How much revenue did The Sapling make?

$282k–$758k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did The Sapling sell?

Q: How many copies did The Sapling sell?

57k to 93k copies, based on its 2k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 57k–93k; $282k–$758k after Steam's cut $513k–$1.2M before the cut; from 2k 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 The Sapling out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Sapling's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.6M–2.1M

best case 9.4M (Kerbal Space Program)

Games like The Sapling

The middle of these games

≈ 1.6M–2.1M copies

≈ $16.1M–$27.7M after Steam's cut

from ~53k 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: Kerbal Space Program at ≈ 7.1M–11.6M copies, ≈ $78.6M–$211.3M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 34k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 16k to 38k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Sandbox (5 of 8) and Simulation (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Space + Simulation, priced around $40. The breakout hits carry Space Sim + Science + Moddable; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2008 to 2026, and 2 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 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

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Universe Sandbox 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.6M–2.5M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.9M–$34.7M after Steam's cut $23.5M–$53.4M before the cut	$29.99	32k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SandboxSpace
Besiege 2020	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.4M–$14.6M after Steam's cut $9.9M–$22.5M before the cut	$14.99	53k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SimulationSandbox
Kerbal Space Program 2015	Est. copies ≈ 7.1M–11.6M 2.8x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $78.6M–$211.3M after Steam's cut $142.9M–$325.1M before the cut	$39.99	146k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SpaceSimulation
SPORE™ 2008	Est. copies ≈ 4.6M–7.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $25.2M–$67.8M after Steam's cut $45.8M–$104.3M before the cut	$19.99	73k reviews Very Positive	God GameOpen World
Abiotic Factor 2025	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.4M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $14.0M–$37.5M after Steam's cut $25.4M–$57.7M before the cut	$34.99	58k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SurvivalOnline Co-Op
Timberborn 2026	Est. copies ≈ 1.0M–1.7M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.8M–$26.4M after Steam's cut $17.9M–$40.7M before the cut	$34.99	41k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	City BuilderVoxel
Trailmakers 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $7.7M–$20.6M after Steam's cut $13.9M–$31.6M before the cut	$24.99	39k reviews Very Positive	SpaceAction
ICARUS 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.7M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $16.1M–$43.4M after Steam's cut $29.3M–$66.7M before the cut	$34.99	68k reviews Mostly Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft