How much revenue did California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis) make?

$2k–$4k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis) sell?

Q: How many copies did California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis) sell?

570 to 927 copies, based on its 23 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 570–927; $2k–$4k after Steam's cut $3k–$6k before the cut; from 23 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 California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis) out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis)'s, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 133k–277k

best case 860k (Punch Club)

Games like California Games (C64/DOS/Atari/Lynx/NES/SMS/Genesis)

The middle of these games

≈ 133k–277k copies

≈ $318k–$1.7M after Steam's cut

from ~4k 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 Arcade (3 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: Punch Club at ≈ 656k–1.1M copies, ≈ $1.8M–$4.8M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 2k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 840 to 3k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Arcade (3 of 8) and Platformer (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Management + Time Management, priced around $10.
The era: The games you compared span 2012 to 2024, and 2 of your 8 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

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Out There Somewhere 2016	Est. copies ≈ 288k–468k 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $791k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.3M before the cut	$9.99	7k reviews Very Positive	PlatformerPixel Graphics
UFO 50 2024	Est. copies ≈ 185k–301k 2.1x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.4M after Steam's cut $2.3M–$5.3M before the cut	$24.99	7k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	IndiePixel Graphics
Punch Club 2016	Est. copies ≈ 656k–1.1M 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.8M–$4.8M after Steam's cut $3.3M–$7.4M before the cut	$9.99	16k reviews Very Positive	ManagementPixel Graphics
Backyard Baseball '97 2024	Est. copies ≈ 57k–92k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $155k–$418k after Steam's cut $282k–$643k before the cut	$9.99	2k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SportsCasual
Castlevania Anniversary Collection 2019	Est. copies ≈ 66k–107k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $361k–$971k after Steam's cut $657k–$1.5M before the cut	$19.99	2k reviews Very Positive	ActionAdventure
Waveform 2012	Est. copies ≈ 135k–220k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $74k–$199k after Steam's cut $134k–$306k before the cut	$1.99	2k reviews Very Positive	IndiePuzzle
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward 2023	Est. copies ≈ 113k–183k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $621k–$1.7M after Steam's cut $1.1M–$2.6M before the cut	$19.99	5k reviews Very Positive	Time ManagementPixel Graphics
Airscape - The Fall of Gravity 2015	Est. copies ≈ 130k–211k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $178k–$479k after Steam's cut $324k–$736k before the cut	$4.99	3k reviews Very Positive	Shoot 'Em UpExploration