How much revenue did Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story make?

$23k–$61k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story sell?

Q: How many copies did Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story sell?

8k to 13k copies, based on its 331 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 8k–13k; $23k–$61k after Steam's cut $41k–$93k before the cut; from 331 reviews (Mixed)

A labeled estimate from the public review count (adjusted for release year), not exact sales. Owner data cross-checked with SteamSpy.

Does this actually work?

We left Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.4M–2.1M

best case 40.5M (Wallpaper Engine)

Games like Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story

The middle of these games

≈ 1.4M–2.1M copies

≈ $7.6M–$12.1M after Steam's cut

from ~45k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: Wallpaper Engine at ≈ 30.9M–50.1M copies, ≈ $42.3M–$113.8M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 7k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 4k to 64k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Story Rich (5 of 8) and Anime (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with First-Person, priced around $10. The breakout hits carry First-Person + Mature + Utilities; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2016 to 2024, and 1 of your 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 52 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
Volcano Princess 2023	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–2.0M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.7M–$9.9M after Steam's cut $6.7M–$15.2M before the cut	$10.99	49k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Life SimMultiple Endings
Wallpaper Engine 2018	Est. copies ≈ 30.9M–50.1M 23x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $42.3M–$113.8M after Steam's cut $77.0M–$175.1M before the cut	$4.99	1.0M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MatureUtilities
MiSide 2024	Est. copies ≈ 3.5M–5.7M 3.2x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $14.5M–$39.1M after Steam's cut $26.4M–$60.1M before the cut	$14.99	142k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Psychological HorrorCute
LoveChoice 2021	Est. copies ≈ 909k–1.5M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $497k–$1.3M after Steam's cut $904k–$2.1M before the cut	$1.99	37k reviews Very Positive	RomanceDating Sim
Lobotomy Corporation \| Monster Management Simulation 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $11.9M–$32.0M after Steam's cut $21.6M–$49.2M before the cut	$24.99	57k reviews Very Positive	ManagementDifficult
Unpacking 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.0M–1.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.6M–$14.9M after Steam's cut $10.1M–$23.0M before the cut	$19.99	41k reviews Very Positive	RelaxingCute
NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD 2022	Est. copies ≈ 1.4M–2.3M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.3M–$16.9M after Steam's cut $11.5M–$26.1M before the cut	$15.99	58k reviews Very Positive	Psychological HorrorAnime
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.6M–2.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $6.6M–$17.9M after Steam's cut $12.1M–$27.5M before the cut	$14.99	39k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CyberpunkVisual Novel