How much revenue did It Returned To The Desert make?

$1k–$3k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did It Returned To The Desert sell?

Q: How many copies did It Returned To The Desert sell?

818 to 1k copies, based on its 33 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 818–1k; $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before the cut; from 33 reviews (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 It Returned To The Desert out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including It Returned To The Desert's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 56k–142k

best case 229k (Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring)

Games like It Returned To The Desert

The middle of these games

≈ 56k–142k copies

≈ $346k–$1.2M after Steam's cut

from ~3k 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: Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring at ≈ 174k–283k copies, ≈ $671k–$1.8M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 1k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 350 to 3k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Mystery (8 of 8) and Interactive Fiction (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Mystery + Multiple Endings, priced around $14.
The era: The games you compared span 2017 to 2025, and 3 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 43 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
A Normal Lost Phone 2017	Est. copies ≈ 101k–165k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue Free	Free	3k reviews Very Positive	IndieLGBTQ+
Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story 2017	Est. copies ≈ 36k–59k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue Free	Free	1k reviews Very Positive	IndieCasual
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery 2024	Est. copies ≈ 129k–209k 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $885k–$2.4M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.7M before the cut	$24.99	5k reviews Mostly Positive	Turn-Based TacticsMultiple Endings
恋爱绮谭~不存在的夏天~ 2020	Est. copies ≈ 73k–119k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $181k–$486k after Steam's cut $329k–$748k before the cut	$8.99	3k reviews Very Positive	Visual NovelMystery
Heaven's Vault 2019	Est. copies ≈ 72k–117k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $493k–$1.3M after Steam's cut $896k–$2.0M before the cut	$24.99	2k reviews Very Positive	AdventureNarrative
Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring 2021	Est. copies ≈ 174k–283k 2.6x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $671k–$1.8M after Steam's cut $1.2M–$2.8M before the cut	$13.99	7k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AdventureMystery
Trials of Innocence 2025	Est. copies ≈ 44k–72k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $207k–$556k after Steam's cut $376k–$856k before the cut	$16.99	2k reviews Very Positive	DetectiveVisual Novel
Misty Judgment 2025	Est. copies ≈ 38k–61k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $93k–$250k after Steam's cut $169k–$384k before the cut	$8.99	2k reviews Very Positive	Early AccessInteractive Fiction