How many copies did What Never Was sell?

147k to 239k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did What Never Was make?

What Never Was is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is What Never Was?

Estimated owners: ≈ 147k–239k; 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 What Never Was out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including What Never Was's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 402k–866k

best case 1.4M (Return of the Obra Dinn)

Games like What Never Was

The middle of these games

≈ 402k–866k copies

≈ $3.9M–$12.6M after Steam's cut

from ~20k 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: Return of the Obra Dinn at ≈ 1.1M–1.7M copies, ≈ $5.9M–$15.7M 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 2k to 9k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Puzzle (8 of 8) and Story Rich (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Detective + Mystery, priced around $20.
The era: The games you compared span 2014 to 2025, and 3 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 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
The Talos Principle 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.8M–3.0M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $15.3M–$41.0M after Steam's cut $27.7M–$63.1M before the cut	$29.99	33k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzlePhilosophical
The Talos Principle 2 2023	Est. copies ≈ 331k–538k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.7M–$7.3M after Steam's cut $5.0M–$11.3M before the cut	$29.99	13k reviews Very Positive	Puzzle Story Rich
Amanda the Adventurer 2023	Est. copies ≈ 180k–292k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $445k–$1.2M after Steam's cut $809k–$1.8M before the cut	$8.99	7k reviews Very Positive	HorrorFirst-Person
Murders on the Yangtze River 2024	Est. copies ≈ 525k–853k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.2M–$5.8M after Steam's cut $3.9M–$8.9M before the cut	$14.99	21k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveAdventure
Return of the Obra Dinn 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.7M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.9M–$15.7M after Steam's cut $10.6M–$24.2M before the cut	$19.99	35k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveMystery
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle 2024	Est. copies ≈ 506k–823k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $9.7M–$26.2M after Steam's cut $17.7M–$40.3M before the cut	$69.99	20k reviews Very Positive	Action-AdventureFirst-Person
Blue Prince 2025	Est. copies ≈ 492k–800k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $4.1M–$10.9M after Steam's cut $7.4M–$16.8M before the cut	$29.99	20k reviews Very Positive	PuzzleExploration
Amnesia: Rebirth 2020	Est. copies ≈ 231k–376k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.5M–$7.9M before the cut	$29.99	9k reviews Mostly Positive	Action-AdventureFirst-Person