How much revenue did Maxwell's puzzling demon make?

$43k–$115k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Maxwell's puzzling demon sell?

Q: How many copies did Maxwell's puzzling demon sell?

10k to 17k copies, based on its 417 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 10k–17k; $43k–$115k after Steam's cut $78k–$176k before the cut; from 417 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 Maxwell's puzzling demon out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Maxwell's puzzling demon's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5k–28k

best case 188k (Patrick's Parabox)

Games like Maxwell's puzzling demon

The middle of these games

≈ 5k–28k copies

≈ $5k–$126k after Steam's cut

from ~250 reviews

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

2 of your 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Patrick's Parabox at ≈ 144k–233k copies, ≈ $789k–$2.1M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 74 reviews in their first month; the spread ran 21 to 897.

Under about 100 in month one, almost nothing recovers.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Logic (8 of 8) and Puzzle (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Puzzle + Sokoban, priced around $20.
The era: None of the games you compared shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2023. 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 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

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Patrick's Parabox 2022	Est. copies ≈ 144k–233k 23x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $789k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.3M before the cut	$19.99	6k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzleSokoban
Hexologic 2018	Est. copies ≈ 41k–67k 5.4x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $57k–$152k after Steam's cut $103k–$234k before the cut	$4.99	1k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	LogicPuzzle
Chess Brain 2020	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before the cut	$0.99	165 reviews Very Positive	SokobanChess
Block in the Lock 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue Free	Free	74 reviews Very Positive	SokobanPuzzle
Yugo Puzzle 2021	Est. copies ≈ 8k–13k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $14k–$37k after Steam's cut $25k–$56k before the cut	$5.99	334 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleIndie
Can of Wormholes 2023	Est. copies ≈ 15k–24k 2.4x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $80k–$215k after Steam's cut $146k–$331k before the cut	$19.99	587 reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SokobanIndie
Knight Swap 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before the cut	$0.99	149 reviews Very Positive	SokobanPuzzle
Rob Riches 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $4k–$10k after Steam's cut $7k–$16k before the cut	$6.99	80 reviews Very Positive	Puzzle Platformer