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How many copies did Dead Island 2 sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 721k–1.2M
$9.9M–$26.6M after Steam's cut $18.0M–$41.0M before the cut
from 29k reviews (Mostly 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 Dead Island 2 out and predicted the genre from its 5 similar games. Every figure here, including Dead Island 2's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 12.1M–18.7M
best case 87.5M (Left 4 Dead 2)
Games like Dead Island 2

The middle of these games

≈ 12.1M–18.7M copies

≈ $276.8M–$349.3M after Steam's cut

from ~233k reviews

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

All 5 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: Left 4 Dead 2 at ≈ 66.7M–108.4M copies, ≈ $183.2M–$492.6M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering
Your set
Your set clusters on FPS (4 of 5) and Shooter (4 of 5).
The winners
Winners here lead with Zombies + Co-op, priced around $10.
The era
The games you compared span 2009 to 2018, 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 38 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

theHunter: Call of the Wild™
2017
Est. copies
≈ 7.0M–11.3M
SteamSpy 5M–10M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
202k reviews
Very Positive
HuntingOpen World
Call of Duty®: Black Ops III
2015
Est. copies
≈ 11.4M–18.4M
SteamSpy 5M–10M
Est. revenue
$187.3M–$503.5M after Steam's cut $340.5M–$774.7M before the cut
$59.99
233k reviews
Very Positive
MultiplayerZombies
Left 4 Dead 2
2009
Est. copies
≈ 66.7M–108.4M
4.5x vs typical
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
DOOM
2016
Est. copies
≈ 9.2M–15.0M
SteamSpy 5M–10M
Est. revenue
$50.6M–$136.0M after Steam's cut $92.0M–$209.3M before the cut
$19.99
221k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
FPSGore
DayZ
2018
Est. copies
≈ 14.2M–23.1M
2.0x vs typical
SteamSpy 10M–20M
Est. revenue
$195.8M–$526.4M after Steam's cut $356.0M–$809.9M before the cut
$49.99
469k reviews
Mostly Positive
SurvivalOpen World

Sizing up your own game? See what its genre can realistically do before you build it.