How much revenue did Cartridge Defense make?

$8k–$22k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Cartridge Defense sell?

Q: How many copies did Cartridge Defense sell?

2k to 4k copies, based on its 100 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 2k–4k; $8k–$22k after Steam's cut $15k–$34k before Steam's cut; from 100 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 Cartridge Defense and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Cartridge Defense's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 21k–75k

best case 134k (Heretic's Fork)

Games like Cartridge Defense

A typical game among these

≈ 21k–75k copies

≈ $140k–$442k after Steam's cut

from ~1k reviews

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

5 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Heretic's Fork at ≈ 102k–166k copies, ≈ $281k–$755k after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 411 reviews in their first month; the range was 124 to 1k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Deckbuilding (7 of 8) and Card Game (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Deckbuilding + Tower Defense, priced around $10.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2019 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 36 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
Heretic's Fork 2023	Est. copies ≈ 102k–166k 3.0x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $281k–$755k after Steam's cut $511k–$1.2M before Steam's cut	$9.99	4k reviews Very Positive	Deckbuilding Tower Defense
Rise of Legions 2019	Est. copies ≈ 47k–76k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue Free	Free	2k reviews Very Positive	Free to PlayStrategy
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
WARCANA 2024	Est. copies ≈ 13k–20k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $59k–$158k after Steam's cut $107k–$243k before Steam's cut	$16.99	508 reviews Mixed	StrategyCard Game
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
3 Minute Heroes 2021	Est. copies ≈ 6k–9k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $30k–$81k after Steam's cut $55k–$125k before Steam's cut	$19.99	222 reviews Very Positive	StrategyCard Game
Overdungeon 2019	Est. copies ≈ 89k–145k 2.3x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $369k–$991k after Steam's cut $670k–$1.5M before Steam's cut	$14.99	3k reviews Mostly Positive	StrategyIndie
Deck of Haunts 2025	Est. copies ≈ 36k–59k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $198k–$533k after Steam's cut $360k–$819k before Steam's cut	$19.99	1k reviews Very Positive	Rogue-lite Deckbuilding