How big is the Metroidvania market on Steam?

A typical Metroidvania game sells 1k to 2k copies, and the top decile 62k to 100k, based on the 1,461 games SteamSpy lists for the tag (its visible subset). Labeled estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The realistic ceiling for Metroidvania games

Two honest views of what Metroidvania games do on Steam: the whole market from a systematic sample, and the games gathered here. Kept separate on purpose.

The market

A typical game sells

≈ 1k–2k copies

$3k–$8k after Steam's cut, est.

The top decile

≈ 62k–100k copies

$153k–$412k after Steam's cut, est.

Half the reviews in SteamSpy's sample of 1,461 Metroidvania games sit with 14 of them.

Based on the 1,461 Metroidvania games SteamSpy listed on August 30, 2026. It misses the games that barely sold, so these figures flatter the genre. Games are grouped by the tags players give them, which are applied loosely, so a genre's edges are fuzzy. Owners are SteamSpy estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The Metroidvania games gathered on wishvane

Across the 345 Metroidvania games compared here, the middle one runs ≈ 32k–140k copies (est.), with Hollow Knight the biggest comparable game at ≈ 19.2M–31.3M. These are the games people chose to compare, not a sample of the genre, so they run far larger than the market figures above.

The Metroidvania games gathered here span 2008 to 2026, and 92 of the 345 of them shipped in the last two years.
The biggest Metroidvania games here share nothing more specific than the genre; individually they lead with Puzzle-Platformer and Exploration.
Across the Metroidvania games gathered here the median price is $14.99, and the biggest charge more, around $20.

and 285 more

Building a Metroidvania game? This genre already ran your experiment. Add the games yours will be compared to and see what's realistic, before you spend months on it.