the developers to reinvent the visuals and design. While Deepspace Emporium can still be found on Steam with a release date slated for this year, the core game was reworked under the title Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim.

Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim is exactly what it says on the tin . As a former scavenger turned shopkeeper, you conduct business while making sure you have enough to earn a living and pay rent.

Many of your customers buy and sell illegal goods, and you are free to choose who you do business with. One client could be a former elite looking to test your usefulness while another could be a revolutionary seeking dirt on their enemies. The deals you make increase your reputation with some factions while negatively impacting others.

Probably Stolen includes specializations that affect the products you have in stock. You can choose to start as a gunsmith, chemist, water merchant, fence, farmer, or build your business from rock bottom. Each specialization has advantages and disadvantages that make doing business unique. Peddling certain sketchy items, for example, requires you to purchase permits and mods. They also cause law enforcement to conduct routine inspections of your inventory.

The game also features an appraisal system for authenticating goods, haggling, machine and production chain management, licenses that allow you to access an underground market, as well as several opportunities to align yourself with different factions.

A Probably Stolen demo was released in September, one month before release. In that time, the demo would be played by over 700,000 fans, getting over 98% positive reviews. On its first day of release, the full game sold 350,000 copies, amassed 112,000 concurrent players, and became one of the top 15 most-played games on Steam.

Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim is available on Windows (Steam).

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