How much revenue did Distant Worlds 2 make?

$1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Distant Worlds 2 sell?

Q: How many copies did Distant Worlds 2 sell?

88k to 144k copies, based on its 4k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 88k–144k; $1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's cut $2.2M–$5.0M before Steam's cut; from 4k reviews (Mostly 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 Distant Worlds 2 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Distant Worlds 2's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 79k–4.2M

best case 10.7M (Stellaris)

Games like Distant Worlds 2

A typical game among these

≈ 79k–4.2M copies

≈ $1.2M–$93.0M after Steam's cut

from ~18k 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: Stellaris at ≈ 8.2M–13.3M copies, ≈ $112.6M–$302.6M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 779 reviews in their first month; the range was 662 to 35k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share 4X (8 of 8) and Grand Strategy (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Space + Grand Strategy, priced around $50.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 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 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
Ultimate General: American Revolution 2024	Est. copies ≈ 28k–45k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $378k–$1.0M after Steam's cut $688k–$1.6M before Steam's cut	$49.99	1k reviews Mixed	Grand StrategyAmerica
AI War 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 45k–73k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $247k–$665k after Steam's cut $450k–$1.0M before Steam's cut	$19.99	2k reviews Very Positive	4X Grand Strategy
Stellaris 2016	Est. copies ≈ 8.2M–13.3M 11x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $112.6M–$302.6M after Steam's cut $204.7M–$465.6M before Steam's cut	$49.99	197k reviews Very Positive	SpaceGrand Strategy
Galactic Civilizations IV 2023	Est. copies ≈ 65k–105k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $714k–$1.9M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$3.0M before Steam's cut	$39.99	3k reviews Mostly Positive	SpaceGrand Strategy
Old World 2022	Est. copies ≈ 171k–279k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.4M–$7.8M before Steam's cut	$39.99	7k reviews Very Positive	StrategySimulation
Europa Universalis IV 2013	Est. copies ≈ 8.5M–13.8M 7.5x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $116.6M–$313.5M after Steam's cut $212.0M–$482.3M before Steam's cut	$49.99	134k reviews Very Positive	Grand StrategyStrategy
Sid Meier's Civilization VII 2025	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.5M 3.5x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $29.7M–$79.9M after Steam's cut $54.1M–$123.0M before Steam's cut	$69.99	62k reviews Mixed	Grand StrategyHistorical
HUMANKIND™ 2021	Est. copies ≈ 715k–1.2M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.8M–$26.4M after Steam's cut $17.9M–$40.7M before Steam's cut	$49.99	29k reviews Mixed	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy