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wishvane

How many copies did BioShock® 2 sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 946k–1.5M
$5.2M–$14.0M after Steam's cut $9.5M–$21.5M before the cut
from 15k 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 BioShock® 2 out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including BioShock® 2's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 33.7M–90.4M
best case 98.8M (Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege)
Games like BioShock® 2

The middle of these games

≈ 33.7M–90.4M copies

≈ $212.9M–$570.0M after Steam's cut

from ~994k 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 FPS (4 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: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege at ≈ 75.3M–122.4M copies.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on FPS (4 of 8) and Open World (3 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with FPS + Tactical.
The era
The games you compared span 2006 to 2020, 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

Red Dead Redemption 2
2019
Est. copies
≈ 26.2M–42.6M
SteamSpy 10M–20M
Est. revenue
$432.5M–$1162.8M after Steam's cut $786.3M–$1788.9M before the cut
$59.99
910k reviews
Very Positive
Open WorldStory Rich
The Forest
2018
Est. copies
≈ 20.7M–33.6M
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$113.8M–$305.9M after Steam's cut $206.9M–$470.7M before the cut
$19.99
681k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Garry's Mod
2006
Est. copies
≈ 79.8M–129.6M
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$219.1M–$589.2M after Steam's cut $398.4M–$906.5M before the cut
$9.99
1.3M reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
SandboxModdable
Left 4 Dead 2
2009
Est. copies
≈ 66.7M–108.4M
SteamSpy 50M–100M
Est. revenue
$183.2M–$492.6M after Steam's cut $333.1M–$757.9M before the cut
$9.99
1.1M reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
ZombiesCo-op
Cyberpunk 2077
2020
Est. copies
≈ 24.2M–39.3M
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$399.0M–$1072.8M after Steam's cut $725.5M–$1650.4M before the cut
$59.99
975k reviews
Very Positive
CyberpunkOpen World
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
2015
Est. copies
≈ 75.3M–122.4M
1.6x vs typical
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
1.5M reviews
Very Positive
FPSPvP
PAYDAY 2
2013
Est. copies
≈ 42.6M–69.2M
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$117.1M–$314.7M after Steam's cut $212.8M–$484.2M before the cut
$9.99
674k reviews
Very Positive
Co-opAction
Wallpaper Engine
2018
Est. copies
≈ 30.8M–50.0M
SteamSpy 20M–50M
Est. revenue
$42.2M–$113.5M after Steam's cut $76.8M–$174.6M before the cut
$4.99
1.0M reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
MatureUtilities

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