How much revenue did Aquarist make?

$126k–$340k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Aquarist sell?

Q: How many copies did Aquarist sell?

29k to 47k copies, based on its 1k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 29k–47k; $126k–$340k after Steam's cut $230k–$523k before Steam's cut; from 1k 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 Aquarist and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Aquarist's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 37.5M–62.4M

best case 56.0M (Rust)

Games like Aquarist

A typical game among these

≈ 37.5M–62.4M copies

≈ $200.9M–$455.4M after Steam's cut

from ~982k 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: Rust at ≈ 42.7M–69.3M copies, ≈ $469.3M–$1261.8M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Open World (5 of 8) and Open World Survival Craft (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Survival + Crafting, priced around $40.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2006 to 2018, 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 38 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
Wallpaper Engine 2018	Est. copies ≈ 31.0M–50.3M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $42.5M–$114.3M after Steam's cut $77.3M–$175.9M before Steam's cut	$4.99	1.0M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MatureUtilities
Project Zomboid 2013	Est. copies ≈ 30.5M–49.6M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $209.9M–$564.4M after Steam's cut $381.6M–$868.2M before Steam's cut	$24.99	483k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalZombies
Rust 2018	Est. copies ≈ 42.7M–69.3M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $469.3M–$1261.8M after Steam's cut $853.3M–$1941.3M before Steam's cut	$39.99	1.4M reviews Very Positive	SurvivalCrafting
The Forest 2018	Est. copies ≈ 20.8M–33.7M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $114.2M–$306.9M after Steam's cut $207.5M–$472.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	683k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Stardew Valley 2016	Est. copies ≈ 43.5M–70.7M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $179.4M–$482.4M after Steam's cut $326.2M–$742.1M before Steam's cut	$14.99	1.0M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Farming SimPixel Graphics
Euro Truck Simulator 2 2012	Est. copies ≈ 59.7M–97.0M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $328.0M–$881.9M after Steam's cut $596.4M–$1356.8M before Steam's cut	$19.99	944k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DrivingTransportation
Garry's Mod 2006	Est. copies ≈ 80.0M–130.1M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $219.9M–$591.3M after Steam's cut $399.8M–$909.6M before Steam's cut	$9.99	1.3M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SandboxModdable
Don't Starve Together 2016	Est. copies ≈ 22.6M–36.8M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $93.2M–$250.7M after Steam's cut $169.5M–$385.7M before Steam's cut	$14.99	544k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft