How much revenue did Core Defense make?

$25k–$68k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Core Defense sell?

Q: How many copies did Core Defense sell?

9k to 15k copies, based on its 370 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 9k–15k; $25k–$68k after Steam's cut $46k–$104k before Steam's cut; from 370 reviews (Mostly 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 Core Defense and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Core Defense's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 90k–212k

best case 6.5M (Balatro)

Games like Core Defense

A typical game among these

≈ 90k–212k copies

≈ $189k–$1.5M after Steam's cut

from ~4k reviews

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

7 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Balatro at ≈ 5.0M–8.1M copies, ≈ $20.5M–$55.0M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

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 349 to 21k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Deckbuilding (6 of 8) and Replay Value (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Card Game + Roguelike Deckbuilder, priced around $15. The breakout hits carry Pixel Graphics + Singleplayer + Card Game; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2011 to 2026, 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
Balatro 2024	Est. copies ≈ 5.0M–8.1M 47x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $20.5M–$55.0M after Steam's cut $37.2M–$84.7M before Steam's cut	$14.99	200k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Card GameRoguelike Deckbuilder
One Step From Eden 2020	Est. copies ≈ 190k–309k 1.8x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.0M–$2.8M after Steam's cut $1.9M–$4.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	8k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeDifficult
SNKRX 2021	Est. copies ≈ 108k–175k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $88k–$238k after Steam's cut $161k–$366k before Steam's cut	$2.99	4k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeRogue-lite
Emberward 2026	Est. copies ≈ 106k–172k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $584k–$1.6M after Steam's cut $1.1M–$2.4M before Steam's cut	$19.99	4k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Early AccessTower Defense
ORX 2022	Est. copies ≈ 17k–28k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $93k–$251k after Steam's cut $170k–$386k before Steam's cut	$19.99	684 reviews Mixed	Roguelike Deckbuilder Tower Defense
Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense 2021	Est. copies ≈ 380k–617k 3.6x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $2.6M–$7.0M after Steam's cut $4.7M–$10.8M before Steam's cut	$24.99	15k reviews Very Positive	Tower DefenseMultiplayer
Tower Tactics: Liberation 2023	Est. copies ≈ 31k–51k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $112k–$300k after Steam's cut $203k–$461k before Steam's cut	$12.99	1k reviews Very Positive	Roguelike Deckbuilder Tower Defense
Atom Zombie Smasher 2011	Est. copies ≈ 133k–216k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $366k–$984k after Steam's cut $665k–$1.5M before Steam's cut	$9.99	2k reviews Very Positive	Real Time TacticsTower Defense