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wishvane

How many copies did Murders on the Yangtze River sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 525k–853k
$2.2M–$5.8M after Steam's cut $3.9M–$8.9M before the cut
from 21k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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 Murders on the Yangtze River out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Murders on the Yangtze River's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.7M–4.1M
best case 10.2M (Batman™: Arkham Knight)
Games like Murders on the Yangtze River

The middle of these games

≈ 1.7M–4.1M copies

≈ $13.0M–$31.6M after Steam's cut

from ~38k 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: Batman™: Arkham Knight at ≈ 7.8M–12.6M copies, ≈ $42.7M–$114.8M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Detective (6 of 8) and Story Rich (6 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with Open World + Superhero, priced around $20.
The era
The games you compared span 2010 to 2019, 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 36 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).

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SteamSpy 2M–5M
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HackingSimulation
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
2016
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≈ 1.6M–2.6M
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2010
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≈ 5.5M–8.9M
2.3x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
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$19.99
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ActionStealth
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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
2019
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≈ 1.3M–2.1M
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2011
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≈ 2.3M–3.8M
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$19.99
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DetectiveCrime
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2015
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≈ 7.8M–12.6M
4.2x vs typical
SteamSpy 2M–5M
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$19.99
159k reviews
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Return of the Obra Dinn
2018
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.7M
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$19.99
35k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
DetectiveMystery

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