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How many copies did Defense high sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 1k–2k
$2k–$4k after Steam's cut $3k–$7k before the cut
from 49 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 Defense high out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Defense high's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.4M–8.9M
best case 15.7M (Bloons TD 6)
Games like Defense high

The middle of these games

≈ 1.4M–8.9M copies

≈ $21.4M–$89.5M after Steam's cut

from ~48k 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.

No genre covers most of your similar games. The closest is Tower Defense (4 of 8), so the genre you lead with is still undecided.

Of the 416 indie games that passed 1,000 reviews in 2022, 11.8% were novel genre mixes and 88.2% stuck to an established genre. Published indie market research.

Best case: Bloons TD 6 at ≈ 12.0M–19.5M copies, ≈ $46.1M–$124.0M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Tower Defense (4 of 8) and Base-Building (2 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with Tower Defense + Co-op, priced around $14.
The era
The games you compared span 2009 to 2020, 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

Bloons TD 6
2018
Est. copies
≈ 12.0M–19.5M
8.2x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
$46.1M–$124.0M after Steam's cut $83.8M–$190.7M before the cut
$13.99
394k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Tower DefenseStrategy
Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition
2009
Est. copies
≈ 9.8M–16.0M
3.2x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
$13.5M–$36.2M after Steam's cut $24.5M–$55.8M before the cut
$4.99
155k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Tower DefenseZombies
Factorio
2020
Est. copies
≈ 5.8M–9.4M
4.8x vs typical
SteamSpy 5M–10M
Est. revenue
$55.8M–$150.2M after Steam's cut $101.5M–$231.0M before the cut
$35.00
234k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
AutomationBase-Building
Kingdoms and Castles
2017
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.8M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$5.9M–$16.0M after Steam's cut $10.8M–$24.6M before the cut
$19.99
31k reviews
Very Positive
Minion Masters
2019
Est. copies
≈ 1.9M–3.1M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
65k reviews
Very Positive
PvETrading Card Game
Kingdom: Classic
2015
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.8M
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
23k reviews
Very Positive
Free to PlayStrategy
Bloons TD Battles
2016
Est. copies
≈ 1.2M–2.0M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
29k reviews
Very Positive
Free to PlayTower Defense
Dungeon Defenders II
2017
Est. copies
≈ 762k–1.2M
SteamSpy 2M–5M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
22k reviews
Mostly Positive
MultiplayerOnline Co-Op

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