How much revenue did The Answer Is 42 make?

$3k–$7k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did The Answer Is 42 sell?

Q: How many copies did The Answer Is 42 sell?

5k to 8k copies, based on its 171 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 5k–8k; $3k–$7k after Steam's cut $5k–$11k before Steam's cut; from 171 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 The Answer Is 42 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Answer Is 42's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 18k–48k

best case 209k (Faerie Solitaire)

Games like The Answer Is 42

A typical game among these

≈ 18k–48k copies

≈ $27k–$197k after Steam's cut

from ~728 reviews

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

3 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Faerie Solitaire at ≈ 160k–259k copies, ≈ $658k–$1.8M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 54 reviews in their first month; the range was 36 to 171.

Games with under about 100 reviews in month one almost never recover.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Solitaire (7 of 8) and Tabletop (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Solitaire + Board Game, priced around $15.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2010 to 2022, and none of them 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
Zodiacats 2022	Est. copies ≈ 34k–55k 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $19k–$50k after Steam's cut $34k–$77k before Steam's cut	$1.99	1k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CatsPuzzle
Cat Lady - The Card Game 2019	Est. copies ≈ 9k–15k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $10k–$28k after Steam's cut $19k–$43k before Steam's cut	$3.99	327 reviews Very Positive	CasualStrategy
FreeCell Quest 2015	Est. copies ≈ 25k–41k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $69k–$185k after Steam's cut $125k–$284k before Steam's cut	$9.99	513 reviews Mostly Positive	SolitaireCard Battler
Regency Solitaire 2015	Est. copies ≈ 44k–71k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $145k–$389k after Steam's cut $263k–$598k before Steam's cut	$11.99	899 reviews Very Positive	SolitaireVisual Novel
Faerie Solitaire 2010	Est. copies ≈ 160k–259k 3.5x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $658k–$1.8M after Steam's cut $1.2M–$2.7M before Steam's cut	$14.99	3k reviews Very Positive	SolitaireCasual
Island Farmer - Jigsaw Puzzle 2021	Est. copies ≈ 14k–22k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $8k–$20k after Steam's cut $14k–$31k before Steam's cut	$1.99	557 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleTabletop
Ancient Enemy 2020	Est. copies ≈ 13k–21k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $59k–$160k after Steam's cut $108k–$246k before Steam's cut	$16.99	513 reviews Very Positive	CRPG Puzzle
Super Jigsaw Puzzle: Generations 2019	Est. copies ≈ 33k–53k 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue Free	Free	1k reviews Very Positive	Family FriendlyFree to Play