How much revenue did METAL SLUG make?

$561k–$1.5M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did METAL SLUG sell?

Q: How many copies did METAL SLUG sell?

255k to 415k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 255k–415k; $561k–$1.5M after Steam's cut $1.0M–$2.3M before the cut; from 5k 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 METAL SLUG out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including METAL SLUG's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 490k–1.3M

best case 3.9M (Broforce)

Games like METAL SLUG

The middle of these games

≈ 490k–1.3M copies

≈ $3.0M–$7.1M after Steam's cut

from ~17k 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 Arcade (3 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: Broforce at ≈ 3.0M–4.8M copies, ≈ $12.3M–$33.0M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 6k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 1k to 8k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Arcade (3 of 8) and Co-op (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with America + Co-op, priced around $15.
The era: The games you compared span 2014 to 2022, 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 70 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
Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2 2018	Est. copies ≈ 169k–275k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $604k–$1.6M after Steam's cut $1.1M–$2.5M before the cut	$12.99	6k reviews Very Positive	ActionSide Scroller
Rogue Legacy 2 2022	Est. copies ≈ 375k–609k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $2.6M–$6.9M after Steam's cut $4.7M–$10.7M before the cut	$24.99	15k reviews Very Positive	ArcadeMetroidvania
Broforce 2015	Est. copies ≈ 3.0M–4.8M 3.5x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.3M–$33.0M after Steam's cut $22.3M–$50.7M before the cut	$14.99	61k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AmericaAction
Sonic Mania 2017	Est. copies ≈ 991k–1.6M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.5M–$14.7M after Steam's cut $9.9M–$22.5M before the cut	$19.99	29k reviews Very Positive	Great Soundtrack2D
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge 2022	Est. copies ≈ 368k–597k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.5M–$6.8M after Steam's cut $4.6M–$10.5M before the cut	$24.99	15k reviews Very Positive	Beat 'em upMultiplayer
Streets of Rage 4 2020	Est. copies ≈ 487k–792k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $3.3M–$9.0M after Steam's cut $6.1M–$13.9M before the cut	$24.99	20k reviews Very Positive	ActionBeat 'em up
METAL SLUG 3 2014	Est. copies ≈ 513k–833k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.1M–$3.0M after Steam's cut $2.0M–$4.7M before the cut	$7.99	9k reviews Very Positive	ArcadeClassic
ROUNDS 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.8M 2.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $1.8M–$4.9M after Steam's cut $3.3M–$7.5M before the cut	$5.99	44k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MultiplayerFighting