How much revenue did How to Survive make?

$3.9M–$10.6M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did How to Survive sell?

Q: How many copies did How to Survive sell?

957k to 1.6M copies, based on its 17k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 957k–1.6M; $3.9M–$10.6M after Steam's cut $7.2M–$16.3M before the cut; from 17k reviews (Very 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 How to Survive out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including How to Survive's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3.4M–10.5M

best case 27.2M (The Forest)

Games like How to Survive

The middle of these games

≈ 3.4M–10.5M copies

≈ $33.7M–$140.7M after Steam's cut

from ~109k 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: The Forest at ≈ 20.7M–33.6M copies, ≈ $113.8M–$305.9M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Open World (8 of 8) and Survival (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World Survival Craft + Survival, priced around $20.
The era: The games you compared span 2013 to 2025, 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 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

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
The Forest 2018	Est. copies ≈ 20.7M–33.6M 6.2x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $113.8M–$305.9M after Steam's cut $206.9M–$470.7M before the cut	$19.99	681k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Project Zomboid 2013	Est. copies ≈ 30.2M–49.0M 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $207.3M–$557.3M after Steam's cut $376.9M–$857.4M before the cut	$24.99	477k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalZombies
Green Hell 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.9M–4.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $22.5M–$60.4M after Steam's cut $40.9M–$92.9M before the cut	$27.99	101k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
SCUM 2025	Est. copies ≈ 3.1M–5.1M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $38.8M–$104.2M after Steam's cut $70.5M–$160.3M before the cut	$44.99	126k reviews Mostly Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft
Days Gone 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.9M–4.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $31.8M–$85.5M after Steam's cut $57.8M–$131.5M before the cut	$39.99	117k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldZombies
Just Survive 2015	Est. copies ≈ 3.7M–6.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	77k reviews Mixed	ZombiesSurvival
Far Cry® Primal 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $14.1M–$37.9M after Steam's cut $25.6M–$58.3M before the cut	$29.99	41k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldSurvival
Dead Island Definitive Edition 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–1.9M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.4M–$17.3M after Steam's cut $11.7M–$26.7M before the cut	$19.99	28k reviews Very Positive	ZombiesOpen World