How much revenue did SpaceChem make?

$883k–$2.4M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did SpaceChem sell?

Q: How many copies did SpaceChem sell?

321k to 522k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 321k–522k; $883k–$2.4M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.7M before the cut; 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 SpaceChem out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including SpaceChem's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 198k–291k

best case 1.7M (Hacknet)

Games like SpaceChem

The middle of these games

≈ 198k–291k copies

≈ $1.2M–$1.7M after Steam's cut

from ~5k 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: Hacknet at ≈ 1.3M–2.1M copies, ≈ $3.5M–$9.4M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Programming (8 of 8) and Puzzle (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Programming, priced around $12. The breakout hits carry Singleplayer + Pixel Graphics + Cute; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2015 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 61 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
Human Resource Machine 2015	Est. copies ≈ 229k–371k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $942k–$2.5M after Steam's cut $1.7M–$3.9M before the cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle
Turing Complete 2021	Est. copies ≈ 138k–225k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $761k–$2.0M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.1M before the cut	$19.99	6k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingLogic
Opus Magnum 2017	Est. copies ≈ 247k–401k 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.4M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.5M–$5.6M before the cut	$19.99	7k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzleProgramming
Baba Is You 2019	Est. copies ≈ 705k–1.1M 5.3x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $2.9M–$7.8M after Steam's cut $5.3M–$12.0M before the cut	$14.99	24k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzleIndie
Hacknet 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M 5.7x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $3.5M–$9.4M after Steam's cut $6.4M–$14.5M before the cut	$9.99	26k reviews Very Positive	HackingSimulation
SHENZHEN I/O 2016	Est. copies ≈ 187k–304k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $772k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before the cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingAutomation
TIS-100 2015	Est. copies ≈ 200k–325k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $385k–$1.0M after Steam's cut $700k–$1.6M before the cut	$6.99	4k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle
Duskers 2016	Est. copies ≈ 116k–189k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $639k–$1.7M after Steam's cut $1.2M–$2.6M before the cut	$19.99	3k reviews Very Positive	ExplorationTyping