How much revenue did Zen Chess: Mate in Two make?

$996–$3k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Zen Chess: Mate in Two sell?

Q: How many copies did Zen Chess: Mate in Two sell?

4k to 6k copies, based on its 127 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 4k–6k; $996–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$4k before the cut; from 127 reviews (Very Positive)

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 Zen Chess: Mate in Two out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Zen Chess: Mate in Two's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5k–13k

best case 45k (KNIGHTS)

Games like Zen Chess: Mate in Two

The middle of these games

≈ 5k–13k copies

≈ $4k–$18k after Steam's cut

from ~214 reviews

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

None of your 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: KNIGHTS at ≈ 34k–56k copies, ≈ $9k–$25k after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 37 reviews in their first month; the spread ran 21 to 53.

Under about 100 in month one, almost nothing recovers.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Chess (7 of 8) and Puzzle (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Puzzle + Tabletop, priced around $1.
The era: The games you compared span 2016 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 52 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Chessformer 2022	Est. copies ≈ 8k–13k 1.5x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $11k–$29k after Steam's cut $20k–$45k before the cut	$4.99	321 reviews Very Positive	ChessPuzzle
KNIGHTS 2016	Est. copies ≈ 34k–56k 3.9x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $9k–$25k after Steam's cut $17k–$39k before the cut	$0.99	826 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleTabletop
Chess Brain 2020	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before the cut	$0.99	165 reviews Very Positive	SokobanChess
Knight's Retreat 2020	Est. copies ≈ 2k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$5k after Steam's cut $4k–$8k before the cut	$2.99	99 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleChess
BOT.vinnik Chess: Combination Lessons 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3k–5k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$5k after Steam's cut $3k–$7k before the cut	$1.99	127 reviews Very Positive	ChessSurvival Horror
Sudoku Zenkai / 数独全卡 2018	Est. copies ≈ 7k–11k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $7k–$19k after Steam's cut $13k–$30k before the cut	$3.99	214 reviews Very Positive	LogicSolitaire
Mind Games 2016	Est. copies ≈ 9k–14k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $12k–$33k after Steam's cut $22k–$50k before the cut	$4.99	213 reviews Mixed	IndieTabletop
Zen Chess: Mate in One 2018	Est. copies ≈ 14k–23k 2.2x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $4k–$10k after Steam's cut $7k–$16k before the cut	$0.99	463 reviews Very Positive	ChessMinimalist