How many copies did Waves sell?

99k to 161k copies, based on its 2k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did Waves make?

Waves is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is Waves?

Estimated players who have it: ≈ 99k–161k; from 2k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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 Waves and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Waves's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 594k–1.8M

best case 4.9M (Enter the Gungeon)

Games like Waves

A typical game among these

≈ 594k–1.8M copies

≈ $2.2M–$7.1M after Steam's cut

from ~23k 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: Enter the Gungeon at ≈ 3.7M–6.1M copies, ≈ $15.4M–$41.5M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 21k reviews in their first month; the range was 7k to 23k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Action Roguelike (7 of 8) and Bullet Hell (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Bullet Hell + Action Roguelike, priced around $15.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2010 to 2025, and 2 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 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
20 Minutes Till Dawn 2023	Est. copies ≈ 724k–1.2M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $993k–$2.7M after Steam's cut $1.8M–$4.1M before Steam's cut	$4.99	29k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeBullet Hell
Enter the Gungeon 2016	Est. copies ≈ 3.7M–6.1M 3.9x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $15.4M–$41.5M after Steam's cut $28.1M–$63.9M before Steam's cut	$14.99	90k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Bullet HellAction Roguelike
Hero Siege 2014	Est. copies ≈ 2.7M–4.4M 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.9M–$15.8M after Steam's cut $10.7M–$24.4M before Steam's cut	$7.99	48k reviews Mixed	Action RPGPixel Graphics
Soulstone Survivors 2025	Est. copies ≈ 668k–1.1M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.8M–$7.4M after Steam's cut $5.0M–$11.4M before Steam's cut	$14.99	27k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeBullet Hell
Beat Hazard 2010	Est. copies ≈ 471k–765k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.5M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.4M before Steam's cut	$9.99	7k reviews Very Positive	RhythmMusic-Based Procedural Generation
Nuclear Throne 2015	Est. copies ≈ 967k–1.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $3.2M–$8.6M after Steam's cut $5.8M–$13.2M before Steam's cut	$11.99	20k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Action RoguelikeRogue-like
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising 2018	Est. copies ≈ 398k–647k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.2M–$5.9M after Steam's cut $4.0M–$9.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	13k reviews Very Positive	Top-Down ShooterRogue-lite
Rogue: Genesia 2025	Est. copies ≈ 213k–346k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $878k–$2.4M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.6M before Steam's cut	$14.99	9k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeBullet Hell