How much revenue did Chess Brain make?

$1k–$3k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Chess Brain sell?

Q: How many copies did Chess Brain sell?

4k to 7k copies, based on its 164 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 4k–7k; $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before Steam's cut; from 164 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 Chess Brain and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Chess Brain's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 2k–3k

best case 15k (Unlock The King)

Games like Chess Brain

A typical game among these

≈ 2k–3k copies

≈ $835–$2k after Steam's cut

from ~64 reviews

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

None of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Unlock The King at ≈ 12k–19k copies, ≈ $3k–$9k 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 20 reviews in their first month; the range was 14 to 24.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Puzzle (8 of 8) and Sokoban (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Futuristic + Sokoban, priced around $1. The breakout hits carry Atmospheric + Futuristic; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: None of the similar games shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2022. That says more about which games were found than about the market.

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
Unlock The King 2 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3k–5k 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $851–$2k after Steam's cut $2k–$4k before Steam's cut	$0.99	126 reviews Mostly Positive	SokobanFuturistic
Knight Swap 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $392–$1k after Steam's cut $713–$2k before Steam's cut	$0.99	50 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleMinimalist
Chesskoban - Chess Puzzles 2021	Est. copies ≈ 967–2k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $263–$708 after Steam's cut $479–$1k before Steam's cut	$0.99	39 reviews Positive	ChessSokoban
SokoChess 2022	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$4k after Steam's cut $3k–$6k before Steam's cut	$4.99	45 reviews Positive	ChessSokoban
Unlock The King 2019	Est. copies ≈ 12k–19k 6.3x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $3k–$9k after Steam's cut $6k–$13k before Steam's cut	$0.99	404 reviews Very Positive	FuturisticSokoban
Unlock The King 3 2020	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $513–$1k after Steam's cut $933–$2k before Steam's cut	$0.99	76 reviews Mostly Positive	SokobanDifficult
Knight Swap 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k 2.3x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before Steam's cut	$0.99	149 reviews Very Positive	SokobanPuzzle
Chess Brain: Dark Troops 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $1k–$4k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before Steam's cut	$2.99	64 reviews Very Positive	ChessPuzzle