How many copies did Fallout Shelter sell?

2.8M to 4.6M copies, based on its 83k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did Fallout Shelter make?

Fallout Shelter is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is Fallout Shelter?

Estimated owners: ≈ 2.8M–4.6M; from 83k 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 Fallout Shelter out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Fallout Shelter's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 4.9M–13.0M

best case 35.1M (ARK: Survival Evolved)

Games like Fallout Shelter

The middle of these games

≈ 4.9M–13.0M copies

≈ $57.7M–$143.2M after Steam's cut

from ~244k 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: ARK: Survival Evolved at ≈ 26.7M–43.4M copies, ≈ $110.1M–$296.0M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 89k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 40k to 182k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Survival (7 of 8) and Base-Building (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World Survival Craft + Survival, priced around $15.
The era: The games you compared span 2017 to 2026, and 1 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 43 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
ARK: Survival Evolved 2017	Est. copies ≈ 26.7M–43.4M 3.2x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $110.1M–$296.0M after Steam's cut $200.2M–$455.4M before the cut	$14.99	776k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Squad 2020	Est. copies ≈ 6.0M–9.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $66.2M–$178.0M after Steam's cut $120.4M–$273.9M before the cut	$39.99	243k reviews Very Positive	MilitaryRealistic
RimWorld 2018	Est. copies ≈ 7.5M–12.1M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $71.8M–$193.1M after Steam's cut $130.6M–$297.1M before the cut	$34.99	246k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
Scrap Mechanic 2026	Est. copies ≈ 3.0M–4.9M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $24.2M–$65.0M after Steam's cut $43.9M–$100.0M before the cut	$28.99	122k reviews Very Positive	BuildingSandbox
Grounded 2022	Est. copies ≈ 2.4M–3.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $26.1M–$70.0M after Steam's cut $47.4M–$107.8M before the cut	$39.99	96k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalMultiplayer
Raft 2022	Est. copies ≈ 9.4M–15.2M 1.5x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $51.5M–$138.4M after Steam's cut $93.6M–$213.0M before the cut	$19.99	378k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalMultiplayer
ASTRONEER 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.0M–6.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $33.0M–$88.8M after Steam's cut $60.1M–$136.6M before the cut	$29.99	139k reviews Very Positive	MultiplayerOpen World
Subnautica 2018	Est. copies ≈ 11.5M–18.7M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $95.0M–$255.4M after Steam's cut $172.7M–$393.0M before the cut	$29.99	379k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival