How much revenue did Life is Hard make?

$38k–$102k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Life is Hard sell?

Q: How many copies did Life is Hard sell?

14k to 22k copies, based on its 555 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 14k–22k; $38k–$102k after Steam's cut $69k–$156k before the cut; from 555 reviews (Mixed)

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 Life is Hard out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Life is Hard's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3.4M–8.8M

best case 9.6M (Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord)

Games like Life is Hard

The middle of these games

≈ 3.4M–8.8M copies

≈ $45.7M–$110.2M after Steam's cut

from ~117k reviews

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

6 of your 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord at ≈ 7.3M–11.9M copies, ≈ $101.0M–$271.6M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 19k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 35 to 200k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Simulation (6 of 8) and Management (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Medieval + Open World, priced around $50.
The era: The games you compared span 2010 to 2025, and 2 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
Mountaincore 2025	Est. copies ≈ 7k–11k too small to compare SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue Free	Free	263 reviews Mixed	StrategySimulation
Dwarf Shop 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3k–5k too small to compare SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $8k–$21k after Steam's cut $14k–$32k before the cut	$9.99	112 reviews Mostly Positive	DwarfSimulation
Manor Lords 2024	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $24.8M–$66.6M after Steam's cut $45.0M–$102.4M before the cut	$39.99	91k reviews Very Positive	StrategyCity Builder
Crusader Kings III 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3.5M–5.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $48.8M–$131.2M after Steam's cut $88.7M–$201.9M before the cut	$49.99	143k reviews Very Positive	StrategyMedieval
Crusader Kings II 2012	Est. copies ≈ 4.7M–7.6M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	74k reviews Very Positive	Grand StrategyStrategy
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord 2022	Est. copies ≈ 7.3M–11.9M 2.5x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $101.0M–$271.6M after Steam's cut $183.7M–$417.9M before the cut	$49.99	296k reviews Very Positive	MedievalStrategy
Mount & Blade: Warband 2010	Est. copies ≈ 10.9M–17.7M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $59.7M–$160.6M after Steam's cut $108.6M–$247.1M before the cut	$19.99	172k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MedievalRPG
Dwarf Fortress 2022	Est. copies ≈ 780k–1.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $6.4M–$17.3M after Steam's cut $11.7M–$26.6M before the cut	$29.99	31k reviews Very Positive	DwarfColony Sim