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wishvane

How big is The Howler?

Estimated owners
≈ 117k–190k
from 2k reviews (Mostly 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 The Howler out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Howler's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.1M–1.6M
best case 1.2M (Against the Storm)
Games like The Howler

The middle of these games

≈ 1.1M–1.6M copies

≈ $4.9M–$11.4M after Steam's cut

from ~24k 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.

No genre covers most of your similar games. The closest is Puzzle (4 of 8), so the genre you lead with is still undecided.

Of the 416 indie games that passed 1,000 reviews in 2022, 11.8% were novel genre mixes and 88.2% stuck to an established genre. Published indie market research.

Best case: Against the Storm at ≈ 926k–1.5M copies, ≈ $7.6M–$20.5M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on Puzzle (4 of 8) and Point & Click (3 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with City Builder + Simulation, priced around $30.
The era
The games you compared span 2009 to 2023, and none of them 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

The Room
2014
Est. copies
≈ 1.8M–2.9M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$2.4M–$6.6M after Steam's cut $4.4M–$10.1M before the cut
$4.99
32k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
PuzzleMystery
Machinarium
2009
Est. copies
≈ 1.3M–2.1M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$7.2M–$19.2M after Steam's cut $13.0M–$29.6M before the cut
$19.99
21k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Point & ClickPuzzle
FAR: Lone Sails
2018
Est. copies
≈ 802k–1.3M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$3.3M–$8.9M after Steam's cut $6.0M–$13.7M before the cut
$14.99
26k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
AtmosphericAdventure
The Room Two
2016
Est. copies
≈ 905k–1.5M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's cut $2.3M–$5.1M before the cut
$4.99
22k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
PuzzleMystery
SteamWorld Dig 2
2017
Est. copies
≈ 312k–508k
too small to compare
SteamSpy 200k–500k
Est. revenue
$1.7M–$4.6M after Steam's cut $3.1M–$7.1M before the cut
$19.99
9k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
AdventureMetroidvania
Against the Storm
2023
Est. copies
≈ 926k–1.5M
1.6x vs typical
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$7.6M–$20.5M after Steam's cut $13.9M–$31.6M before the cut
$29.99
37k reviews
Very Positive
StrategyCity Builder
Iron Harvest
2020
Est. copies
≈ 395k–643k
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$3.3M–$8.8M after Steam's cut $5.9M–$13.5M before the cut
$29.99
16k reviews
Mostly Positive
RTSStrategy
SteamWorld Dig
2013
Est. copies
≈ 695k–1.1M
too small to compare
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.5M–$7.9M before the cut
$9.99
11k reviews
Very Positive
PlatformerMining

Sizing up your own game? See what its genre can realistically do before you build it.