How much revenue did Papers, Please make?

$13.9M–$37.5M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Papers, Please sell?

Q: How many copies did Papers, Please sell?

5.1M to 8.3M copies, based on its 80k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 5.1M–8.3M; $13.9M–$37.5M after Steam's cut $25.4M–$57.7M before the cut; from 80k 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 Papers, Please out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Papers, Please's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 762k–878k

best case 2.0M (Age of History II)

Games like Papers, Please

The middle of these games

≈ 762k–878k copies

≈ $2.5M–$4.9M after Steam's cut

from ~16k 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: Age of History II at ≈ 1.5M–2.5M copies, ≈ $2.5M–$6.7M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Simulation (7 of 8) and City Builder (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation, priced around $35. The breakout hits carry Strategy + Management; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2015 to 2025, 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 61 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
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic 2024	Est. copies ≈ 673k–1.1M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $7.4M–$19.9M after Steam's cut $13.5M–$30.6M before the cut	$39.99	27k reviews Very Positive	StrategySimulation
Age of History II 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.5M 3.2x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $2.5M–$6.7M after Steam's cut $4.5M–$10.3M before the cut	$5.99	50k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Garfield Kart 2015	Est. copies ≈ 690k–1.1M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $947k–$2.5M after Steam's cut $1.7M–$3.9M before the cut	$4.99	14k reviews Very Positive	Cult ClassicCombat Racing
Beholder 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.0M–$13.3M after Steam's cut $9.0M–$20.5M before the cut	$13.99	31k reviews Very Positive	Dystopian Choices Matter
Dawn of Man 2019	Est. copies ≈ 513k–834k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.5M–$9.5M after Steam's cut $6.4M–$14.6M before the cut	$24.99	18k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim
Tropico 6 2019	Est. copies ≈ 848k–1.4M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.3M–$25.1M after Steam's cut $17.0M–$38.6M before the cut	$39.99	29k reviews Very Positive	City BuilderStrategy
Foundation 2025	Est. copies ≈ 599k–973k 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.8M–$15.5M after Steam's cut $10.5M–$23.8M before the cut	$34.99	24k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Simulation
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You 2016	Est. copies ≈ 647k–1.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.8M–$4.8M after Steam's cut $3.2M–$7.4M before the cut	$9.99	16k reviews Very Positive	Choices MatterPolitical Sim