How much revenue did Dust: An Elysian Tail make?

$5.0M–$13.4M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Dust: An Elysian Tail sell?

Q: How many copies did Dust: An Elysian Tail sell?

1.2M to 2.0M copies, based on its 19k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.2M–2.0M; $5.0M–$13.4M after Steam's cut $9.0M–$20.5M before the cut; from 19k 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 Dust: An Elysian Tail out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Dust: An Elysian Tail's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3.4M–4.0M

best case 25.3M (Hollow Knight)

Games like Dust: An Elysian Tail

The middle of these games

≈ 3.4M–4.0M copies

≈ $23.4M–$35.0M 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.

Your picks lean toward this genre's biggest survivors; the typical figure reads from its ordinary successes.

Best case: Hollow Knight at ≈ 19.2M–31.3M copies, ≈ $79.3M–$213.3M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Platformer (5 of 8) and Metroidvania (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Action-Adventure + Souls-like, priced around $25. The breakout hits carry Souls-like; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: None of the games you compared shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2020. 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 31 for the most recent game here to about 52 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
Katana ZERO 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.2M–3.6M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $9.0M–$24.2M after Steam's cut $16.4M–$37.3M before the cut	$14.99	76k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Pixel GraphicsAction
STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ 2019	Est. copies ≈ 5.0M–8.2M 2.3x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $55.4M–$149.0M after Steam's cut $100.7M–$229.2M before the cut	$39.99	175k reviews Very Positive	Action-AdventureSouls-like
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition 2016	Est. copies ≈ 3.0M–4.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $16.3M–$43.9M after Steam's cut $29.7M–$67.6M before the cut	$19.99	71k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AtmosphericGreat Soundtrack
Ori and the Will of the Wisps 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3.6M–5.9M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $29.9M–$80.3M after Steam's cut $54.3M–$123.5M before the cut	$29.99	146k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	BeautifulMetroidvania
Celeste 2018	Est. copies ≈ 4.4M–7.2M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $24.5M–$65.8M after Steam's cut $44.5M–$101.2M before the cut	$19.99	146k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Precision PlatformerDifficult
Hollow Knight 2017	Est. copies ≈ 19.2M–31.3M 7.4x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $79.3M–$213.3M after Steam's cut $144.2M–$328.1M before the cut	$14.99	559k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Metroidvania Souls-like
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
Dead Cells 2018	Est. copies ≈ 5.6M–9.0M 2.4x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $38.2M–$102.8M after Steam's cut $69.5M–$158.2M before the cut	$24.99	183k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AdventureAction Roguelike