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 332 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–$94k before Steam's cut; from 332 reviews (Mixed)

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 Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.4M–2.1M

best case 40.7M (Wallpaper Engine)

Games like Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story

A typical game among these

≈ 1.4M–2.1M copies

≈ $7.7M–$12.1M after Steam's cut

from ~45k 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: Wallpaper Engine at ≈ 31.0M–50.3M copies, ≈ $42.5M–$114.3M 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 7k reviews in their first month; the range was 4k to 64k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share 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.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2016 to 2024, and 1 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 52 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

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Wallpaper Engine 2018	Est. copies ≈ 31.0M–50.3M 23x vs typical 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
MiSide 2024	Est. copies ≈ 3.5M–5.8M 3.2x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $14.6M–$39.2M after Steam's cut $26.5M–$60.4M before Steam's cut	$14.99	143k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Psychological HorrorCute
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Lobotomy Corporation \| Monster Management Simulation 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.0M–$32.2M after Steam's cut $21.8M–$49.5M before Steam's cut	$24.99	57k reviews Very Positive	ManagementDifficult
Unpacking 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.0M–1.7M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.6M–$15.1M after Steam's cut $10.2M–$23.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	41k reviews Very Positive	RelaxingCute
NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD 2022	Est. copies ≈ 1.4M–2.4M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.4M–$17.1M after Steam's cut $11.6M–$26.3M before Steam's 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 $6.7M–$17.9M after Steam's cut $12.1M–$27.6M before Steam's cut	$14.99	39k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CyberpunkVisual Novel