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How many copies did Buoyancy sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 24k–39k
$85k–$230k after Steam's cut $155k–$354k before the cut
from 831 reviews (Mixed)

A labeled estimate from the public review count (adjusted for release year), not exact sales. Owner data cross-checked with SteamSpy.

Does this actually work?

We left Buoyancy out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Buoyancy's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 510k–1.3M
best case 1.9M (They Are Billions)
Games like Buoyancy

The middle of these games

≈ 510k–1.3M copies

≈ $3.5M–$9.8M after Steam's cut

from ~19k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: They Are Billions at ≈ 1.5M–2.4M copies, ≈ $12.2M–$32.8M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here
About half the games that made it here had over 6k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 1k to 16k.
The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Base-Building (8 of 8) and City Builder (8 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with Base-Building + Colony Sim, priced around $30.
The era
The games you compared span 2013 to 2022, and none of them shipped in the last two years.
How these numbers were worked out

A hit here: 1,000+ reviews, roughly $150k+ before Steam's cut (a standard indie benchmark).

Copies come from each game's reviews times a sales-per-review rate that falls with release age, from about 31 for the most recent game here to about 79 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

They Are Billions
2019
Est. copies
≈ 1.5M–2.4M
2.7x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
$12.2M–$32.8M after Steam's cut $22.2M–$50.5M before the cut
$29.99
51k reviews
Very Positive
Base-BuildingColony Sim
Dwarf Fortress
2022
Est. copies
≈ 780k–1.3M
1.6x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
$6.4M–$17.3M after Steam's cut $11.7M–$26.6M before the cut
$29.99
31k reviews
Very Positive
DwarfColony Sim
Stronghold Crusader HD (2012)
2013
Est. copies
≈ 1.3M–2.2M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$3.7M–$9.8M after Steam's cut $6.6M–$15.1M before the cut
$9.99
21k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
MilitaryCity Builder
Planetbase
2015
Est. copies
≈ 508k–826k
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$2.1M–$5.6M after Steam's cut $3.8M–$8.7M before the cut
$14.99
10k reviews
Mostly Positive
Kingdoms Reborn
2020
Est. copies
≈ 241k–391k
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$1.3M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.5M before the cut
$19.99
10k reviews
Very Positive
City BuilderBase-Building
Endzone - A World Apart
2021
Est. copies
≈ 248k–402k
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$1.7M–$4.6M after Steam's cut $3.1M–$7.0M before the cut
$24.99
10k reviews
Mostly Positive
IXION
2022
Est. copies
≈ 436k–708k
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$4.2M–$11.3M after Steam's cut $7.6M–$17.4M before the cut
$34.99
18k reviews
Mostly Positive
SpaceCity Builder
Surviving Mars
2018
Est. copies
≈ 873k–1.4M
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
29k reviews
Mostly Positive

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