Sign in
wishvane

How big is RetroArch?

Estimated owners
≈ 241k–392k
from 10k 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 RetroArch out and predicted the genre from its 5 similar games. Every figure here, including RetroArch's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.7M–3.3M
best case 40.4M (Wallpaper Engine)
Games like RetroArch

The middle of these games

≈ 1.7M–3.3M copies

≈ $10.2M–$15.6M after Steam's cut

from ~62k reviews

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

All 5 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: Wallpaper Engine at ≈ 30.8M–50.0M copies, ≈ $42.2M–$113.5M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Software (4 of 5) and Utilities (4 of 5).
The winners
Winners here lead with Mature + Utilities, priced around $5. The breakout hits carry Anime + First-Person + Mature; a typical game here doesn't.
The era
None of the games you compared shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2018. That says more about your picks than about the market, so add newer similar games to read the timing.
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 38 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

Aseprite
2016
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.8M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$6.1M–$16.5M after Steam's cut $11.1M–$25.3M before the cut
$19.99
27k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Pixel GraphicsDesign & Illustration
Soundpad
2017
Est. copies
≈ 3.6M–5.8M
1.7x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
$4.9M–$13.2M after Steam's cut $8.9M–$20.3M before the cut
$4.99
104k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
UtilitiesAudio Production
Wallpaper Engine
2018
Est. copies
≈ 30.8M–50.0M
16x vs typical
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$42.2M–$113.5M after Steam's cut $76.8M–$174.6M before the cut
$4.99
1.0M reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
MatureUtilities
SteamVR
unreleased
Est. copies
≈ 2.1M–3.5M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
86k reviews
Very Positive
VRSoftware
Rivals of Aether
2017
Est. copies
≈ 1.3M–2.1M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$10.8M–$29.1M after Steam's cut $19.7M–$44.7M before the cut
$29.99
38k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Fighting2D Fighter

Sizing up your own game? See what its genre can realistically do before you build it.