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wishvane

How many copies did Docking Ships sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 74–121
$20–$55 after Steam's cut $37–$84 before the cut
from 3 reviews (3 user reviews)
Thin evidence: 3 reviews. That range swings on one or two people, so read it as a hint, not a measurement.

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 Docking Ships out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Docking Ships's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 867k–1.1M
best case 1.4M (Return of the Obra Dinn)
Games like Docking Ships

The middle of these games

≈ 867k–1.1M copies

≈ $4.9M–$6.7M after Steam's cut

from ~27k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

4 of your 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Return of the Obra Dinn at ≈ 1.1M–1.7M copies, ≈ $5.9M–$15.7M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here
The games that made it here had under 15k reviews in their first month.
Under about 100 in month one, almost nothing recovers.
The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Puzzle (7 of 8) and Logic (3 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with Detective + Mystery, priced around $20.
The era
The games you compared span 2018 to 2024, and 1 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 38 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

Return of the Obra Dinn
2018
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.7M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$5.9M–$15.7M after Steam's cut $10.6M–$24.2M before the cut
$19.99
35k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
DetectiveMystery
Baba Is You
2019
Est. copies
≈ 705k–1.1M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$2.9M–$7.8M after Steam's cut $5.3M–$12.0M before the cut
$14.99
24k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
PuzzleIndie
Murders on the Yangtze River
2024
Est. copies
≈ 525k–853k
SteamSpy 200k–500k
Est. revenue
$2.2M–$5.8M after Steam's cut $3.9M–$8.9M before the cut
$14.99
21k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
DetectiveAdventure
Dorfromantik
2022
Est. copies
≈ 733k–1.2M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$2.8M–$7.6M after Steam's cut $5.1M–$11.7M before the cut
$13.99
30k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
PuzzleRelaxing
Hasbro's BATTLESHIP
2018
Est. copies
≈ 30k–48k
too small to compare
SteamSpy 50k–100k
Est. revenue
$102k–$275k after Steam's cut $186k–$422k before the cut
$12.49
978 reviews
Very Positive
Board GameFamily Friendly
SokoChess
2022
Est. copies
≈ 1k–2k
too small to compare
SteamSpy under 20k
Est. revenue
$2k–$4k after Steam's cut $3k–$6k before the cut
$4.99
45 reviews
Positive
ChessSokoban
Hidden Shapes Black Skull - Jigsaw Puzzle Game
2021
Est. copies
≈ 1k–2k
too small to compare
SteamSpy under 20k
Est. revenue
$584–$2k after Steam's cut $1k–$2k before the cut
$1.99
43 reviews
Positive
PuzzlePirates
Anchor Up
2021
Est. copies
≈ 25–40
too small to compare
SteamSpy under 20k
Est. revenue
$41–$109 after Steam's cut $75–$168 before the cut
$5.99
1 reviews
1 user reviews
PuzzleTurn-Based

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