How much revenue did Merchant of the Skies make?

$234k–$628k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Merchant of the Skies sell?

Q: How many copies did Merchant of the Skies sell?

57k to 92k copies, based on its 2k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 57k–92k; $234k–$628k after Steam's cut $425k–$967k before Steam's cut; from 2k reviews (Very Positive)

Copies are estimated from the public review count, adjusted for release year, and cross-checked against SteamSpy's own estimate.

Did the prediction match what actually happened?

We hid Merchant of the Skies and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Merchant of the Skies's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 171k–338k

best case 1.2M (X4: Foundations)

Games like Merchant of the Skies

A typical game among these

≈ 171k–338k copies

≈ $1.5M–$2.4M after Steam's cut

from ~5k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019's Steam releases earned $34k or more before Steam's cut, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of the similar games are hits.

Best case: X4: Foundations at ≈ 920k–1.5M copies, ≈ $12.7M–$34.0M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 2k reviews in their first month; the range was 1k to 5k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Economy (8 of 8) and Management (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Space Sim + Simulation, priced around $50.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2016 to 2025, and 1 of the 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 52 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
Pioneers of Pagonia 2025	Est. copies ≈ 137k–222k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.5M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.4M before Steam's cut	$34.99	6k reviews Very Positive	Early AccessBase-Building
Another Brick in The Mall 2020	Est. copies ≈ 61k–99k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $285k–$765k after Steam's cut $517k–$1.2M before Steam's cut	$16.99	2k reviews Very Positive	Management Simulation
Mad Games Tycoon 2016	Est. copies ≈ 184k–299k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $758k–$2.0M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.1M before Steam's cut	$14.99	4k reviews Very Positive	Management Simulation
X4: Foundations 2018	Est. copies ≈ 920k–1.5M 5.5x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.7M–$34.0M after Steam's cut $23.0M–$52.3M before Steam's cut	$49.99	30k reviews Mostly Positive	Space SimSimulation
Shop Titans 2020	Est. copies ≈ 446k–725k 3.3x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	18k reviews Mostly Positive	IdlerShop Keeper
Mad Games Tycoon 2 2023	Est. copies ≈ 195k–316k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.5M before Steam's cut	$24.99	8k reviews Very Positive	ManagementEconomy
Rise of Industry 2019	Est. copies ≈ 121k–196k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $997k–$2.7M after Steam's cut $1.8M–$4.1M before Steam's cut	$29.99	4k reviews Mostly Positive	ManagementStrategy
Pharaoh™: A New Era 2023	Est. copies ≈ 134k–218k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $847k–$2.3M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.5M before Steam's cut	$22.99	5k reviews Mostly Positive	City BuilderBuilding