How much revenue did Carmen Sandiego make?

$19k–$52k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Carmen Sandiego sell?

Q: How many copies did Carmen Sandiego sell?

2k to 4k copies, based on its 95 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 2k–4k; $19k–$52k after Steam's cut $35k–$80k before the cut; from 95 reviews (Mixed)

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

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 350k–837k

best case 3.1M (L.A. Noire)

Games like Carmen Sandiego

The middle of these games

≈ 350k–837k copies

≈ $2.8M–$3.9M after Steam's cut

from ~14k 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: L.A. Noire at ≈ 2.3M–3.8M copies, ≈ $12.8M–$34.4M 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 75 to 7k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Puzzle (7 of 8) and Detective (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Detective + Crime, priced around $20.
The era: The games you compared span 2011 to 2024, 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 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

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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
Escape Room - Der kranke Kollege 2020	Est. copies ≈ 311k–506k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	13k reviews Very Positive	MultiplayerFree to Play
Strange Horticulture 2022	Est. copies ≈ 397k–646k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.7M–$4.7M after Steam's cut $3.2M–$7.2M before the cut	$15.99	16k reviews Very Positive	MysteryPuzzle
Unheard - Voices of Crime 2019	Est. copies ≈ 976k–1.6M 2.4x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.0M after Steam's cut $3.4M–$7.8M before the cut	$6.99	34k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectivePuzzle
Operation: Tango 2021	Est. copies ≈ 220k–358k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's cut $2.2M–$5.0M before the cut	$19.99	9k reviews Very Positive	Online Co-OpPuzzle
Enigma of Fear 2024	Est. copies ≈ 254k–413k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.1M–$5.6M after Steam's cut $3.8M–$8.7M before the cut	$29.99	10k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MysteryInvestigation
L.A. Noire 2011	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.8M 2.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.8M–$34.4M after Steam's cut $23.2M–$52.9M before the cut	$19.99	37k reviews Very Positive	DetectiveCrime
The Case of the Golden Idol 2022	Est. copies ≈ 271k–440k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.5M before the cut	$17.99	11k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MysteryDetective