How much revenue did Dear Esther make?

Dear Esther is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How many copies did Dear Esther sell?

Q: How many copies did Dear Esther sell?

152k to 247k copies, based on its 6k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 152k–247k; from 6k reviews (Mostly 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 Dear Esther out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Dear Esther's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3.6M–4.8M

best case 22.6M (No Man's Sky)

Games like Dear Esther

The middle of these games

≈ 3.6M–4.8M copies

≈ $22.1M–$40.9M after Steam's cut

from ~76k 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: No Man's Sky at ≈ 17.2M–28.0M copies, ≈ $284.5M–$764.9M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Exploration (5 of 8) and First-Person (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World + Open World Survival Craft, priced around $60. The breakout hits carry Space + Procedural Generation + Open World; 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 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
INSIDE 2016	Est. copies ≈ 3.1M–5.1M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.6M–$58.2M after Steam's cut $39.4M–$89.5M before the cut	$24.99	76k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	2.5DPuzzle-Platformer
SOMA 2015	Est. copies ≈ 2.6M–4.2M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.1M–$56.7M after Steam's cut $38.4M–$87.3M before the cut	$29.99	52k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Horror Psychological Horror
The Long Dark 2017	Est. copies ≈ 4.2M–6.9M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $23.4M–$62.8M after Steam's cut $42.5M–$96.6M before the cut	$19.99	123k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft
The Stanley Parable 2013	Est. copies ≈ 2.9M–4.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $11.9M–$32.1M after Steam's cut $21.7M–$49.3M before the cut	$14.99	46k reviews Very Positive	ComedyNarration
Firewatch 2016	Est. copies ≈ 4.1M–6.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $22.7M–$61.1M after Steam's cut $41.3M–$93.9M before the cut	$19.99	99k reviews Very Positive	AdventureAtmospheric
What Remains of Edith Finch 2017	Est. copies ≈ 1.8M–2.9M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $10.0M–$26.8M after Steam's cut $18.1M–$41.2M before the cut	$19.99	53k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Story RichAtmospheric
GRIS 2018	Est. copies ≈ 2.9M–4.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.1M–$32.4M after Steam's cut $21.9M–$49.9M before the cut	$14.99	96k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	BeautifulAtmospheric
No Man's Sky 2016	Est. copies ≈ 17.2M–28.0M 5.5x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $284.5M–$764.9M after Steam's cut $517.2M–$1176.7M before the cut	$59.99	415k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldOpen World Survival Craft