How many copies did Tell Me Why sell?

400k to 650k copies, based on its 16k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did Tell Me Why make?

Tell Me Why is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is Tell Me Why?

Estimated players who have it: ≈ 400k–650k; from 16k 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 Tell Me Why and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Tell Me Why's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.7M–2.4M

best case 6.4M (Kingdom Come: Deliverance II)

Games like Tell Me Why

A typical game among these

≈ 1.7M–2.4M copies

≈ $10.8M–$17.7M after Steam's cut

from ~43k 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: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at ≈ 4.9M–7.9M copies, ≈ $80.4M–$216.0M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Story Rich (5 of 8) and Choices Matter (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Story Rich, priced around $60. The breakout hits carry Story Rich + Time Travel + Singleplayer; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2015 to 2025, and 2 of the 7 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 61 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
Life is Strange 2 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.0M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue Free	Free	41k reviews Very Positive	Choices MatterStory Rich
Life is Strange - Episode 1 2015	Est. copies ≈ 8.6M–14.0M 4.1x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue Free	Free	176k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Story RichChoices Matter
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.6M–2.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $6.7M–$17.9M after Steam's cut $12.1M–$27.6M before Steam's cut	$14.99	39k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CyberpunkVisual Novel
UNO 2017	Est. copies ≈ 1.9M–3.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $5.1M–$13.8M after Steam's cut $9.3M–$21.2M before Steam's cut	$9.99	54k reviews Mostly Positive	Card GameMultiplayer
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II 2025	Est. copies ≈ 4.9M–7.9M 4.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $80.4M–$216.0M after Steam's cut $146.1M–$332.4M before Steam's cut	$59.99	196k reviews Very Positive	RPGMedieval
SteamVR unreleased	Est. copies ≈ 2.2M–3.5M 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	87k reviews Very Positive	VRSoftware
Life is Strange: Before the Storm 2017	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $6.1M–$16.4M after Steam's cut $11.1M–$25.2M before Steam's cut	$16.99	38k reviews Very Positive	Story RichChoices Matter
Dragon Age™: The Veilguard 2024	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $18.5M–$49.6M after Steam's cut $33.6M–$76.3M before Steam's cut	$59.99	45k reviews Mixed	LGBTQ+Fantasy