How much revenue did X4: Foundations make?

$12.5M–$33.7M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did X4: Foundations sell?

Q: How many copies did X4: Foundations sell?

911k to 1.5M copies, based on its 30k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 911k–1.5M; $12.5M–$33.7M after Steam's cut $22.8M–$51.8M before the cut; from 30k 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 X4: Foundations out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including X4: Foundations's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 2.5M–6.2M

best case 22.6M (No Man's Sky)

Games like X4: Foundations

The middle of these games

≈ 2.5M–6.2M copies

≈ $23.2M–$52.9M after Steam's cut

from ~92k 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: No Man's Sky at ≈ 17.2M–28.0M copies, ≈ $284.5M–$764.9M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Space (7 of 8) and Open World (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World + Open World Survival Craft, priced around $60. The breakout hits carry Procedural Generation + Adventure + Open World Survival Craft; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2010 to 2021, 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

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Kerbal Space Program 2015	Est. copies ≈ 7.1M–11.6M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $78.6M–$211.3M after Steam's cut $142.9M–$325.1M before the cut	$39.99	146k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SpaceSimulation
Oxygen Not Included 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.1M–6.7M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.4M–$76.4M after Steam's cut $51.7M–$117.5M before the cut	$24.99	144k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
Elite Dangerous 2015	Est. copies ≈ 5.2M–8.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.8M–$77.4M after Steam's cut $52.3M–$119.1M before the cut	$19.99	107k reviews Mostly Positive	Space SimSpace
Dyson Sphere Program 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.5M–$33.6M after Steam's cut $22.7M–$51.6M before the cut	$19.99	92k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationSpace
No Man's Sky 2016	Est. copies ≈ 17.2M–28.0M 4.5x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $284.5M–$764.9M after Steam's cut $517.2M–$1176.7M before the cut	$59.99	415k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldOpen World Survival Craft
Empyrion - Galactic Survival 2020	Est. copies ≈ 853k–1.4M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $4.7M–$12.6M after Steam's cut $8.5M–$19.4M before the cut	$19.99	34k reviews Mostly Positive	Simulation Co-op
Universe Sandbox 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.6M–2.5M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.9M–$34.7M after Steam's cut $23.5M–$53.4M before the cut	$29.99	32k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SandboxSpace
EVE Online 2010	Est. copies ≈ 2.5M–4.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	39k reviews Mostly Positive	SpaceFree to Play